Dynamic Resumes Start With a K.I.S.S.

Simplicity Makes It Easier to Find Important Information

Copyright 2003-2010 G. A. Puleo

How do you determine your resume's effectiveness?  Are you getting interviews?  Do your accomplishments and achievements immediately stand out?  Do your benefits to past employers jump out to potential new employers? 

If not, you need to consider overhauling your resume. 

A strong resume provides a clear focus and direction to your employment history.  Your range of responsibilities and depth of experience are immediately evident to the reader.  Creating a powerful resume is one of the first steps to job search success. 

Take two looks at your resume: 

The first look should be a quick, cursory review.  What does it say about you?  Is it a professional document highlighting and marketing your strengths -- or is it simply a hurried, last minute attempt? 

Now take a second, more in-depth look.  Does it focus on your strengths and potential benefits to an employer -- or is it simply a job-specific chronology of your past employment history? 

The average amount of time that a recruiter spends scanning a resume is 30 seconds -- and you may be lucky to get even that much time.  What is immediately noticeable in your resume will determine whether you will be invited to interview with the company. 

By following these 5 tips, you can make your resume memorial in only half a minute. 

It Starts With a K.I.S.S.

K.I.S.S. is the acronym for "Keep It Simple, Stupid!"  NEVER try to get overly fancy with your resume.  Remember that a resume is a marketing tool -- and the product is you!  So keep the focus on you:  your accomplishments, responsibilities, unique skills and talents.  Don't waste valuable time on a fancy (and distracting) design. 

Although today's technology puts hundreds of fonts or typestyles at your fingertips, it's best to use traditional fonts such as Times or Arial.  Emphasize subsections with bullets (ignore the arrows, hearts and smiley faces).  Most importantly, keep the design and layout consistent:  job titles (or degrees), employers (or schools) and location should be easily found by keeping them in the same location on a resume. 

Poor Layout: 
These two job experiences don't follow the same format, so the recruiter or hiring manager won't be able to skim your resume to get a quick understanding of your past employers. 

Auditor - County Government (San Francisco)          January 20XX-Present

Jones Jones & Gray (Senior Accountant)
San Francisco - January 1999-20XX

Better Layout: 

The same two job experiences, but their particulars are much easier to find. 

County Government                               San Francisco, CA
Auditor - 20XX-Present

Jones Jones & Gray                                 San Francisco, CA
Senior Accountant - 1999-20XX

By keeping it simple, the recruiter will know exactly where to look on your resume for job titles, previous employers and length of service. 

Click here for 5 Tips to a Dynamic Resume -- our 1-hour webinar for tips to automatically improve the quality of your resume.