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

Adrian,

You make some good points, but some of your absolutes aren't.

Font, I agree with a 12 point for this resume due to a lot of white
space, however 11 point is now common, even 10 point if there are large
blocks of text. 

Font again. I find using the same type of font throughout to be very
effective.

Length, figure one page per 5 years, max of 4. # is preferred, like you
said.

Education, when it is exemplary lead with it, just school and degree, no
year. This education is exemplary, lead with it.

Long experience resumes need a synopsis. X years experience with
strengths in blah blah blah.

Objective. Simply this title of the position you are applying for... and
no more.

This resume is out of balance, at least in PDF. I recommend just using
Word or equivalent. The bullets are ok, but the sizing and spacing make
it hard to read. Increase font size and reduce white space.

One thing I agree with Adrian. The fit should jump off the page. Top
page should show relevant experience and the decision to interview you
or pass you on should be made before 2nd page is read. Remember 5 years
per page? If your last 5 years does not show relevance it is unlikely
that you are a fit.

BTW, you do a lot of contract jobs, group them under headings as if you
worked for yourself, which you are doing, essentially.


_____________________________
Larson J. Rider
PrideStaff
(408) 298-6775 office
(408) 661-7260 cell - after hours
www.pridestaff.com 
 

-----Original Message-----
From: Adrian Howard [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: Sunday, February 05, 2006 6:16 PM
To: L-Perl-Jobs-Discuss
Subject: 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