Honestly, style trumps substance and design-rich, formatting, and crisp writing will always fair better than basic words on paper.

No need to get carried away with color, links, and fancy fonts – the objective is still to convey a clear and easy to understand message about why you are the best candidate ever for the open position.

Boring biographies (like those of just a few years ago, appear aged and perform far, far, worse than a carefully crafted success story.

The idea has some merit but the danger is that a reader of such a document might conclude that the candidate is living out of his or her car, not the stability desired by an employer.

To add to the confusion of including addresses, is the simply fact that hardly anyone writes to anyone today.  Most contact is by telephone and I recommend including only a single telephone number on the resume (not two) and not including a fax number either.

Each individual must make a decision on including their mailing address and what telephone number to include.  I would recommend including a mailing address and just one telephone number. Since including multiple telephone numbers (or multiple email addresses) just forces readers to choose how to contact you.

So with only a 1 in 5 change of getting the job you interview, the odds are not in your favor and you may be rejected.

Big deal (of course it is at the time) but talk to anyone successful and listen to their stories about their failures. Each failure is an opportunity to learn and grow.

If you must make a change – try adding a PS to the cover letter saying something like: “I just wanted to note that I am an avid tennis player” but only if the ad suggests something like “…tennis players preferred…”

First:  Have a great résumé.  With 95% of all résumés in circulation poorly written or poorly constructed, those few that are well done actually stand out and move quickly to the top of the pile.

Second:  Quit watching TV or playing with your toys.  If you spend 8 hours per day looking for work or responding to advertisements, you will get interviews and if you get interviews, you will likely get a job offer.

Third:  Just remember that employers know nothing about you until they see your résumé – heck, they don’t even know you are available.  With just 10 to 20 seconds to make a great impression, you can easily see why others (perhaps others less qualified) are getting interviews and you are not.

Fourth:  Read your résumé out loud to family or friends.  If they are not impressed, then it is likely that an employer will not be impressed.

Summary:  It is amazing how hard work brings good luck.

Dr. Jerry

719.447.1147

With about 15% of the population either unemployed or running out of benefits or financial resources, the need to fight for attention today is the greatest it has ever been.  In life, style trumps substance.  With a résumé you’ve got to look great as well as sound great.  But that does not mean violating EEOA rules by including a photograph of yourself on your résumé or wasting time and a good deal of money on verbal résumés – frankly, the audience is still those who read documents.

Respect their time by making your résumé not only short and factual, but be certain that your résumé is not some cookie-cutter from a template.

Content must always be short and tight – much like Joe Friday and his great line “Just the facts, please.”

Engineer that write like engineers or IT professionals that can’t write without a long list of acronyms or other such gibberish are shooting themselves in the foot every time they send out a poorly constructed résumé for the résumé of today is not the old work history or biography of yesterday – they must be a marketing tool.

Look at the ads in the newspaper that grab your attention.  Its not the words that work, it is the white space.

“How to write a resume in minutes.” – Sorry, but the typical professional needs about 4 hours to do a good job with a draft.  All you would get “in minutes” is a boiler-plate document that would look and read like almost every other resume in circulation.  How are you going to stand out if you look like everyone else?

“Great Cover(ing) Letters”  - A cover letter from a book is not you, only a professional who understands who you are – hopefully from a telephone interview and not some silly ‘questionnaire’ – can write a cover letter that collect introduces YOUR resume.

“$20, $30, $40, $50, $60…resumes.” Of course that is possible – when someone is sitting at home and just copying from a list of occupations.  While you would not got to a bargain ‘brain surgeon,’  you should not go to a bargain typist to have your resume created.

A good resume will cost between $150 and $300. A high price does not mean higher value – just higher marketing costs.

Good resume writers have 10 to 20 years of experience and have worked with people from all walks of life.

Give your resume writer these tests:

1.  How long have you been in business?

2.  How many resumes have you written?

3.  Have you ever worked with someone in the (insert your industry here)?

4.  What are some of the key elements to working with someone in the (insert your industry here)?

5.  Are you the person who will do the interview?

6.  Are you the person will write the resume?

7.  Do you charge extra for multiple pages?  (Note:  many that recommend 2-page resumes actually charge for the second page.)

8.  Are you now or have you ever been a member of the Professional Association of Resume Writers? (Doesn’t prove anything except a desire to appear professional)

9.  Do you hold any Resume credentials (CPRW or CPCC)?

10. What are your academic credentials?

11.  What else qualifies you to write my resume?

12.  What was your most interesting assignment?

The result is a poor reader experience.

It turns a short document into a violation of the reader.

It diminishes the credibility of the candidate.

So how do you get around this issue?   Under any word document, pull down the “File” menu and open ‘Properties.’  There you can stuff as many key words as possible without making your resume read poorly.