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 This is going to be a quick and easy - how to write a resume in five simple steps. Well, maybe the steps are not so simple. That's for you to decide. But we do promise that we will hold this tutorial to just five simple steps.
We could talk about the importance of a resume in getting a good job. We could talk about how it's an important advertisement that you'll leverage to sell your skills. We could talk about the importance of holding the reader's attention. We could talk about a lot of things, but when it gets down to it, you really just want to know how to write a resume. So here goes...
How to Choose a Resume Format
The first thing you need to consider is which resume style or resume format to use. Generally, there are three styles to choose from, each offering a different advantage to the job hunter. The important thing is to figure out which style will work best in your situation.
If you start out with the wrong resume style, you'll have a considerable re-write chore ahead of you. So start out on the right foot and pick the most appropriate resume format, using the following information and links as a guide:
Functional Resume Style
The functional resume style is a good format for students that are right out of college or anyone that has very little work experience. This format emphasizes your skills, knowledge and accomplishments. Unfortunately, this style also makes some employers uncomfortable since you do not include a formal account of your work history.
Chronological Resume Style
Perhaps the most traditional of the three resume styles, the chronological resume style puts your work experience up front in reverse chronological order. This makes potential employers or recruiters feel more at ease about your work history. But if you have employment gaps in your history or are looking to make a career change, then there are better choices.
Combination Resume Style
Arguably the most marketable of all three resume styles. The combination resume style leads with a functional resume format, but then it finishes up with a chronological account of your work experience. This resume format gives you the best of the earlier mentioned styles, but is really more appropriate for someone that has lots of experience they can pull from.
Assess Your Strengths and Weaknesses
The second step in writing a resume involves to assessing your strengths and weaknesses. This is another one of those steps that people skip and probably regret it later. If you've been working a while, pull out some of the feedback you've gotten in the past. Whether it is a Myers Briggs personality test, a survey that your peers have completed for you or just a recent performance appraisal, take it out and refresh you memory. If you're right out of school, then take a look at the courses you've completed.
Think about all this feedback and then factor in a couple of more things. Reflect on compliments that people have paid you. Make a list of what you think are your strengths and weaknesses. List out the kind of work have you done in the past that you've enjoyed. Look for pattern and meditate on all that you've gathered together. This exercise should give you a pretty good idea of your strengths and weaknesses, without having to go through a detailed career assessment.
Look at Resume Samples
The third step in this how to write a resume "tutorial" is to look at some resume samples to help you generate fresh ideas. Preferably, you should be looking at samples that are of the same format that you've chosen in the first step of this tutorial. We've at least one example of each style in our article on Resume Writing Samples.
The important thing to look out for when examining resume samples is the way things are worded. You shouldn't count on "stealing" a resume from someone else and plunking your information into their resume. It really doesn't work that way.
Looking at resume samples is a good exercise that can help spark ideas or remind you of something you've done in the past that can be incorporated into your resume. Chances are you've done something similar in your career. So resume examples are good for helping generating ideas for writing resume content.
Leverage Resume Wizards
There are really two things that you can leverage when using a resume wizard. The first is the fact that these wizards literally walk you through the process of creating a resume. Through a series of questions, they can help you choose both a professional looking layout and appropriate content categories.
Unfortunately, resume wizards don't always allow you to choose the order in which the information appears. This is a very important shortcoming of most wizards because you want to write a resume that sells. The resume that sells most effectively is the one you've picked in the very first step of this "how to." This means that you may have to rearrange the content around a bit to match the format you need. You need to do it or that pretty looking resume will never reach its full potential.
Proofread the Resume
Once you've picked a resume style, assessed your career, looked through some samples and leveraged the abilities of a resume wizard, you are now ready to write a resume that gets results. Unfortunately this is a step we can't help you with. Only you know where you've worked and what you've accomplished. We can give you one tip - your resume is no place to be modest. Give yourself credit for the things you've accomplished.
Once you've think you're finished, forget about your resume for at least one day. Put it aside and don't look at it. After some time has passed, pull out the resume and read it again. This passage of time will help you pick up mistakes you've made, making proofreading the resume much easier.
Once you're satisfied that the resume is ready to send out to prospective employers, let a trusted friend take a look at it. Try to pick a friend that is also a good writer. When you ask then for this favor, ask them only to critique what you've written. Ask them to trust that you've put the resume together in the right order. In short, you only want them to proofread the resume's content, not the format.
We hope this guide was helpful in teaching you how to write a resume. It is by no means an easy process to go through. Fortunately, we don't have to update our resumes frequently, so the effort is well worth the time. Besides, the reward will be even sweater when you land that new job So just keep this in mind - making the effort to write a resume correctly the first time will save you hours of frustration later on.
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