Re: should a resume have a "Reason for Leaving" line? general resume assessment request

On 5 Feb 2006, at 18:26, Andy Lester wrote:

>> BTW, here is my resume:
>> http://metaperl.com/resume/newperlresume.html
>> http://metaperl.com/resume/newperlresume.pdf
>
> The HTML version is unreadable.
>
> Don't use sans-serif fonts for body text.  Always use a serif  
> font.  Headings can (and should) be sans serif.
>
> There's a lot of numbering of things that don't need to be  
> numbered, like bullet points and Projects.

In addition to Andy's comments (which I agree with) my personal  
biases after a quick skim would be:

* Three pages /absolute/ max -  and you should be able to throw away  
the third page without significantly changing how people will  
perceive you.

* It may just be the sans-serif face, but the font looks a tad small.  
12pt absolute minimum.

* If this is aimed at a specific job then the first section should be  
a precis of why you're a really quite ideal fit for their particular  
job requirements.

* Present information in an easy to be skimmed format. Resumes are / 
always/ skimmed first - never read. Relevant information has to jump  
out of the page. Things like bolding out key skills relevant to the  
job, good use of bullet lists, etc. can be very useful.

* Get the contact info and name in the header of every page. It'll  
give you more room for useful content, and you'll be amazed at the  
number of times things get printed out and pages separated.

* Move the education and publication info from the front page. The  
thing I care most about when reading a CV are your skills and your  
last few jobs. Get that up front. Unless you're fresh out of college  
I don't care about your education. Publications relevant to the job  
are nice, but they're only backup to the work experience.  
Publications not relevant to the job are a waste of space.

* I don't care about anything anybody did more than two years or  
three jobs ago (unless it's "I invented TCP-IP" or /really/ relevant  
to the job being applied for). The general rule is that you say less  
the further back in time you go. Personally I'd expect your last  
couple of pages of jobs to have at most a one or two sentence  
description for each job.

* Talk about the business value of what you did as well as the  
technical detail of how you did it.

* I get no feel for how you work with co-workers or clients from the  
CV. This would scare me.

* If this is aimed at getting permie work I get no idea of what kind  
of career direction you have/want. This would scare me if I was  
recruiting for a permie post.

Adrian