Be sure also that the accomplishments you list support your career goals and that you tailor
them to the job you're targeting with this resume.
3. Resume items are listed in an order that doesn't consider the reader's interest.
"The Resume Ingredients Rule," set forth by Donald Asher, author of numerous resume
books (see our Q&A with him), says that information on a resume should be listed in order
of importance to the reader. Therefore, in listing your jobs, what's generally most important
is your title/position. So list in this preferred order: Title/position, name of employer,
city/state of employer, dates of employment. I can't tell you how many resumes I've seen
that list dates first. Dates can be important to some employers, but they're generally not as
important as what your position was and whom you worked for.
Education follows the same principle; thus, the preferred order for listing your education is:
Name of degree (spelled out: Bachelor of _____) in name of major, name of university,
city/state of university, graduation year, followed by peripheral information, such as minor
and GPA. If you haven't graduated yet, list your information the same way. Since the
graduation date you've listed is in the future, the employer will know you don't have the
degree yet.
By the way, the Resume Ingredients Rule is also the reason that experience and education
are listed in reverse chronological order on your resume; it's assumed that your most recent
education and experience are most important and relevant to the reader.
Also consider whether your education or your experience is your best selling point and
which should therefore be listed first. Generally, brand-new graduates list education first,
while job-seekers with a few years of experience list experience first. When job-seekers add
value to their education by attaining an MBA or other graduate degree, they often switch
education back to the more prominent position because it now becomes the hot selling point.
In fields such as science and higher education, in which education remains a more important
selling point than experience, education tends to be listed first consistently. In many
countries outside the U.S., education is also considered more important than experience.
4. Resume exposes the job-seeker to age discrimination by going too far back into the
job-seeker's job history.
The rule of thumb for someone at the senior level is to list about 15 years worth of jobs. Age
discrimination, unfortunately, is a reality, and even more likely, employers may think you're
too expensive if you list too much experience on your resume. Similarly, don't provide the
date of your college graduation if it was more than about 10 years ago. Read more in our
articles,
Resume, Cover Letter, and Interview Strategies for Older Workers and Positive
Attitude is Key When Fighting Prejudice Against Older Workers.
5. Resume buries important skills, especially computer skills, at the bottom.
There are few jobs today for which computer skills are not important. Yet many job-seekers,
even those in technology fields, tend to tack a "Computer Skills" section to the end of their
resumes. If computer skills are relevant to your field, list them in your Summary or Profile
section. That way, they'll catch the reader's eye in the first third of your resume. If you are in