by Anne Reynolds

Created on: November 15, 2007

Resume Boot Camp

Recruiters are busy, whether they are contract, commission or employees of the company they have serious time constraints, uptight hiring managers and little time for nonsense. A good recruiter will look at a resume for less than 30 seconds and determine if they are going to review it further.

OK, you have spent hours working on your "objective" and your "goals" and your resume is perfect......

Guess what...I look at about 200 resumes a week. Cannot remember the last time I even glanced at an OBJECTIVE....don't care. The hiring manager does NOT CARE.....this is what we want to see:

Contact information-I want to see your name, address, two phone contacts and an email
address.

Education-the schools you attended, your degree, your major, the year you graduated. If you
are over 40 do not think you are fooling me by leaving the year you graduated off your
resume, that screams....you are old. Put it on there and deal with it, I will put a
positive spin on it if you have the background I am looking for.

Job history-every job you had in the last 10 years needs to be on here with a clear concise
description of your responsibilities. If you have a gap be prepared to explain it so I can
explain it.

Special training-if you are a Six Sigma Green Belt, put it on there, you have an EIT, PHR,
whatever the licensing category is in your field, get it on there. Any software you know
that is pertinent to your field, get it on there.

References - available do not list your references on your resume, they are available and I
will get them when I need them.

Interests - I do not care that you coach little league or are a deacon at your church, and
either does the hiring manager, I will chat that up with you when we talk but when I
present you I will take that information off your resume.

If you are a new graduate from college, be sure to include your internships and co-ops that
you did in college. If you worked your way through school, make sure you don't forget to
put that on there, you need to stand out from the other trillion people that are graduating
with you.

Do not use fancy fonts or formating, simple is better and easier to read.

OK that was resume boot camp....use these simple tips and get out there and get a job!

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