Resume Tips

Resume Tips

Next to your recruiter, your resume is your most important calling card. It should include the following information:

  1. Contact Information
    Unless your situation dictates it (and it most likely never will), you should never volunteer personal information such as age, ethnicity, religion, marital status and physical attributes on your resume. Put your current personal home and cell phone, email and postal address at the top of your resume and leave it at that.
  2. Objective
    Your objective statement should show employers that you know what you want and you know how to get it. Your objective should be targeted, professional, and free of personal pronouns (e.g., "I," "me") and other flowery details. You may even want to consider using a tagline instead of a complete sentence, as in the following example: "Objective: Pharmaceutical sales position capitalizing on 15 years' experience in retail management and hospital administration."
  3. Summary of Skills
    Use the summary statement to emphasize the most important qualities, achievements and abilities you have to offer an employer. Include professional characteristics that could help you later during the interview; for example, "team-oriented," "skilled at problem-solving," "committed to excellence." Then, during the interview, be prepared with anecdotes so you can elaborate on each of these statements.
  4. Professional Experience
    Go back 10-15 years, and list every position you've held in reverse chronological order. If you've been in the field for more than 15 years, you can add a section titled "Prior Relevant Experience" and just refer to your additional important jobs without mentioning specific dates. If you've held multiple positions within the same company, list every position--you'll want to show that you've progressed. Finally, concentrate on the description of each position--the meat and potatoes of this section—to show that you've gotten results and solved problems within the organization.
  5. Education
    The education area of your resume should include the institution's name and location, along with your degree and the year you obtained it. Beyond that, you can include educational honors, seminars and certifications, and list achievements such as projects, awards, and grade-point averages. (A GPA of 3.0 or above is worth mentioning.)
  6. Finishing Up
    Additional pertinent information, such as professional honors, awards and affiliations should be here. While you might need to provide your recruiter with professional references, it's not necessary to include these on your resume. You may also wish to include professional skills, such as languages spoken and proficiencies with computer software or hardware, in this section. Other possibilities include professional training, appointments and licenses. You should never include hobbies anywhere on your resume.
  7. Tips from MRI's Recruiters
    MRI's recruiters have highlighted 11 of the career accomplishments that most interest employers:

    11 Accomplishments Employers Want To See:

    1. Saved money
    2. Increased efficiency
    3. Cut overhead
    4. Increased sales
    5. Improved workplace safety
    6. Purchasing accomplishments
    7. New products/new lines
    8. Improved record-keeping process
    9. Increased productivity
    10. Successful advertising campaign
    11. Effective budgeting

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