First, you must decide which elements belong and which do not. Then, you must play with different arrangements of those elements. And finally, you must review and refine, adding a touch here, changing an accent there, until you arrive at a setup that is perfect from both a visual and a functional standpoint.
When you wrote your rough draft, you made preliminary decisions about what pieces of information to include in your resume and how to organize those pieces on the page. Now it's time to take stock of what you've done, to review, and to refine.
Is there too much information or too little? Have you chosen just the right words? Do the "accessories" you've added—the boldface type, the section heads and the like—play up your most important qualifications, or do they overpower them? Are your skills and experience arranged so that your resume not only looks good, but also makes the strongest possible marketing statement? It's time to evaluate and edit, then evaluate and edit again—and again.
This process requires lots of careful thought, and it may seem tedious, especially when you're anxious to get the darned resume out in the marketplace working for you. But if ever you want to keep at it until things are "just so," this is it. So don't rush off to make copies of your resume until you complete the three editing steps outlined here.
Step One: Macro Changes
Before you begin combing through your resume for typos and other micro changes, first reread your draft for a sense of the macro, the big picture. Have you painted a portrait of an accomplished, qualified job candidate who will meet the employer's needs? Don't forget: Your resume is a marketing tool,not a job description or autobiography. Focus on communicating the advantages you have to offer the employer.
Here are some of the macro questions to consider as you shape your resume into a final draft.
- Format: Is your resume organized in a way that flatters you and clarifies your qualifications and strengths? Whether you use a chronological, functional, or hybrid format, make sure that the flow of information won't raise questions or cause confusion.
- Length: Is your resume longer than two pages? Are the pages suffocating with words and paragraphs, with little or no margins or line spaces for breathing room? Get out your pencil and start slashing. No matter how lengthy and illustrious your experience, find a way to tell your story more succinctly.
- Results: Did you pepper your resume with results-oriented accomplishments? Will these achievements advertise the benefits you would provide employers? If your resume reads like a job description, you've got work to do. Go back and include specific accomplishments that prove you made significant contributions to previous employers.
- Elements: If you've included a job objective, is it targeted? Clear? Will it enhance your likelihood of getting an interview, or could it possibly eliminate you from consideration? If you've included a summary of qualifications, did you highlight the skills or experience most relevant to the job you're seeking? If you've chosen to list outside interests, memberships, or awards and honors, does this information enhance your total package, or is it merely filling up space? If so, rewrite! Take out those non-selling points and replace them with more important, job-related accomplishments.
This big-picture review of your resume may lead you to extensive reorganization and rewriting. It may also drive you cross-eyed; after spending hour upon hour looking at the same material, it's hard to remain objective and clearheaded. This is a good time to ask for input from other people.
Show your resume to a few friends, family members, or trusted coworkers, preferably those who are familiar with your skills and experience. These folks may help identify organization and content problems. They may also remind you of accomplishments or skills you have overlooked.
Yes, you may have the urge to strangle your "editors" when they suggest that you completely rewrite a portion of your resume, but investing the extra time to hammer out a stronger sales tool just may be the difference that lands you that dream job.
Step Two: A Checklist for Details
When you're satisfied that your resume is sound in structure and design, it's time to zoom in for a close-up look at the smaller—but still very significant—details. The following checklist will guide you through this micro editing phase.
Name Header
- Is your name header prominently placed at the top of the page?
- Did you use the most professional-sounding form of your name?
- Is your address correct? If you're about to move, did you put your current and soon-to-be address on your resume and identify the dates you can be found at each?
- Did you list a phone number at which you can be reached easily, or at which a message can be left-a message that will be returned quickly? Did you include the area code? Make sure you haven't transposed any of the numbers.
Job Objective
- Is your job objective focused and precise, stating exactly the position you want?
- Does your objective mesh with the rest of your resume? Does your experience relate to your objective?
- Is your objective stated in 12 words or less?
- Are you sure you wouldn't be interested in any other positions? Are you confident that your job objective won't eliminate you from consideration from a position you might enjoy? If not, drop the objective.
Skills Summary
- Is your summary targeted to the job you're seeking? Does it highlight the qualifications and experience that are most important to your prospective employer?
- Is your summary short and concise (two or three brief sentences or four or five bulleted points)?
- Does your most relevant qualification come first in the summary?
Experience Profile
Chronological Format
- Did you include the correct starting and ending dates (month and year) for each work experience?
- Did you use your correct job title? If you revised it, did you choose a title that will not mislead or be considered deceitful?
- Did you include the correct name of your various employers, plus their company locations (if locations are not apparent from the company name)?
- Did you limit the job description section of each job listing to short sentences?
- Are any paragraphs longer than five lines?
Functional and Hybrid Formats
- Are the skill categories you chose the most relevant to the job you want?
- Did you use business-oriented labels for your skill category headings? For example, did you use "Childcare Experience" rather than "Baby-sitting Experience?" Use terminology applied in the business world, even if the meaning is the same.
- Did you include a brief chronological listing of your work experience (volunteer, internships, and paid) at the end of your resume?
All Formats
- Did you use strong action words to describe your contributions or achievements?
- Did you eliminate "I" from your language, as well as "the," "an" and other articles? Remember to use short, concise phrases to communicate your message.
- Did you use acronyms, initials or unfamiliar terms that might not be understood by the prospective employer? Eliminate confusing words. Spell out the name or phrase the first time, and put the acronym or initials in parentheses: "Broadway Commercial and Industrial Fittings (BCIF)."
- Did you repeat words, particularly your action words, over and over? Find a way to avoid repetition.
- Did you include, as much as possible, the specific benefits your accomplishments brought to your previous employers? For example, did you state the amount of money or time saved?
- When you listed an award or honor, did you explain why you were recognized? Did you use the correct name of the award? Did you put down the right date of the award?
Education
- Did you verify the dates you earned your degree or attended school?
- Did you verify the title of the degree that you earned, the school or institution attended and the location of the school?
- Did you double-check data related to certifications, licenses, and other pertinent training?
Other
- If you included memberships, did you double-check to make sure they're current affiliations and that you used the correct name of the organization?
- Did you include personal references, pictures, salary information, the heading "resume", testimonials, and/or reasons for leaving past positions? If you included these, get rid of all of them!
Looks
(If you're having someone typeset your resume, make a list of formatting or layout instructions
- Did you leave a one-inch margin at the top of your resume, and no less than a half-inch margin on all other borders?
- Did you use a readable type size: Go no smaller than 10-point type?
- Did you use a serif type face?
- Did you set the right margin ragged, rather than justified?
- Did you use boldface type wisely? When you scan your resume, what words jump out at you? Are these the words you want employers to notice first? If not, rethink your use of boldface type.
- Did you use underlining and all-caps sparingly—if at all—and only in section heads and in the name header?
- Did you break up blocks of information and sections with line spacing? Single-space within paragraphs and double-space between paragraphs and sections.
- Did you use bullets or asterisks to emphasize specific points within listings?
- If your resume is longer than one page, did you add the word continued at the bottom of page one, and add your name and page 2 at the top of the second page?
- Are you consistent? Did you use the same line spacing, headline treatment, listing treatment, etc., throughout your resume? Did you put periods at the end of some accomplishment statements and leave them off others? Did you list one college degree in one format and use another for a second degree? Decide which styles you want to use, and check to be sure you have applied them religiously throughout all parts of the resume.
Chances are you found plenty to change, correct, refine, and condense on the first pass of your micro edit. After you've made those changes, you should read your resume again, with the same scrutiny as the first time.
But before you begin that second editing pass, take a break. Walk away from your resume. Read a magazine, take a nap, shop for a new interview suit, and save a rain forest. Just give yourself a mental and physical rest—if possible, for a good 24 hours.
When you pick up your resume again, you'll be able to edit with a fresh eye and possibly catch a few more mistakes. Repeat this cycle until you're positive that you've got your final draft in your hands. Then, you're ready for step three.
Step three: Final proofread
Let us take this moment to remind you of something we know you've heard before. If the resume you submit to a prospective employer isn't completely error-free, you might as well kiss the job good-bye. So even though you are probably sick and tired of this whole resume business by now, it's essential that you take the time and effort to proofread your resume several times.
You've come so far. You've sculpted a masterful resume, packed it with sales points that will convince the employer that no one else can do the job as well as you. So why blow it because you mentioned resluts instead of results, because you used there instead of their, because you stated that you graduated in 1898 instead of1989?
Proofread thoroughly to make sure there are no remaining typos. Double-check all dates, phone numbers and names. Look for errors in spelling, punctuation and grammar.
Because you are now so familiar with your resume, your eye may have difficulty detecting problems.
The following tips will help make your proofreading a success.
- Spell-check your resume. If you're working on a computer, you may have access to a spell-check program, which will pick up misspelled words. Don't count on it, however, to help with misused words-their and there, for example—or misspelled proper names.
- Read your resume aloud. Sounding out each word, syllable by syllable, helps in two ways. It makes identification of typos and misspelled words easier. And it makes awkward sentence structure and repetition of words jump out.
- Read backwards. This is a great trick for catching misspellings and typos. Reading each word—from the end of your resume to the beginning—means that you'll be focusing on the individual words rather than the meaning of phrases or sentences.
- Ask someone else to proofread, too. If you don't consider yourself particularly adept at proofreading, this is essential. In fact, ask as many people as you can to give your resume one last check.
After you've proofed your resume, make any corrections-and proofread again. Do this as many times as necessary, until you're willing to take your next job on the fact that your resume is...perfect.
