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Resume Checklist.md

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Resume Checklist

There is no absolutely correct way to write a resume. Different fields and different jobs will have different standards, and much of it is a matter of personal preference. There are, however, some general guidelines you can follow to ensure your resume looks professional.

Resume Length:

There's lots of debate over whether resumes should be kept to one page, or allowed to extend further. It all depends on the amount of content you have. If you feel you are with holding valuable content to keep your resume to one page, you should expand to two pages. If you feel you need to pad your resume with outdated content (such as things done in high school) a one page resume will work better for you. Regardless of the length of your resume, keep all of the most important information on the top half of the first page. Busy hiring staff will skim the top half of a resume, and may not read more if you don’t grab their interest.

Types of Resumes:

There are three types of resumes. Each of them serve a different purpose and work best depending on what kind of job you’re applying for. The three types of resumes are Chronological, Functional and Combination. Whatever resume format you use, you should tailor it specifically for the job you’re applying for.

  • Chronological: List your work history in chronological order with the most recent at the top. This format is good if you’ve been in the industry for a while and have a solid work history to back it up.
  • Functional: Focus on skills and experience you've acquired over your work history. Include details of your skills at the top and work history at the bottom. This is a good format for people changing careers and/or those with a diverse work history.
  • Combination: Combination resumes let you focus on both your skills and work history. This format is best if you want a detailed resume that shows hiring managers exactly what you’ve done in the past.

General Guidelines:

  • Create a master resume and basic template resume. Use those to tailor your resume to match the job you’re applying for perfectly.
  • Use few font sizes. Using too many fonts sizes can make your resume a bit messy and chaotic. Limiting it to 3 or less is a good rule of thumb.
  • Skip the objective statement. Unless you have a good reason to include it, objective statements tend to distract from what matters and add clutter. It can also limit your options at a company.Instead of talking about what you want, you should focus on what they want.
  • Keep it professional and try not to add filler. Avoid images and colors other than black and grey, as they can make your resume busy and distract from the information on the page.
  • When putting your skills on your portfolio refrain from using percentages, stars etc (e.g. 20% css 30% python 50% html). This can be confusing and is not an adequate way of illustrating your skill level.
  • Focus on what you’ve accomplished instead of just stating your duties. For example, there’s a big difference between “baked cupcakes” and “baked 1000 uniform cupcakes each day”. Hiring managers want to know what outcomes you’ve created, not just what you’ve done before. When you can, adding big numbers is another great way to quickly illustrate what you’ve accomplished.
  • Use keywords or synonyms for those keywords they’ve used in their description/job listing and branding. This is a great way to show that you are a good fit for them and you are paying attention to what they want in an applicant.
  • Having a Highlights/Summary of Qualifications listed in the top ½ of the resume will make sure the hiring manager sees your qualifications without needing to go digging for it.
  • Similar to using matching keywords, it’s a good idea to use skills that align with what they’re asking for at the top so they’re easy to see and won't be overlooked.
  • Avoid disqualifying info. Hiring managers will throw away resumes that contain info that could make it look like they were discriminating if they know about it and don’t hire you. This includes your birth date, age, demographic, marital or family status. Even including a photo of yourself can be problematic.

Contact information:

You want to make sure you are easy to contact. Add links to your github, portfolio website, etc so you can tailor their web search of you. The following list is a good checklist for what contact information to add to your portfolio.

  • Name
  • Phone number
  • Professional email (gmail is good, no hotmail, AOL, comcast or yahoo)
  • City, State, Zip, but NOT your street address
  • Linkedin (completed profile)
  • GitHub, Bitbucket, and/or CodePen
  • Personal portfolio website

Other Information

Education:

  • Is the education/training relevant to the targeted position? There’s no need to clutter your resume with outdated and irrelevant information. All content should be directly linked to that job position.

Experience:

  • Is the work history detailed to match the targeted occupation?
  • Do the skills match the job description language?
  • Does each sentence start with an action verb?
  • Are quantitative accomplishments noted with numbers/dollar signs/percentages?

Aesthetics

  • Standard margin 1”
  • Font size 11 or 12
  • Use common fonts - Times New Roman / Arial / Calibri
  • Consistent and clear headings
  • Consistent bullet points
  • Don't overuse CAPITAL, bold, italic, or underlined text
  • Does format include 4-quadrants of 8 ½ x 11 inch paper?
  • Are there any typos?
  • Has someone reviewed your resume?