One item we see a lot in our office, especially the Placement Officer’s office, are resumes.  We are a temporary employment agency as well we offer resume building and updates to clients so we know a thing or two about what a resume should contain.

Need some tips?

1. Spelling and Grammar: If a company you are applying for sees spelling errors, that could stop your resume from getting any further consideration.  Spell check is not perfect so have a second or even third pair of eyes review it for you. It’s easy to not notice simple mistakes.

2. Length: Your resume should only be 3 pages at tops! Even if you have worked for a long time, you do not have to list every job you have had since you were sixteen.  Job experiences should be listed from current to oldest with about 4-5 bullet points of what your tasks were. You do not need to explain task you did in detail. Don’t be wordy, keep to the point and

3. Dates:  Keep your resume in chronological order.  When listing the dates of your employment, include the month and year of work for the beginning and end date of the job. A resume could be filtered based on the lack of date information.

4. Temporary Employment: List it! Potential employers will like to see that between long term jobs that you were willing to work and keep improving your skills. You don’t have to list each place you worked but what general position you held and tasks you did.

5. Skills:  A great way to grab the attention of a recruiter is to list your top skills at the top of your resume. These skills should be ones you have and they should match skills mentioned in the job posting (if you have them).

Your resume is looked at for a VERY short amount of time so it needs to be clear, concise and accurate!

If you need help, we have staff who can help you out!