Hello, everyone. I apologize for the lapse in posts. We had some technical difficulties, that I think we have resolved. During our last chat, the discussion on resume preparation was focused on the items that you must bring to the table just to prepare the document that you want to tell a story to the various employers. Today, I want to continue the discussion & discuss how to prepare a resume that focuses on you and what you can bring to an employer. How do I suggest that we continue this process? Let’s continue the process or the procedural aspect of writing the document.
1. Capitalization: Your name, address, telephone number, zip code, etc., should only require initial capitalization. Any references to the names of the employer or your title should also consist of initial capitalization, as well. You do not have to have a fully capitalized name in order to procure a position. There are some other things that we can do to make your name stand out on the resume paper. Often, we prepare our own resumes. When we do so, there is a tendency to want the employer to see in us exactly what we see, which is a good employee. There is nothing wrong with wanting a future employer to see the best in you. He or she just does not need to see it in all caps. Also, all caps, in this electronic world, is akin to shouting in a text message. It says, look at me, please - - and look at me harder than you look at others. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be recognized quickly, either. You just want the words in the job description and the resume, overall, to do that job for you. You don’t want to shock the employer into hiring you. You want to create a strong interest. You do that by delivering a strong resume.
2. Punctuation: Everything that I suggest is important. Punctuation is so important that it can never be overlooked. If you do not understand much else, you have to understand the comma, the semi-colon, the colon and the period. You must know what role each plays in a sentence; that includes sentences in a resume. So, let’s begin. A comma and a semi-colon require one space between it and the word in the document. So, always place one space after a comma and after a semi-colon. No matter where you are on the resume, you must include a space for both. You must include two spaces after a period and a colon. Always! It is not difficult to follow this construct, especially if your legal writing professor was strict in his or her grading and did not allow you to fall short in small (punctuation problems) and large (paragraph and organization) scale matters.
3. The Comma: Often, there are several ways to determine whether your document requires a comma. Anytime there is a shift in a sentence, try using a comma. For example, if you stop mid-way in a sentence, just as I did, to explain something in the sentence, then you use a comma to show a change in the tenor of a sentence. If you decide to create a list of items, those items are separated by a comma. When you want the reader to pause, and really consider a specific word, phrase, or comment, or when you want to provide emphasis (or, power) in a sentence, then you should use a comma. You are the master of your comma, so you decide how you want the reader to adjust to things you find important in your resume.
4. Semi-colon: use the semi-colon to separate two clauses; a dependent clause and an independent clause. A dependent clause cannot stand on its on as a sentence, but an independent clause, can, as it is a sentence that can stand on its own.
5. Italics: You do not need to use italics in a resume, except, perhaps for the purpose of highlighting a word or phrase that will make the reader say, “gee, golly, wow.” Examples? You were responsible for a balancing a $50 million dollar budget. You were the supervisor for 300 employees. These are major accomplishments and employers’, regardless of type, will be impressed by your ability to properly work with and around money (and, people).
6. Symmetry: I am going to mention this aspect of resume writing right now and will come back to it tomorrow, for a more in-depth discussion. The one thing that symmetry stands for is balance. This, in its simplest form means, do the right and left sides, and the top and bottom sides, look even. Or, are there too many words on one side of the resume, or too many numbers on the other side of the resume. It is not something that you will automatically notice, but it is something that an employer will notice immediately because he or she is not used to looking at your resume on a consistent basis.
Well, I will stop here and pick up tomorrow, with more thoughts on what goes in the resume and how you organize it when you finally include it in the document.
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