Free Resume Writing Tips

Here's a free resume tip you never see. Think of your favorite newspaper. Too old school? Okay. Think of your favorite website. In fact, think of several of your favorite websites. They all have different formats, right? But they are all readable. They are all designed to lead your eye from one section to the next so you keep reading. That's what your resume should do.

Stick to the same font. Don't go crazy with the fonts just because you can. Choose a simple, readable font. You are not going to impress the employer with your design talent (unless, maybe you're going after a design position...).

The employer is reading your resume because they want to know about you. Make it easy for them to learn.

It's ok to use larger point sizes for the section headers, but again, don't go crazy. Lead their eyes.

No doubt, the word processor you use to write your resume has a spell checker. Or, to put it another way, You're word process have a spiel checker.

Oops. Did you see that? But, but, but... Both sentences got past your spell checker, right? So, maybe your computer isn't as smart as you thought it was.

Here's a tip. When you're finished writing it, read your resume from the bottom up. Read the lines out of order. This will cause you to think about what words you are using. And check your grammar while you're at it. Don't forget to check the grammar!

While you're at it, read it out loud. That helps, too.

Tip #3 coming up, but first, why not take a break for some light reading?

There's no question. You should send your resume as a PDF. Not everyone uses the same word processor. You have no idea which one the employers that read your resume use. And, even if they use the same one as you, some of their settings will most likely be different than yours.

They'll have different words in their computer's dictionary, too. Think about that. Do you want all those red squiggly lines on your resume when the employer reads it? I didn't think so.

It's easy to convert your resume and cover letter to a PDF document after you've polished them off. There are numerous websites that will do it for free. Or, if you have Open Office Writer installed, the function is built in.