Purpose of a resume
Your resume may determine whether or not you get the job you want. It deserves the best you can give. In technical fields, the resume is the key to getting an interview; therefore appeal is essential. Your resume must offer something of interest and value to a prospective employer.
When hiring, employers go through a skimming process. They look at resumes to find best fits or applicants who are appropriate to their needs. They are not generally looking for "superstars."
Most hiring is a process of narrowing down a list of applicants. It is not a positive process of locating the best qualified candidate. Instead, it's a negative process of finding the applicant with the least number of things that are wrong. Your resume could be eliminated because of inappropriate qualifications, incompatible expectations or attitudes, implied problems, and missing information.
The further your experience and education are from the theoretical ideal for a given position, the more likely your resume will be passed over.
Resume screening typically occurs on two levels. First, a non-technical person in human resources will compare the resumes against a job requisition. Comparisons will be made regarding salary and experience, technical key words, and subjective factors, such as quality and level of education.
The selected resumes are then passed along to a technical manager who assesses the work experience and determines whether to conduct a telephone or personal interview.
Goal
The goal of your resume is to convince a potential employer to spend the time, money and effort required to interview you.
The resume should not be a self-serving bit of flattery, a superficial overview, or a detailed biography. It should be aimed at getting you an interview, no more and no less.
A resume competes for attention with other resumes and outside sources. Managers will read only as far as their interest is maintained, which is why it is important to have good organization, physical appearance, and presentation.
Format
There is no "best" format for resumes. Your objectives, education and experience will dictate the best order of presentation and emphasis.
If you are a new graduate, you will want to highlight education and interests, including thesis and special projects. If you are trying to move from research into commercial product development, you will want to emphasize programming skills over publications and grants.
If you are an experienced product developer, you should highlight your work experience. The physical appearance of your resume should look as if it were done by you simply to describe your qualifications.
Consider preparing it in a word processor on your computer and making laser printed copies on plain paper. Fancy resumes give the appearance that you've been packaged for mass distribution.
If preparing your resume for faxing or electronic mail distribution, have it aligned to the left in an ASCII text format.
Length
You must describe your skills in sufficient detail so the reader will be able to determine your level of experience.
In most cases, three pages are sufficient for an individual with a bachelor's degree and up to two years of work experience. Four pages are sufficient for almost everyone else. Five pages are too long for anyone.
Length of resume depends not only on what you have to say, but also on page layout factors such as type size, font selection and margin width.
Salary
Your current salary should be included either on the resume itself, or in a cover letter.
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