To write the most distinctive resume, apply these ideas to your efforts: Write a company-tailored resume with an interview-tailored cover letter. In a tailored resume, put the personal section on top to humanize your resume and distinguish yourself from the outset. In a general resume, emphasizing the personal section could be risky since you don’t know how it will go over with the mindset of the individual companies. Your white-water rapids hobby might make one of the hirers cringe at the idea of employing someone who may spend more time injured than at work. You can stretch your experience or its importance, but you must not lie. Eliminate all self-serving self-descriptions. Don’t use phrases like “passion for customer service,” “strategic thinker with long-term vision,” “proven leadership,” “results oriented” and “ability to rise to new challenges.” Instead of self-description, use facts, incidents and numbers to reveal your good qualities. Eliminate all organization and industry-specific language or jargon. Use plain English. Concentrate on your last five to eight years. Position that experience to match the job needs of your targeted company.
Drop the affiliations section of your resume. Affiliations and memberships can be controversial, unless they’re professional affiliations important to the field. Skip the summary section. It’s usually puffery that no one buys anyway. Remember that the only acceptable job objective is to help the company get and keep customers for a profit. That is the only purpose of any job.
Do not use “I” in your resume. Write your resume in the third person. Cover letters and results letters, although written in the first person, should minimize the use of “I.” Clearly and persuasively answer the question, “Why should this organization hire me?” Never write a resume that is more than two pages. Long resumes tell the hirer that you are overly impressed with yourself, can’t prioritize and don’t get to the point.
