By Michelle King
According to Resume edge, an online aid for writing resumes employers will scan quickly and decide if they like the applicant within 10 seconds.
How can students have their resume noticed within such a short amount of time? The key to writing a resume is in a very succinct way according to the Career Development Center guidelines.
This means avoiding wordy sentences to increase the scanability. Also, many employers use computer systems that detect key words related to their criteria due to the high number of applicants.
Richard Hateman, a recent computer information systems graduate from Buffalo State College, learned about resume writing by making an appointment at the CDC located in Grover Cleveland, Room 306.
“When I sat down with (the career counselor) she went through everything,” Hateman said. “She asked me to bring in a copy of my resume. One of the big things was she went over the layout and basic terminology,” he said.
Hateman added that his biggest mistake was using a resume template and trying to sound too descriptive.
“She noticed that I wrote it up last minute and said that it is very important to add some personality to it. I tried to use too many words, you want to sound educated not like a dictionary,” he said.
Phillip Auman, a senior career counselor at the center, said most students do not spend enough time tailoring their resume to the job they are applying for.
“There are many mistakes one can do in a resume but one is this notion that I have a resume and that’s it,” he said. “It is much better to listen perceptively to what the employers value; students should customize their resume,” he said.
He added while job search engines such as Monster.com or Career Builder are useful resources, as much as 85 percent of jobs are not even posted. For this reason, he suggests students should research about what jobs are available.
“The more behind the motivation, the more likely you are to succeed,” he said.
Generally, resumes should use:
- Action statements and action verbs instead of full sentences
- Visually appealing elements such as an easy to read font
- Brief yet concise wording
- Adjectives that emphasize strong assets or experience
Some things to avoid:
- Abbreviations: Do not assume that every employer will know the meaning.
- Listing too much private non-essential information, like past salaries
- Any misspellings: In order to avoid this, proofread various times.
- Contain references: Because usually these are usually available upon request.
- Have brightly colored paper
For more information about strengthening your resume, the career center hosts workshops on issues such as resume writing, cover letters, or how to act during an interview. Or you can visit their Web site at http://www.buffalostate.edu/offices/cdc/
Michelle King can be contacted at kingmk23@mail.buffalostate.edu
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