A Foot in the Door

One applicant sent a cookie basket with his resume. One cookie said “Stop looking!” and another said “You’ve found your next graphic designer: THE GUY’S NAME, ADDRESS & EMAIL.” The attached card said, “Other sweet ideas available upon request.” What a great way to get noticed! And the soft, chewy chocolate-chip cookies ... delish!

His resumé itself was not graphically pleasing, but he appears well-qualified for the job. In fact, probably over-qualified. His cookie-bound creativity will win him a face-to-face with the art director. For those of us too shy to pull such a crazy (yet effective) stunt, we rely on our resumés to tell our stories.

I’m fascinated by what people put on their resumés and how they try to make them stand out. Most of them fall short, coming in the form of boring black type on mundane white paper, usually running several pages long and being incredibly disorganized and difficult to decipher.

I’ve helped friends and co-workers rewrite and redesign their resumés because I know how important it is. A resumé is going to be either your ticket to a chance or your free pass to the trash can. If your resumé looks really awful, it has the potential to be ridiculed and then tossed out.

Here are some free resumé tips:

• Include a brief well-written, grammatically perfect cover letter that explains what you have to offer. It doesn’t have to be a rehash of your resumé: the two can complement each other.

• Keep your resumé to one page. It doesn’t have to tell your whole life story, or even your complete work history. Put only the most recent and relevant jobs, educational milestones and awards on it. More than one page takes too much time to read. Result? It won’t be read.

• Make it easy to read. Organize it by categories (Objective at top, skills, work history, education, awards, etc.). Use bullets rather than paragraphs to list points.

• Use a simple, declarative objective (i.e. “I am looking for a place to contribute my world-class singing voice.”). Don’t focus on the benefits you are looking for, make the objective about what you can contribute (i.e. “My world-class singing voice blends well with all octave ranges and reverberates perfectly over myriad surfaces, including marble walls.”).

• Make it pleasing to the eye. There’s a fine line between eye-popping and overwrought. Employ nonharsh, pleasing colors and don’t overuse them. If you have a tendency to go overboard, simply revert to “spot color” for your name and category headers. Stick to no more than three colors. My current resume uses red at 100%, with a lighter shade of the same red to accent. That way it pops, but doesn’t overwhelm. I put my name at the top in large letters (with a Photoshopped shadow behind it) ... the name of the game is shameless self-promotion. Right under my name is my home address, phone number and e-mail address.

• Include a separate page of references with your initial application. Don’t put “references available upon request” on your resume! If you are a viable candidate, you’ve already included the next step of information a potential employer may want. If applicable, send examples of previous work. If not, be ready to demonstrate or present tangible evidence during the interview what you can do for the company.

If you’d like a friendly, professional review of your resume, I’m here for you! I’m also willing to help you rewrite, condense and design a stunning resume for your job-seeking endeavors. I can no longer offer this service for free, but I come cheap compared to what else is out there. Send me a cookie basket, and we may have a deal!

The fine print: Do what works for you. These guidelines are presented as a free public service, and represent what has worked for me. This post in no way constitutes guaranteed success in landing a job. Just wanted to help! Send me an e-mail if you would like further assistance (attach your current resume to the e-mail if you would like).

Happy Tuesday!