• Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Right Attitudes

Ideas for Impact

Resumé

Resumé Tips #6: Avoid Clichéd Superlatives and Proclamations

November 11, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Self-Declarations on Résumés

Consider the following assertions from résumés that I reviewed recently:

  • “Ambitious, career oriented, uniquely qualified, results-driven professional with outstanding academic preparation and exceptional industrial experience in applied research and design.”
  • “Extremely strong, aggressive, self-sufficient writer with excellent technical skills and ability to learn new technologies quickly.”

The trouble with these statements is that they amount to unoriginal self-declarations. It is as though these candidates put on a crown and proclaimed themselves the kings and queens of the land of have-everything-an-employer-needs-skills. Most candidates do not realize such jargon can, in fact, be a turn-off.

Show than Tell

Avoid clichéd superlatives and proclamations on résumés A résumé is, in essence, a documentation of your achievements and recognitions. Your résumé should not explicitly declare such characteristics as hard-working, entrepreneurial, self-starting, etc. Instead, your résumé should describe your accomplishments in such a way that a reader infers these skills in you.

Admittedly, describing your accomplishments to imply you are a “hard worker,” “self-starter,” or “team player” is difficult.

  • To present yourself as “hard-working,” describe your part-time employment, serving as captain of the soccer team, leading a student club. Mention your high GPA and academic projects.
  • To present yourself as “results-driven,” show how your projects contributed to your organization’s goals and bottom line: include phrases like, “saved 10% costs,” or “improved capacity by 18%,” etc.

Avoid proclamations, jargon and clichéd superlatives. Write your résumé to include more than a mere assemblage of personal particulars. Help the reader connect to you through your résumé and get a picture of your personality, unique skills and characteristics.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Resumé Tips #1: Best Fonts and Text Size for Your Resumé
  2. Resumé Tips #2: The One-page Résumé Rule
  3. Resumé Tips #3: References Not Necessary
  4. Resumé Tips #4: The Hurry-Burry Résumé
  5. Resumé Tips #5: Résumé or Curriculum Vitae?

Filed Under: Career Development Tagged With: Resumé

Resumé Tips #5: Résumé or Curriculum Vitae?

July 22, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

The terms résumé or curriculum vitae (CV) are near-synonyms and often used interchangeably. The sense of these terms, however, may differ in certain geographies.

Difference between Résumé and Curriculum Vitae

Usage in North America

In North America, there is a difference between the terms résumé and curriculum vitae in terms of the target audience, purpose and length.

The term résumé refers to a concise summary of a candidate’s credentials for the purpose of seeking employment in industry or the non-profit sector. A résumé, therefore, primarily summarizes the candidate’s educational background and professional experience. The preferred length of a resume is one or two pages.

Difference between Résumé and Curriculum Vitae A curriculum vitae is a more exhaustive record of a candidate’s qualifications and achievements primarily for seeking positions in academia and research. A curriculum vitae may include publications, fellowships and scholarships, invited lectures and talks, research grants and patents secured, etc. Some curriculum vitae contain personal details as well. Generally, there is no page-limit on a curriculum vitae. For an example, see the curriculum vitae of Donald Knuth, computer science pioneer and Professor Emeritus at Stanford University.

Usage in the United Kingdom and Commonwealth

In the United Kingdom and members of the Commonwealth, the term curriculum vitae is used for seeking employment in industry, the non-profit sector, academia or research. The term résumé is not traditionally used. The format and length of the curriculum vitae depends on the target of the curriculum vitae (industry/not-for-profit or research/academia) as in North America.

Usage in Other Countries

In some countries–India and Australia, for example–the terms résumé and curriculum vitae may be used interchangeably. In India, the term ‘bio-data’ refers to a résumé as well.

Choice between Résumé and Curriculum Vitae

Difference between Résumé and Curriculum Vitae Write your résumé or curriculum vitae to suit the preferred style and format of your target audience (industry or academia) irrespective of what the document is termed.

Do not include the word ‘Résumé’ or phrase ‘Curriculum Vitae’ at the top of your document—use the valuable space to enhance your document either by adding further details of your accomplishments or by increasing white space around various sections of your résumé to make it more visually appealing.

Further Reading

  • The One-page Résumé Rule
  • Fonts and Text Size for Résumés

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Resumé Tips #1: Best Fonts and Text Size for Your Resumé
  2. Resumé Tips #2: The One-page Résumé Rule
  3. Resumé Tips #3: References Not Necessary
  4. Resumé Tips #4: The Hurry-Burry Résumé
  5. Resumé Tips #6: Avoid Clichéd Superlatives and Proclamations

Filed Under: Career Development Tagged With: Resumé

Resumé Tips #4: The Hurry-Burry Résumé

February 3, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Hurriedly-Prepared Résumés are Often Inadequate

Hurriedly-Prepared Résumés are Often Inadequate Recently, I participated in a career fair at a large university. I staffed my company’s booth and collected résumés for interviews my colleagues would conduct later this month.

In collecting résumés, I observed that a fair number of students’ résumés had lots of errors: spelling mistakes, clutter, poor organization, and so on—overall, incoherent portrayals of their credentials and achievements.

Disappointedly, I asked a few students when they had prepared their résumés for the career fair. Not surprisingly, most students responded with a “over the weekend” or “earlier this morning” answer. “Last night, I looked at the résumé I had prepared for last year’s career fair and updated it,” one student revealed.

Overcome Procrastination: Keep Your Résumé Ready

For many of us, preparing a comprehensive résumé is an overwhelming—if not the most difficult—element of the job-search process. We feel intimidated by the challenge of discussing our credentials and achievements, presenting them in a manner that will impress hiring managers—and do all this in just one page.

The result is that we often procrastinate on preparing or updating our résumés. When we need to prepare a résumé ahead of a career fair or when we discover a lead, we tend to put something together in haste and expect it to work efficiently. We do not realize that our résumés may compete with hundreds of other résumés for every job offer out there.

Update your Résumé Frequently

  • Update your Résumé Frequently If you are in college, revise your résumé at the beginning of each semester. Add relevant details from the past semester: particulars of your part-time work or course projects and update details such as your GPA or aggregate scores.
  • If you work, update your résumé after each quarterly-performance review with your supervisor. Add relevant details from your projects and assignments from the recent past. Every year, after your annual-performance review, update your résumé thoroughly.
  • Review each section of your résumé critically and question yourself, “Is this section relevant? Is there anything more worthwhile that I could replace this section with?”
  • Review the details in each section and ask yourself, “What else could I add to this section? How could I better present this detail?”
  • Get your résumé critiqued. If you are at college, consult a career counselor at your college’s career centre. If you are employed, show your résumé to colleagues, mentors, or others who may represent the intended audience for your résumé. Request them to critique every detail and make sure they understand details of your achievements.

Concluding Thoughts

By updating your résumé frequently, you can reduce the anxiety of preparing an impressive résumé at short notice. With reduced stress, you can focus on preparing for the other aspects of your job-search process—researching specific companies represented at the career fair or preparing to sell yourself to interesting companies.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Resumé Tips #1: Best Fonts and Text Size for Your Resumé
  2. Resumé Tips #2: The One-page Résumé Rule
  3. Resumé Tips #3: References Not Necessary
  4. Resumé Tips #5: Résumé or Curriculum Vitae?
  5. Resumé Tips #6: Avoid Clichéd Superlatives and Proclamations

Filed Under: Career Development Tagged With: Resumé

Resumé Tips #3: References Not Necessary

January 6, 2008 By Nagesh Belludi 1 Comment

One-page résumé sufficient to present essential information concisely and captivatingly A number of résumés list two or three professional references. Others may contain a variation of the phrase “References available upon request.”

Neither is necessary. Here are four reasons.

  1. References are pertinent only during the later part of the job-search process: after a potential employer has interviewed you and desires to check others’ impressions of you prior to extending you a job-offer.
  2. As a candidate, you would want to be the first person to describe yourself to the potential employer. You would not like the employer to contact your references beforehand and form an opinion of you ahead of your interview.
  3. If you post your résumé online (on your college’s career website or at a job-search site such as monster.com,) you would not want to make public your references’ contact information.
  4. Employers understand that you will give them a list of references when asked for.

Best Practice on Résumé References

Compact your Résumé - Avoid a tell-it-all résumé Listing references is not the best use of space on a one-page résumé. Eliminate the list of references or the “available upon request” phrase from your résumé.

Instead, on a separate sheet of paper, prepare a list of two or three professional references. For each reference, include name, contact information and a phrase about the nature of your relationship with the reference. Bring this sheet to your interview and present it when the potential employer asks for references.

Use the valuable space to enhance your résumé either by adding further details of your accomplishments or by increasing white space around various sections of your résumé to make it more visually appealing.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Resumé Tips #1: Best Fonts and Text Size for Your Resumé
  2. Resumé Tips #2: The One-page Résumé Rule
  3. Resumé Tips #4: The Hurry-Burry Résumé
  4. Resumé Tips #5: Résumé or Curriculum Vitae?
  5. Resumé Tips #6: Avoid Clichéd Superlatives and Proclamations

Filed Under: Career Development Tagged With: Resumé

Resumé Tips #2: The One-page Résumé Rule

July 15, 2007 By Nagesh Belludi

One-page résumé sufficient to present essential information concisely and captivatingly Your résumé is your personal advertisement. The purpose of a résumé, therefore, is to sell you, not to describe you. In order to grab a recruiter’s interest and create a positive impression within a few seconds, your résumé should be comprehensive and tidy.

One-page résumés are appropriate for college candidates (entry-level candidates, to be more specific,) and candidates with less than ten years of work experience. Such candidates rarely have substantial accomplishments to justify a résumé of more than a page in length.

More-experienced candidates may use two pages to describe their accomplishments. Even here, one-page résumés are recommended. Recruiters will survey the second page only if the contents of the first page are appealing.

A one-page résumé acknowledges the importance of a recruiter’s time. A two-page résumé is a sign of disregard.

Compact your Résumé

Follow these guidelines to consolidate your résumé content into one page.

  • Compact your Résumé - Avoid a tell-it-all résumé Comprehension is crucial. Recruiters hate wordy résumés. They first glance through the organization of a résumé and quickly skim over particulars in key sections. A strong, comprehensive presentation is consequently appealing.
  • Avoid a tell-it-all résumé. Avoid the common mistake of providing too many details. Leave some details for discussion in a potential interview.
  • Restrict accomplishments under each position held to two or three bullet points only. Weed out unimportant details. Use phrases if necessary.
  • Do not cram. Do not reduce page margins and font-sizes or eliminate white space. Résumés crowded with information are hard to read.

Conclusion

A one-page résumé is usually long enough to present all the essential information concisely and captivatingly. It can easily engage a recruiter and convince him/her that your background merits further consideration.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Resumé Tips #1: Best Fonts and Text Size for Your Resumé
  2. Resumé Tips #3: References Not Necessary
  3. Resumé Tips #4: The Hurry-Burry Résumé
  4. Resumé Tips #5: Résumé or Curriculum Vitae?
  5. Resumé Tips #6: Avoid Clichéd Superlatives and Proclamations

Filed Under: Career Development Tagged With: Resumé

Resumé Tips #1: Best Fonts and Text Size for Your Resumé

October 31, 2006 By Nagesh Belludi Leave a Comment

Blog reader Michelle from the University of Kentucky, Lexington asked me

“I am preparing my résumé for an upcoming job fair, and I’d appreciate your suggestions on the choice of fonts.”

Serif and Sans-serif Fonts

Font families are classified according to their appearance: serif fonts, sans-serif fonts, mono-space fonts, cursive fonts, fantasy fonts, etc.

Characters in serif fonts have little projections or ‘tails’ (serif = tail in French) at the end of strokes and line widths that thin out on curves. The serifs guide a reader’s eyes to flow across lines of text. Conventionally, serif fonts are used for smaller text such as blocks of texts in newspapers. Serif fonts are harder to read from a distance.

Characters in sans-serif fonts have more consistent line widths and do not have tails (sans = without in French). Sans-serif fonts appear clear and balanced in shape and in form. Conventionally, sans-serif fonts are used for larger text such as headlines or text in posters. Sans-serif fonts are the most popular choice for on-screen (TV, computer, etc.) text because of their clarity in display.

Choice of Fonts and Text Size for Résumés

Fonts for a Résumé

Résumé reviewers expect résumés to be professional–readable and inviting. Serif fonts are the de-facto standard for résumé text. Times New Roman (the default font in Microsoft Word), Book Antiqua or Palatino (my personal favorite,) Garamond and Times are the most popular serif fonts for résumés. I would suggest using serif fonts for the entire résumé. You may use sans-serif fonts for section headings and/or your name.

Cursive or decorative fonts easily distract the eye and make the résumé look unprofessional. Explore fancier fonts only if you desire a career in fine arts or graphic design.

Font size: 10-, 11- or 12-point only

Choice of Fonts and Text Size for RésumésFont size is measured in points. A point represents 1/72 of an inch; text in 72 points prints to text of one-inch height. Use a 10-, 11- or a 12-point font for content. Begin with an 11-point font and increase to a 12-point font to fill up the page or decrease to a 10-point font if you cannot fit all the details on one page. (All primary details, academic backgrounds and professional accomplishments should fit into one page.)

Section headings can be one or two points larger than content. Subheadings, such as name of the university or employer or your job title, should be set in standard font size. Do not increase the font size for your name; your name will look disproportionate.

Consistency in Formatting

As with every other detail on the résumé, viz., content, structure, paragraph spacing, etc., use consistent font formatting. In Microsoft Word, the ‘Format Painter’ tool is handy to copy formatting to various sections of text or paragraphs.

Making your Résumé Standout

Making your Résumé Standout: Résumé ReviewerOn my recruiting trips to colleges, one of the most common questions students ask me is how one could make his/her résumé stand out. You can make your résumé standout primarily based on the content in the résumé: your accomplishments, academic strengths, extra-curricular involvement, leadership activities, etc.

However, résumé reviewers form their first impressions, mostly subconsciously, on how well the content is structured and how well the text is presented. On average, reviewers spend as little as fifteen seconds before they decide to read your résumé further for detailed consideration. Hence, the value of preparing a résumé with an orderly, consistent, professional look-and-feel cannot be overstated.

Wondering what to read next?

  1. Resumé Tips #2: The One-page Résumé Rule
  2. Resumé Tips #3: References Not Necessary
  3. Resumé Tips #4: The Hurry-Burry Résumé
  4. Resumé Tips #5: Résumé or Curriculum Vitae?
  5. Resumé Tips #6: Avoid Clichéd Superlatives and Proclamations

Filed Under: Career Development, Sharpening Your Skills Tagged With: Resumé

Primary Sidebar

Popular Now

Anxiety Assertiveness Attitudes Balance Biases Books Coaching Conflict Conversations Creativity Critical Thinking Decision-Making Discipline Emotions Entrepreneurs Etiquette Feedback Getting Along Getting Things Done Goals Great Manager Leadership Leadership Lessons Likeability Mental Models Mentoring Mindfulness Motivation Networking Parables Performance Management Persuasion Philosophy Problem Solving Procrastination Relationships Simple Living Social Skills Stress Thinking Tools Thought Process Time Management Winning on the Job Wisdom Worry

About: Nagesh Belludi [hire] is a St. Petersburg, Florida-based freethinker, investor, and leadership coach. He specializes in helping executives and companies ensure that the overall quality of their decision-making benefits isn’t compromised by a lack of a big-picture understanding.

Get Updates

Signup for emails

Subscribe via RSS

Contact Nagesh Belludi

RECOMMENDED BOOK:
The Effective Executive

The Effective Executive: Peter Drucker

Management guru Peter Drucker's insightful perspective and suggestions for making executives more effective managers of both themselves and others.

Explore

  • Announcements
  • Belief and Spirituality
  • Business Stories
  • Career Development
  • Effective Communication
  • Great Personalities
  • Health and Well-being
  • Ideas and Insights
  • Inspirational Quotations
  • Leadership
  • Leadership Reading
  • Leading Teams
  • Living the Good Life
  • Managing Business Functions
  • Managing People
  • MBA in a Nutshell
  • Mental Models
  • News Analysis
  • Personal Finance
  • Podcasts
  • Project Management
  • Proverbs & Maxims
  • Sharpening Your Skills
  • The Great Innovators
  • Uncategorized

Recently,

  • Racism and Identity: The Lie of Labeling
  • Why Your Partner May Be Lying
  • Inspirational Quotations #982
  • How to … Make Work Less Boring
  • How to … Communicate Better with Defensive People
  • How to … Deal with Meetings That Get Derailed
  • How to … Plan in a Time of Uncertainty

Unless otherwise stated in the individual document, the works above are © Nagesh Belludi under a Creative Commons BY-NC-ND license. You may quote, copy and share them freely, as long as you link back to RightAttitudes.com, don't make money with them, and don't modify the content. Enjoy!