In my last entry, I talked about the 3 questions your résumé MUST answer to get a hiring manager to sit up and take notice. Now let’s do a deep dive into the 1st question:
Does it have a strong professional image?
You might respond:
“Why should I worry about that? It’s just window dressing. The meat of the résumé is in what I say!”
Do you hand in reports scribbled on scratch paper?
Would you go on job interviews in ratty jeans and scuffed shoes?
Like it or not, appearance does matter.
While your accomplishments, skills, and qualities are clearly the most important parts of your package, how you present them is also important. Your résumé is the first work product of yours I’m seeing, and I am going to draw immediate conclusions about the potential quality of the work you would do for me by what I see.
This is your “sales brochure”, a piece over which I’m going to assume you’ve sweated bullets (or should have) to get it just right. If it’s put together sloppily, with indentations that don’t line up, spelling errors, or tiny margins or fonts so that it looks like it’s crammed onto the page and hard to read, etc., then what should I expect from your ‘normal’ work?
The appearance of your résumé should communicate that you are a professional who cares about the quality of the work you present!