This seems like a pretty simple question. What do you think?

Well, I think there are different strokes for different folks. One resume definitely does not fit all. If you happen to be a college student then your resume might actually fall into a more basic structure. With experienced professionals there is a bit more flexibility when choosing the appropriate resume format to display their experience. Of course, we all know there are chronological and functional resumes but there are many variations of each.

The first thing to remember when putting together your resume is to just display the most important information first. I know it goes without saying…although with that being said why doesn’t everyone do this? What part of your background/experience should the recruiter see first to keep them looking at the rest of your resume? Remembering that they are typically comparing your resume to the qualifications for a specific position and to many other candidates.  Are you a college student applying for a position as an engineer? Then it’s important to show the recruiter that you’re completing your degree in a specific area of engineering and then make yourself even more attractive by listing the internships you’ve taken on that are relevant to your field of study. You can of course add any other positions that may help sell yourself to the employer.  Your objective statement could be as simple as “Seeking a position as an Industrial Engineer.” Nothing fancy just straight to the point.  With college grads, a recruiter is looking at the objective to see where you’re looking to start your career, what type of job.  Other sections such as Awards/Honors, Languages, Associations/Organizations can be showcased at the bottom of your resume.

Now, if you’ve been working for the past 15 years, give or take a year, then you probably have quite a bit of experience to showcase. While your degree may be a prerequisite to apply for a particular position, your experience is likely most important at this point in your career. With the exception of professional careers like doctors, nurses, lawyers, engineers etc. For these types of careers a specific degree is obviously always required.  For everyone else, you should showcase your accomplishments, your related job history and then top it off with your education information.

To kick-off your resume, you could certainly use one of those short and to the point objective statements  but you would probably serve yourself better by replacing the objective with a summary section highlighting your qualifications. Then following this section with your relevant employment history.  This summary section can also be used to highlight major career accomplishments.  If you have been in the same field for most of your career then you might have certain job duties that carry over from job to job.  You typically don’t want to duplicate these same duties over and over from job to job on your resume.  For instance, I am a recruiter and although I’ve held a variety of positions at different levels, they all focus on recruiting candidates in some form.  If I list over and over in each position that I interviewed candidates, sourced and reviewed resumes then it may not clearly portray a picture of career progression.  Interviewing candidates, sourcing and reviewing resumes can be included in a career summary section and then listed underneath each position would be the major accomplishments achieved in each of these positions or the job duties that are unique to each of these positions.

Remember that your resume is like an ad or brochure marketing YOU.  With that being said be sure to write the details of your resume in a way that best sells YOU to potential employers and recruiters.  List the sections of your resume in the order that you would like to present your information, remembering that it’s best to showcase the most important information first to keep the recruiter reading. With the amount of resumes a recruiter receives, you know we look for any reason to reduce the number of candidates we need to screen.