Choose a standard typeface, like Arial, that is easy to read, common, and modern-looking.\u00a0 Stick with 10-12 point size type for ease of reading.<\/p>\n
Margins: <\/strong><\/p>\n Don\u2019t skimp – you want to use the common ones (1 inch all around) so that you do not look as if you are trying to cram in your entire life. And do not waste space by indenting sections or jobs into blocks that are only a portion of the normal page width.<\/p>\n Whitespace: <\/strong><\/p>\n This refers to both the margins and the internal white areas within the document \u2013 use whitespace effectively to make it easy to read and clearly organized.<\/p>\n Formatting: <\/strong><\/p>\n The most common and thus most understood by applicant tracking systems is a Word document, but skip the resume templates Word offers.<\/p>\n Stick with the basics:<\/p>\n If you want a fancy-looking resume to hand out, that is your call.\u00a0 But, the more formatting you have, the more likely that any resume you send electronically will turn into a garbled mess at the other end.<\/p>\n When you add color, lines, boxes around some or all of the text, logos and other formatting, your resume may never see a human.<\/p>\n Length: <\/strong><\/p>\n If you have 8-10 years of work experience, keep your resume to one page.\u00a0 If you have more than that, keep it to two pages.<\/p>\n One to two pages are still the most common resume lengths in the private sector. Going beyond one or two pages tends to make hiring managers think you cannot focus on what is most important.\u00a0 There are exceptions for academics and research scientists who may have longer lists of publications than most of us.<\/p>\n Style: <\/strong><\/p>\n The most common is reverse chronological, where your most recent job is at the top and previous ones follow.\u00a0 Most hiring managers dislike functional resumes, where you group your experience into types of work, as they tend to think these cover bad problems.<\/p>\n Spelling and Grammar: <\/strong><\/p>\n These are critical, no matter what your career goal is.\u00a0 Errors\u00a0 make hiring managers wonder if you will do a sloppy job at work.<\/p>\n Surveys regularly show that many hiring managers will disqualify applicants for spelling errors because they think that your resume is you “putting your best foot forward.”<\/p>\n Have other people check your resume for this – even good writers make errors at times.\u00a0 Do not rely on spell-check, you may have the right spelling but the wrong word.<\/p>\n Think about your “customer” — the potential employer. Focus on the benefits to the employer. Make it clear to employers that they would benefit from hiring you.<\/p>\n Besides your name, give one phone number and one email address.\u00a0 If you have a LinkedIn profile or personal website or other social media with your work history on it, add that link here too.<\/p>\n If you have some top level certifications, such as PMP or CISSP, you may want to list one after your name.\u00a0 Some people looking for government contracting jobs also add their security clearance basics (e.g. TS\/SCI) in this section.<\/p>\n This is the short<\/strong> version of why the employer should be interested in you<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n Skip an objective – that is all about you.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n A summary is rather like your “elevator speech<\/a>” – a mini-history of your skills, knowledge and unique attributes.\u00a0 It should be directly relevant to the target job and employers you are interested in.\u00a0 Your goal here is to get the employer interested enough to keep reading your resume and to contact you.<\/p>\n If you are looking at government contracting roles and did not put your clearance in with your contact information, add it at the end (TS\/SCI\/full poly is fine.)<\/p>\n Usually it is a waste to list skills here.\u00a0 Demonstrate your teamwork or leadership in the achievements you list under your jobs.\u00a0 Most skill lists are redundant and ignored.<\/p>\n This is the “meat” of your resume.\u00a0 Here you will cover your work experience, focusing on your achievements as they are directly related to the work you seek.<\/p>\n If you worry that you will be ignored because you are a veteran, that is unlikely.\u00a0 Current veterans are regarded positively in general, and most organizations seek to hire people who have military experience and<\/em> meet their job needs.\u00a0 However, if it did happen, would you really want to work for someone who did not want a veteran?<\/p>\n Titles:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n Try to make each one something that is close to the titles of jobs which interest you in your field.\u00a0 Recently I was reviewing a senior NCO\u2019s resume and he had both his rank and Operations as his title in his recent jobs as he was focusing on operations management roles.\u00a0 Instead of \u201cSergeant Major, Operations\u201d and such, we re-did them as follows (achievements omitted)<\/p>\n Senior Operations Manager Do not, however, go for titles like CEO, President, Vice-President.\u00a0 In the private sector, these carry specific roles which do not exist in the military.\u00a0 Using such titles indicates you have not really understood the career you seek.<\/p>\n In some cases you may want to add one line that explains the mission or uniqueness of the assignment, if so, do this right under the title.<\/p>\n Then move into a bulleted list of your achievements.<\/p>\n List your degrees first, starting with the most advanced degree you have, like this:<\/p>\n MBA, Human Capital Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. If you have a BA or BS, do not list your AA or AS degree or your HS diploma.<\/p>\n List any certifications which are important to the work you seek.<\/em><\/p>\n Add in any training you have which is directly relevant to the job you seek.\u00a0 Omit training that is not relevant to your target job\/field, and also training which is more than 7-10 years old.<\/p>\n If the work you want to do requires specific technical skills, add a list of them.\u00a0 Do not put in every technology you ever worked with — just those which you are skilled at, are current, and required.\u00a0 This is also true for language skills.<\/p>\n Got personal or valor awards?\u00a0 Put them on your LinkedIn profile if you want but they do not really add much to most resumes as few people will understand them.<\/p>\n Skip personal information unless it is really related to the work you want.\u00a0 If you want to go into sports marketing, the fact that you are a top-ranked tennis player might be of interest.\u00a0 But usually personal info only takes space you could better use to demonstrate your value.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t mention your references, or even that they are available on request.\u00a0 Employers know that and will ask if they want them.<\/p>\n Your resume is a sales document promoting your services as a solution to the employer’s needs, not a wish list of what will make you happy. That’s it!<\/p>\n Patra Frame<\/a> has extensive experience in human capital management and career issues in large and small corporations. She is an Air Force vet and charter member of The Women In Military Service for America Memorial.\u00a0 Patra speaks and writes regularly on job search and career issues through her company Strategies for Human Resources (SHRInsight)<\/a> and PatraFrame.com<\/a> where she blogs advice for veterans and other job seekers. Watch Patra’s ClearedJobs.net job search tips videos on YouTube, and follow her on Twitter @2Patra. Job-Hunt Veterans’ Job Search Expert Vet Patra Frame describes how to create an effective resume for your transition to civilian employment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":24333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"old-site-template.php","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[100,79,87],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5436","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-veteran-and-transitioning-military-jobs","category-cover-letters-resumes","category-resume-tips-examples"],"last_modified_at":"","edited_by":"Elly Stauffer","acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5436","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5436"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5436\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25050,"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5436\/revisions\/25050"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5436"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5436"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.job-hunt.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5436"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
The Resume Outline<\/h2>\n
1. Contact Information<\/h3>\n
2. Summary<\/h3>\n
\n
3. Experience<\/h3>\n
\n
\nOperations Manager
\nOperations and Safety Manager
\nOperations Team Lead<\/p><\/blockquote>\n4. Education and Training<\/h3>\n
\nBA, History, Purdue University<\/p><\/blockquote>\n5. Technical Skills (optional)<\/h3>\n
6. Awards<\/h3>\n
7. Personal Information<\/h3>\n
NO<\/em> References!<\/h3>\n
Bottom Line<\/h3>\n
\n![\"Patra](\"https:\/\/job-hunt.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Patra-Frame-6.jpg\")
About the author…<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMore about this author<\/a>…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"