Resume Tips And Advice

Good karma is not the only thing you can build by volunteering. You can also build a great resume. Adding volunteer work to your resume is especially helpful if you're just starting out, changing careers, or returning to work. Even though volunteer skills don't pay the bills, your volunteer experience could be the ticket to your next paycheck.  More »

It's a valid question with a bit of a complicated answer. In some parts of the world, such as the UK and Ireland, CV refers to the same document we Americans call a resume. You may be familiar with job sites and company career centers that ask you to submit a Resume/CV when you apply for a job, which furthers the idea that the terms are interchangeable. But here in the U.S. (and Canada), the formats and content of a CV and resume are vastly different. So if you've been boggled by the difference, here's a clear-cut comparison between the two to relieve any confusion.  More »

Rick Saia's post yesterday ( Dude, Where's My Job? ... ) listed five typical reasons a recent grad might be having trouble finding that first job. Coincidentally, as Rick was crafting that post, a reader named Jen G. left a comment on an older blog post, asking a closely related question. Jen is a new graduate who has posted her resume on various online job boards. Unfortunately, she wrote, I have rarely been called back from a site that I have posted my resume on. What do I need to do in order to get employers to notice my resume so that I get called back? I've added a few more tips for Jen and anyone else who's wondering the same thing.  More »

Stop the presses! The Pongo Blog received its very first content critique on Monday, and we like it! So we'd like to turn it over to you, our readers, to let us know what you like to read and what you'd rather we leave out. Read more to see what I'm talking about.  More »

A few years ago, Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, introduced us to the concept of truthiness. Basically, a statement has truthiness if you really wish it were (or feel it should be) true. Politicians might embrace the concept of truthiness, but hiring managers call it lying if you do it on your resume. Even though we all know it's stupid to lie on your resume, a recent survey by CareerBuilder.com found that 49% of hiring managers have caught job seekers doing just that. I think the key here is to understand the line between presenting your qualifications in their very best light, and blatantly falsifying them.  More »

At some point in your job hunt, you'll probably be asked to submit a resume as plain text (aka, just text or ASCII text). When this happens, you'll have to convert your handsome, professional-looking resume into a bare-bones document with no formatting. Just line after line of ugly, typewriter-ish text. Bleh. Maybe a text resume can't have any bling. But with a little keyboard creativity, you can at least give it some zing. Here's how...  More »

Your resume should inspire a hiring manager to spend more than a few seconds reading it. That's especially important if there's a lot of competition for the job opening. You want the hiring manager to absorb as much of the information on your resume as possible to increase your chance of being called in for an interview. One way to do that is with strong action words. Here are five of them.  More »

Putting your name on your resume is not as simple as it seems. Should you use your nickname or your formal name? Include your middle initial? How about Jr. or III? Your academic credentials? There's no absolute rule here, but read on for some guidelines to help you win the name game on your resume.  More »

It's relatively easy to avoid the most obvious resume mistakes (typos and such) but there's one resume mistake even the savviest of job seekers often make. It's so obvious once you think about it, yet so easily overlooked amid all the other things you're proofing and verifying and remembering as you submit your application. It's a small, simple thing, but it can either support or detract from the first impression you're making on a prospective employer.  More »

When I was a teenager, the comedy of George Carlin, who died this week, was a godsend that could brighten the worst of days. To honor his controversial 7 Words You Can Never Say on TV, here's a list of seven words and phrases you shouldn't include on your resume. Chances are this list won't serve as the basis for a Supreme Court case, as George's did.  More »