

Ask HN: Tips For Making A Great Resume? - razerbeans

Summer has finally arrived and many college students are filing out of classes and beginning a frantic search for summer internships and jobs to hold them over for the next year. I happen to be one of them. However, due to the economy, I was not able to return for my internship at the business I had been working at the past several years during this summer. This has left me out in search of other jobs in my area, but without any solid resume as I still have yet to update it.<p>Since it has been a while since I have taken a crack at updating my resume I was wondering if any HNers had any tips/suggestions/links as far as creating great resumes are concerned. Also, since many of you are business owners, do you have any advice as for as dos/don'ts for potential hires and their resumes?
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kunjaan
1\. Use Action words : Use words like Designed, Implemented instead of words
like Learned.

2\. Put down other interests section : I have talked to a lot of employers
about my hobbies. Many people say this is a bad idea but from my personal
experience, it has worked like a charm.

3\. Do not exaggerate on your resume : If you were not involved in making X
decision which was a crucial part of the project, do not claim credit.

4\. Short and Descriptive Action sentences : Instead of "I put together an
interactive site" write " Designed a website that uses whatever"

5\. If you are a software engineer, write down the software method used in
your previous team. I have had conversations with managers that didn't adopt X
method or the ones that did and either ways it has helped me.

6\. Write down, Learn and be prepared to discuss the business impact. Designed
X feature for X product is not adequate. What was the problem that it solved?

7\. Use consistent design : If your dates were on the right column for a
section, use that for everything else. If your position was after the company
for the first one then use that for every single position.

8\. Do not forget to mention that References will be furnished upon request.

9\. Do not forget to write your objective that you are looking for interns. I
have had people call me up to interview for full time.

10\. Try to buy domain for your last name so that you could have
firstname@lastname.com or use your colleges email id. This is just my personal
opinion but @yahoo.com in the resume seems a little ...

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donohoe
I'm one of the people who disagrees with #2 "Put down other interests section"
- unless it is related directly to the job in question.

If you're interviewing for a Developer etc. spot I don't really care if you
waterski.

And I have seen this firsthand in deciding who gets interviewed and who does
not.

Its too hit or miss. It might help, but odds are it could also go against you.

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jister
One thing I learned from all these years is DON'T LIE on your resume -- no
matter what!

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whimsy
Don't use Microsoft Word.

Check out xmlresumé.

