How to Write a Resume

FREE Resume Tips to Improve Your Odds

The very first result when you Google search “Resume Writer Salary” is a link to resume writers you can pay to write your resume ranging from $10,to $395!!! There is great value in an original, creative, tailored resume. I get that, but Workforce Solutions doesn’t want you to pay even $1 to create a resume because we do it for FREE. Our resources, qualified staff, and generations of experience reviewing resumes are at no cost to you.

A resume does not get you a job, it gets you an interview. If you are not receiving calls for interviews, it might be that your resume has room to improve. The employer has the job and the job seeker wants it. It is safe to say that the resume needs to speak the employer’s language using keywords that can be extracted from job description. Think of it as a marketing document created by a job seeker for the employer.

The staff at Workforce Solutions has reviews resumes varying from industry to industry, occupation to occupation, and individual to individual. What we have found is that the person who potentially hires you is preconditioned to look at resumes the way they like to see resumes. In other words, a Human Resources (HR) manager hiring for a project coordinator position, a technical recruiter hiring for a job at an innovative company, and a talent acquisition specialist contracted to hire for a staffing agency all have their own method of identifying a resume that “POPS” (or grabs their attention)! I can see how if I worked in one specific industry for the majority or entirety of my career, I would be programmed to look for a resume written in my language that has been shaped by my particular industry. Since Workforce Solutions services employers in all industries and I’ve worked for Workforce Solutions for more than five years, the tips I’m about to share can help you avoid mistakes that many job seekers make when trying to create resumes.

1. The purpose of a resume – A successful resume will get you an interview, not a job.
2. Your summary of qualifications is prime real estate – Location, Location, Location! Curb appeal is the positive attention you see in a house you want. You want an employer to get that same feeling when they see your summary of qualifications (3-5 sentence paragraph about how you’re a good fit for the job and the company’s culture) located in the top third of your resume.
3. Understand industry specific resume formats – After you have a solid summary, understand that an HR team member in education, a recruiter in information technology, and someone trying to fill a project management role will respectively want education details, programming languages, and specific project results to come after your summary.
4. Gaps in work history – Life happens. People get discouraged when they try to explain examples like caring for family, being unemployed for an extended period, or making regrettable decisions that cause dates to not match up from one job to the next. My answer to this is that if your summary of qualifications is excellent, then the employer won’t make it down to these details and if they do, they will be so impressed with the summary that they will want to hear about it in person.
5. Chronological vs. Functional resumes – A chronological resume lists your work experience with your most current experience first and the role before that next, and the role before that next, continuing back 10 years. A functional resume lists your skills or categorizes your skills in lists of bullets of how you have used or acquired those skills. Which one is better? Chronological or functional? Neither and both. What I’m seeing in more and more resumes is a blending of the two, and no matter what format you choose, your summary of qualifications is still up top and is what gets the recruiter’s attention.
6. Don’t make it rain – An employer can tell if you are reusing the same resume attached to your online job application. Make sure your resume has language that is specific to both the company and the job.

Apply these tips and get feedback from your contacts, family, and Workforce Solutions staff. Your resume should not be the reason why you aren’t finding a job, and you shouldn’t pay someone to write it for you. If you apply these tips, expect a phone call!

Diego Trevino is a Regional Facilitator for Workforce Solutions in the Houston – Galveston area. Before joining the regional team, he served as a greeter, employment counselor and staffing specialist. Earlier in his career he traveled to South Korea where he taught students English. He uses past teaching experiences and present workforce knowledge to conduct job skills seminars throughout the 13 county Gulf Coast Region.