The modern resume

[msmemory_archive]

I know what my biases are, but I haven't interviewed anywhere lately, and haven't interviewed more than a dozen candidates or so for my employer.

[Poll #1127303]

Comments

[goldsquare.livejournal.com]

You, of course, know my area of expertise. It matches your husbands. :-)

I prefer that experience be listed along with some notion of what wonderful things that YOU GOT DONE at each job. I am always suspicious of "we implemented" or whatever. If the noun ain't singular, you got 'splainin to do.

You might want to peruse how your name comes up in Google, and on professional sites like Linked In, and do some cleaning up.

[dreda.livejournal.com]

A point of clarification on things I did not check.

Cell phone if it is in fact the way to reach you, or one of the best ways.
Volunteer work if it is germane to your skills and can be explained in a way that makes it mesh with other examples of those skills on your resume.

I can't remember the last time I saw a one-page resume except on really fresh-out-of-college folks.

[kls-eloise.livejournal.com]

I've been involved here with interviewing for legal assistants, paralegals, and attorneys. Our folks definitely seem to go on a "less is more" philosophy. They like one page resumes, don't care about objectives, volunteer work, professional associations (other than obviously, the bar), or any of that stuff. They want to see what the candidates have done, and be able to interpret how they'll fit into what we want them to do. They want to see solid work at reputable firms, in areas that show they'll be able to do our kind of work. The rest is just dross for some very, very busy people to wade through.

[gyzki.livejournal.com]

What others have said, plus:
a) I would only expect a list of software skills for a technical position, not an administrative or executive one.

b) How do you cope if there are other people out there with the same name? Me, I've given up on pre-empting or second-guessing, and let them figure it out (or not). (And here I thought my first name was fairly rare, but apparently I share it with a cousin of the famous Band of Brothers, among others.)

[dsrtao]

You need a physical address, an email address, and a phone number which either reaches you or a voicemail box or answering machine which is private to you. You don't need to specify it as cell or landline or voicemail-only, but you do need to check it at least twice a day.

If you have membership in appropriate professional associations, you should list them.

Any job that shows something useful about your career progression goes on. If you had a paying job which isn't useful (McD's) leave it off. If you had a volunteer job that was useful (librarian internship) it can stay.

"References available upon request" is a waste of space -- of course you have references, and of course you aren't putting them here.

Skills lists should cover both software and formal methods that might not be obvious.

[the-nita.livejournal.com]

I'd only put the volunteer experience & nonprofessional stuff on if I either needed to demonstrate what I was doing when I was out of work or if I was trying to get into a field that I didn't have paying work history for.

[peregrinning.livejournal.com]

I think "working phone number, working email address, and working post address" are sufficient. I would not give out my cell phone number on a resume unless I was completely out of work, or self-employed.

Once you have significant experience after college, any minor jobs fall off the back. However, any temp work that is relevant, or any temp positions that explain a gap in the years you have worked, should be included.

Most librarian/information analyst resumes I have seen include a "skills list" of the databases or cataloging programs they're familiar with.

More to come. :-)

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

On objectives: even though a lot of people recommend that you have one on your resume, to my mind it falls more properly into the category of things you discuss in a cover letter.

[baron-steffan.livejournal.com]

This is of immediate interest to me as well, since I haven't submitted a resume in a decade, and since it's been something of a frippery in my field for most of my career, which has mostly been "pharmacist at independent mom-and-pop drugstore". That's always been pretty much a handshake, "I like the cut of your jib, son" kind of arrangement.

[hungrytiger]

I keep my resume regularly up-to-date and have had a colleague of mine, who teaches classes on resume writing, give it a couple of once-overs in which she was pretty impressed by the format and layout (which was nonetheless tweaked based on her coupld of suggestions). I'd be happy to send you a word or PdF copy of mine to use as a template, if you desired.

[cellio]

General comment: if and only if it's relevant. Volunteer work related to your career yes; volunteer work just to show that you're a good, well-rounded person no. Web site if it's part of your professional image, not if not.

It's been a long time since I've seen a one-page resume. That certainly shouldn't be a restriction for someone with as much experience as you have. (Caveat: I don't know the norms of your field.)

[kimberlycreates.livejournal.com]

If any of the things I consider optional directly relate to the work you're applying for, and convey a sense professionalism, then they would be appropriate. If you you really want/need to go to two pages, I'd put the meaty stuff on page one and the optional/older stuff on page two. Either way, my personal feeling is that if it doesn't relate directly to the work you're apply for, it doesn't belong on the resume. If that means there's a huge gap in the timeline, then I would divide my resume into "Relevant Experience" and "Other Experience" -- or find a way to spin the "other" stuff so that it's relevant. That's my take on resumes, at least.