Resume Guide

First Impression - Customize

Your first contact with a prospective employer or headhunter is usually through an emailed resume. It is a traditional business document, which is supposed to supply standard information—name, contact information, location, work experience, and education. An emailed resume has to be written and formatted to interest prospective employers in the first 1-3 inches, or they will not read further. Yes, a brief cover letter is often appropriate, but most people go to the resume first to see if you meet their base-line requirements before reading the cover letter. Clarity and brevity are important, as is organization, writing style, and correct spelling and grammar. Ergonomically speaking, the viewer wants to see your name and where you are located first.

The trick to getting noticed is customizing. If you are responding to a position posted on a prospective employer’s site or a design job posting site, the description will tell you what the prospective employer is looking for someone to do and sometimes what they want the person to have done. If your resume does not present your experience in light of what they are looking for, you will not get a phone call or email from them expressing interest in you. If you are sending your resume to an organization you are interested in and not to a job posting, write a resume that will give them a reason to call you, and the reason cannot (only) reside in the cover letter.

The following describes an American-style resume format. People from elsewhere aiming to work in the US are encouraged to follow it.