Free Resume Writing Advice

This free resume writing advice is provided to increase your awareness and understanding of what a resume is and the sorts of information that should be provided to potential employers. Rather than give you a “shopping list” of information you should include (see tips on writing resumes) in your resume, this article will focus on business realities which should be considered prior to writing your resume.

First a resume is essentially a summary of your skills, education and professional career record that is compressed into one or two pages. “Why so short?” Because you have about 90 seconds to make a positive impression before your hard earned efforts are headed to the nearest trash can. “Not fair you say?” “That’s why you need to get some free resume writing advice to ensure your resume meets the employer’s needs.

To ensure your resume gains the consideration it deserves, you need to clearly understand the skills, experience and qualifications you have and how they match the position you are interested in. If your abilities and experience is not a close match or transferable to the position advertised, don’t apply, you are only wasting you time and setting yourself up for disappointment.

If you decide your qualities are a close match to the position you are interested in, you need to promote this in clear, focused writing. “A faint heart never won a fair lady or gentleman” – as the case maybe, so show the employer why you are the best person for the job.

Free resume writing advice is about helping you to promote your qualities realistically, not about bragging or being self opinionated which are definite turn offs. Also you need to remember to write a new resume for every position you apply for to ensure it is tailored to meet the specific need of that employer or industry.

A useful exercise which helps you write effective resumes is to imagine you’re the employer and you have had a hard weekend. It is Monday morning and with coffee in hand you are faced with a pile of resumes to wade through, hoping you will find and short list suitable applicants to interview for the position of eg office clerk. By understanding the employer’s viewpoint, this helps you apply free resume writing advice more effectively when writing your application.

Remembering that as an employer you have a business to run, would descriptions such as - “worked in ABC Office” spark your interest to read further, or would you be more influenced by descriptions such as “extensive experience in office administration with high proficiency across Microsoft Office suite and diary management” Same applicant, different perspective. The first is from the applicant’s view of the world. The second is directed at meeting an employer’s need eg experience and proficiency in key activities of an office clerk.

The above points are to reflect upon and consider before writing your resume for the position you are interested in. I won’t kid you, resumes can be very time consuming. Free resume writing advice and my other article on “tips on writing resumes” can help you learn about what makes a good and poor resume. If you would like additional help on writing resumes, either contact a local professional or see my links page on trusted quality providers who can write one on your behalf.