Resume Writing Tips: Communicate Better!

Resume writing is above all a document in which you are communicating your skills and qualifications that match as closely as possible with the prospective employer's needs. You are marketing a product (you) and you are trying to motivate the buyer (employer) to buy (call you in for a job interview).

Yet many job hunters forget the goal of the resume, they overload it with irrelevant facts until it breaks under the weight of all the words. Others believe if they include all of their important responsibilities and duties that somehow it will connect with the employer and get them the job interview. Neither idea will work.

Here are some things to consider when you begin drafting a powerful resume that will effectively communicate the right message.

1. Minimize all abbreviations and acronyms. You may think it makes you sound like you are up to speed with the latest and greatest in your career, think again. If your resume looks and sounds like a secret code rewrite it. The first person in the HR department that has to read your resume will see all the abbreviations, which you used to cram as much as possible into a one page resume, their eyes will glaze over and you resume will be tossed. Never to be seen again.

Resume Writing Tips: Communicate Better!

The same can be said for acronyms. If you need to use an acronym, only those that are widely known and toss the rest. If you are working in an industry widely know for acronyms, like the computer industry, use them as infrequently as possible.

2. Resume writing should be concise and every word should work for you. Keep personal pronouns like I, me and my out of the resume. Your resume should focus as much as possible on the needs of the employer. "I did this...I did that..." should not be in a well written resume.

3. Everything in your resume should be positive. If you left an employer because you were fired keep it out of the resume. Your challenge is how to frame the termination if asked in the job interview. In fact anything negative should not show up in a well written resume.

If you had a boss that was a tyrant, or a previous employer that treated employees like a wicked dictatorship never mention anything about these circumstances in your resume. Again, if asked in the job interview you better have a positive answer. Employers want to hire positive, can-do people and not whiners and complainers. Be sure everything you do or say falls into the positive attitude area.

4. Simple is always best in written communication. Your resume can be focused and interesting if you remember its purpose. If you have an abundance of word like a, also, an, because, the, very, many or adjectives that are undefined edit them out of your resume. Never use a term that you do not understand. You can bet you'll be asked about it in the job interview.

Keep in mind when writing your resume that you are communicating you skills and the benefits and value you will be bringing to the employer. Anything else will hinder your goal of motivating the employer to call you in for an interview.