Improving Your Resume: Office Positions

The end of the year is a good time to reassess your job search and determine if there are any changes you can make to your strategy to help you along the way. If you are searching for an office position there are some improvements you may wish to make to your resume to optimize your experience and expertise. Here are several practical tips to use for your resume rewrite.

1. Update your resume. If you’ve been in the job market for a while there may be a pretty significant gap in your experience. Companies need to see what you have been doing with your time so be creative about it. Have you been volunteering? Have you been working with your kids’ school? Have you been blogging? Putting these things on your resume will help keep a hiring managers interest.
2. Presentation. The right presentation for your resume involves a lot of things you may not be considering. Make sure that the format is consistent. Use a font that is readable and not too cute. Don’t use an unprofessional email address. Keep it to two pages if possible. The rule of thumb is to only go back about 10 years in your job history to avoid cluttering it with unnecessary information. Also consider things like delivering your resume in person. Putting a face with a name does help someone remember who you are.
3. Edit, edit, edit. It cannot be stressed enough how much you need to edit your resume. Go through it to make sure all of the information is relevant. Leave off any personal information such as your date of birth or your marital status. Make sure everything is spelled and punctuated correctly. Watch out for those typos that spell check won’t catch. Leave out any hobbies that aren’t relevant to the job for which you are applying.
4. Customize your resume. When you are applying for different jobs with slightly different requirements go ahead and change the focus of your resume for each one. If you have experience in office management and bookkeeping but you are applying to separate office manager and bookkeeper jobs, tailor your resume for each one to showcase the specific skills.

Looking for more great advice to help you in your job search? Contact Harvard Resource Solutions today!