- Titles
- Never use a heading like Resume or Vitae, or Fact Sheet. Your
name should be the first and most prominent item on the page.
Employers know its a resume, they've seen one before. Don't be
redundant.
- Lies
- A resume exploits your good points and minimizes your bad points.
Don't cross the line - What if the thing you lied about is the
main reason you were hired!
- Personal
Info - Sex, age, height, weight, marital status, race,
hobbies, health, Religion, National Origin. No one should care
about these items, but in the UK they do, so just include the
relevant.. If you do not you run the risk of looking like you
are just filling up space. Leave out the unnecessary.
- Photos
- I like them for creative, on-line resumes, but they are a no-no
for a traditional hard copy resume unless you are a model or actor.
- Salary
Request - The time for this is at the first or second
interview, not on your resume. You could shoot too low or too
high, and a lot of times your pay is based to some extent on how
you present yourself at the interview.
- Fancy
Trimmings - Binders, pictures, written testimonials,
references, availability, reason for leaving, past salaries, charts,
graphs, purple paper. All are bad. This is supposed to be a professional
looking document. Remember that its your abilities not the attachments
that are supposed to attract attention on your resume.
Words
of Wisdom
Normal CV's are generally only one page long. However, for medical
positions this ruling is generally relaxed. Try to fill all pages
with items that are appropriate for the job at hand, and leave everything
else out. Your resume should be as tightly focused as possible.
Expand on those things that the employer will find
relevant and toss everything else out.
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