HIGH IMPACT RSUMS

A high impact resume should:

Clearly communicate what your future work performance will be. Employers are

looking for patterns of accomplishments, achievements and performance, not just

a summary of ones education and work history.

Is what you have done in the past likely to reoccur in the future for your new
employer (based on what the reader finds in your resume)?

Are you focusing on your strengths? This is your primary marketing device. Make
sure it represents you and your experience, skills and credentials effectively.

What technical or transferable skills are being showcased in your descriptions?

Be employer-centered not self-centered.

Who is my audience?

What are my objectives?

How do I want to be perceived?

Be visually pleasing and easy to read with a clear and consistent format.

Is your pattern of performance easy to grasp in the first 10-20 seconds?

Did you create good white/gray balance; i.e. ensure the balance between the print
and the non-print in the document. Make sure your margins are consistent and are
set at between .8" to 1".

Be well organized, eliminating all unnecessary information? Remember the

fundamental question that serves as the criteria for information that is presented:
Does this item represent high value/interest to the reader?

Use specific language that demonstrates achievement not just descriptors of job

functions. This allows the reader to visualize you clearly in the position.

Have a confident, positive and enthusiastic tone, but be within the realm of reality.

Use bold, bullets, underlining and italics sparingly. They lose their effectiveness

when overused (remember that less is more).

Be printed out on rsum quality paper.

If you fax or email your rsum, be sure to follow up with hard-copy on rsum
paper.

Be PERFECT free of spelling, typing, spacing, and grammatical or punctuation

errors.

HIGH IMPACT RSUMS

CV vs. Rsum
CV International only

Rsum

Contains personal data

No personal data (illegal questions)

Must be in reverse chronological order

Jobs can be arranged by categories

All jobs are necessary to showcase

Only jobs pertinent to the objective

are necessary to include

Length is less important (can be more

than two pages)

Length normally 1or 2 pages (can add a

1 or 2 page addendum)

Used primarily as presentation of data

Used primarily as a marketing tool

Common Content Mistakes

Using I, pronouns and/or articles

Writing in the third person

Using responsible for or duties include, creating a passive tone rather than

active tone

Repeating words redundantly throughout the rsum (USE synonyms)

Inconsistent verb tenses

Formatting Mistakes

Font size that is either too small or too large

Choosing many font styles; bolding too much/little

Page length, margins too wide/narrow

Ensuring Electronic Viability

Use the toolbar or dropdown menus for all your formatting. Do not use the space
bar and tab key to move text. Use of space bar and tab key to move text can
cause the document to come unformatted in electronic transmission (i.e. when you
send your rsum, the formatting may come undone and what the reader will see
will often be a mess).
(Developed by Mary E. Hayward, M.Ed., 1996, revised with Mary Ellen Liseno, MA, 2010)