If you've written a resume lately, you know that the small stuff is definitely what you sweat. Font choice, type size, which of your zillion phone numbers to put down -- I call it death by a thousand decisions.
Contrary to popular opinion, there's no rule book on resume-writing. Unlike the job application, which requires very specific information, the resume is your blank page to do what you want.
To keep from bogging down when I'm writing resumes, I use my own set of rules for the niggling small points. Here are some of the most common nigglers and how I solve them.
Font and type size. Living in a world ruled by Microsoft Word attachments, I choose only fonts that I know most readers will have: Times and Helvetica. Boring, I know. But having an employer's software spontaneously replace your zippy fonts with something else is not pretty. Except for category headers, I stick with type sizes of 12, 11 or 10 points.
Contact information. Use either your formal first name or your "friendly" first name and your last name. Then add your street address and the phone number at which you can be reached most easily. Use an e-mail address if it is your own; omit it if it is your employer's.
Summary/profile vs. objective. Easy. If you know exactly what you want to do and it fits well in a short sentence, use an objective or headline. If you're not clear about the job title of the next work, write a summary or profile statement summarizing your experience and noting the skills and expertise you want to use.
Job entries. Unless the company name is super-impressive, I start each entry with the job title, followed by the company name, the city and state, and the dates employed. If there are gaps to disguise, I might use only the years, rather than the months and years. Occasionally, I might use the number of years, rather than dates ("five years," not "1970-75").
Companies that have changed names. List the name it had when you worked there. List both names if it changed while you worked there.
Awkward or confusing job titles. Feel free to change them, within reason, to give the reader an accurate sense of what you did. For example, internal clerical positions at large corporations may carry titles such as "level II clerk--class A." After learning about the job duties, I cheerfully will change this to "senior clerical assistant" or something else that makes sense to the outside world.
Combined job titles. If you held two positions simultaneously in the same company, list both titles, using either a slash mark (/) or the word "and" between them. An alternative is to list them as separate job entries, both with the same dates of employment.
Listing colleges. If you attended more than one school before earning a degree, list only the one from which you graduated. An exception is if the interviewer will have a special interest in your attending the earlier schools.
Listing graduation dates. If the dates are recent -- say, within the last 10 to 15 years -- I generally list them. If they're older, I might omit them.
Internships. If they were part of a school program, tuck them under that entry. Otherwise, put them in the work experience section or create an internship section. When the internships are a significant part of your selling points to the next employer, put them near the top of the page.
Uncompleted school programs. List the courses completed, or state the number of years or semesters completed or left to finish. If known, list the expected graduation date.
High school. With rare exceptions, don't include high school information on a resume. If it's the only educational experience a candidate has, including it makes that point obvious. An exception would be a young person just starting out, who may have little else to put on a resume.
Licenses. When in doubt, include the number and issuing state for professional licenses.
Awards. Definitely include them if they are from work or volunteer activities; probably include them if they are from college; probably omit them if they are from high school.
Length. Go as long as it takes to give pertinent information in a format that is not overly cramped. Include your name and the page number on each additional page.
OK, that's the short list. If you get stuck on other decisions, the next-best method might involve a dartboard. Just do what you can to get your resume out the door.
- Amy Lindgren owns Prototype Career Service, a career consulting firm in St. Paul, Minn. She can be reached at alindgren@prototypecareerservice.com or at 1071 W. Seventh St., St. Paul, MN 55102.