Resume Workshop - The Very Basics

I have posted a good number of links and articles on writing and improving resumes, and certainly will continue to do so. All of these offer various levels of good advice, but I find that many of my candidates are still not sure where to start. And, I understand. Most of you can work miracles with engineering design, implement successful lean manufacturing plans, increase quality while decreasing costs, and show stunning bottom-line savings for production, plant operations and more. Yet, when it comes to sitting down at a piece of paper that is supposed to sell yourself, the creative writing and compilation process isn't what you excel at.

We work with marketing professionals for consumer goods / CPG manufacturing, and they have stunning resumes - but even marketing professionals can have the critical mistakes of too long of a resume, not enough keyword strength at the top, and losing the reader in the two minute review.

So, here is a start of my own Resume Workshop series - focused on more practical resume writing and improvement suggestions geared for the manufacturing professional. I'll try to post a few tips or how-to's frequently each month.

To begin with, the very basics. Start with pulling out your existing resume. For starters, let's look at:

How many pages?
If your resume is on more than 2 pages, start slashing. Even a senior executive in the manufacturing sector shouldn't have more than two pages. Some tips on how to accomplish this:

• Margins. Look at your document margins - are they greater than 1/2 inch all around? If yes, then move them out - .5" to 1.0" is acceptable, and anything greater than 1.0" is excess page space lost. Now, once this is accomplished, review the results. Are you on 2 pages now? Do you still have text spilling on to a 3rd page?


• Education. How many lines do you use to list your education? Your college, degree major and other pertinent information can be listed on one line, rather than the 2 to 3 lines I often see.


• Unnecessary Information. Do you still have hobbies listed on your resume? Do you have "interests" on your resume? Do you have the "References Available Upon Request" line on your document? If yes, get rid of it all. Hobbies and personal interests are commonly agreed to be unnecessary, and even a negative on resumes today. The line about references available is also unnecessary. It is commonly understood that if you are interested in a position, you will be providing references in the interview and background check process.


• Personal Information. If you have any personal information, beyond your contact information, then remove it. Not only is it a waste of valuable space on the paper, it is considered inappropriate by most hiring authorities and must be completely ignored in following all laws regarding discrimination, equal opportunity and others. Your age, marital status, and other personal information should not appear on a resume.

How are you doing with your resume now? While these are basics, I find that many of the resumes I read would be reduced from 3 to 2 pages with just these simple steps.

Next week, I'll continue with adding steps on how to decrease the volume of your resume body while increasing your resume's "sell-ability". Stay tuned.