Remember that all resumes must have a caption, and that it comes first. So your name, address or addresses, and telephone number or numbers should appear at the top of your resume. If you've decided to include an objective or its substitute, the personal profile, then by tradition it should come first. Following that, your first heading should be your most impressive credential. If you were graduated by a well-known and respected college or university, then the Education heading most likely will be the first. But suppose your college is impressive, but you have another terrifically impressive credential-your military experience. In that case you should position your military experience as the first heading.
Let's turn the situation around. Suppose your college just isn't all that impressive. Suppose you have some impressive work experience and some solid honors and awards. Do you put Education at the top? Definitely not. You might even decide to put Education near the bottom of the second page.
To sequence your headings properly you must critically ex amine your life and objectively determine your relative strengths. The strongest aspect of your life should be the first heading. Make the next heading the second most impressive thing about you. And so on down into the resume.
Inventing Headings or Subheadings
Let's look at an example of sequencing strategy. Ed Good once worked with a student attending the University of Virginia. Ordinarily that student would put the Education heading first. But this student, who was seeking a position in sales, also had sold $24,000 worth of books door-to-door the previous summer.
His other employment experience, however, was a series of typical college student summer jobs. He didn't want to include Employment as the first heading because it would shove his University of Virginia credential to the middle of the resume.
Quite correctly he wanted it near the top. But he also wanted the sales job at the top. So he devised his own heading called Sales Experience, and listed it first. Since it took up very little room, his next heading. Education, kept the University of Virginia credential near the top of the resume. Then, further down in the resume, he included an Employment heading, which took care of his typical summer jobs.
You too should carefully look at your experiences, especially at your jobs. You might have some ho-hum jobs and some spiffy jobs. The trouble is, the spiffy job is not the most recent, and in a chronological format you can't lead with your strength. Be creative, and reposition information in your resume so that your strong credentials appear near the top.
Ending with a Bang
Of course the only problem with ordering your headings by their relative impressiveness is that you end your resume with a whimper and not a bang. Why do you want to end with a bang? Well, think about the way people scan written material, such as an article. They look quickly at the stuff at the top, then skim over the stuff in the middle, and finally take a peek at the end. If recruiters will take a peek at the end of your resume, then it makes sense to end your resume with a bang.
By tradition - References is the last heading in the resume
If you decide to include the heading but exclude the names, one way to end with a bang is to create something other than, "Available upon request." One person's resume said this under References: "Gladly furnished."
If you decide to include the names and addresses of your references, presumably those names will constitute the necessary bang. Be sure your references are recognizable by name or title, of course.
