The last several years have been very tough for many people in regards to employment. I would know – I was working in the mortgage industry when the 2008 Mortgage Crisis hit. And I was 8 months pregnant when the owners decided to close the business doors. What I learned during that time and as I sat at iMoneyCoach in some borrowed dress shoes that actually fit my swollen feet and felt the baby kicking was that no job is secure, and that when you have to get out there and make money to support your family, you just have to go out there and keep on trying.

I know that some of you may have been trying for a long time to get a new job with no luck. I am not downplaying or belittling that at all. I hope today to offer some encouragement and advice to help out. We have enough hardship in this world. It would be nice if we could all help each other out, right?

Today we are going to start out by talking about your resume. A resume is an employer’s first look at YOU. Who do you want them to see? First impressions are important, even if they come in the form of a piece of paper (or an electronic file).

Your Resume

  1. Proofread – I’m not an English major, but I know that having a resume with proper grammar and spelling can save you from being tossed onto the pile of “no way” applications without any consideration of your skills. If you have silly spelling errors and mistakes, unfortunately they won’t be seen as “silly.” It may tell the employer that you do not pay attention to details, and that if you do not take the time to check your resume over, then you might not put the time and effort into the job they want to fill. Read over your resume several times and have some friends check it out too. If you know someone who is a type-A grammar-correcting smartypants, now is the time to ask for a favor.
  2. Be honest but confident – It can be hard to know what to put in a resume sometimes. First of all, make sure you are honest. Don’t put in degrees or honors or skills that you don’t actually have. Lying is just wrong, and whether you get caught or not, it is never good to start off your relationship with a company with dishonesty. Would you want them to lie to you about what the job is that you are applying for? That said, you should still be confident in your abilities and let them shine. Let’s say you are applying for a Customer Service job and you were honored with an Employee of the Month award for your Customer Service at a previous job. Be sure to include that.
  3. Customize. With the above information having been said, be sure that you customize your resume for the job or position you are looking for. You may be applying for a variety of types of jobs. But you will not get far if your resume is either too diverse or too specifically tailored to 1 job when you are applying to another type of job. One fairly easy way to customize is to have a mission statement or objective included in your resume. It could say something like “My mission is to serve senior citizens with love and respect, giving them the care they need and desire as they enter into an assisted living or nursing home facility.” Obviously this statement would not apply if you were applying for a gardening position at a local parks and rec district, but it would be perfectly suited for someone applying to work in a senior care facility.
  4. Make it look nice. You don’t have to be an expert on the computer, but make sure that you make your resume look nice. If you have extra spaces or have some lines indented but others not, it can look odd and make a bad impression. Use fonts that say “sans serif” in their title (or something like Times New Roman or Calibri) because they are easier to read. Fancy hand-written style fonts look just that, fancy, but they can be hard to read. Make it easier for the employer to see who you are and to say “Yes!”

 

Next week we will talk about how to choose the job that is right for you so that you can get that resume out there!

2 Comments on How to Land Your Next Job: The Resume (Part 1 of 3)

  1. [...] that you are ready or have your resume outlined (see last week’s post if you missed it), we need to talk about actually choosing a job. Perhaps you are looking for a job [...]

  2. [...] You have put together a fine resume detailing your talents and skills (see our previous post about resume building), and you have found a position in your area that you would like to apply for (and then see this [...]