Your Resume

Our top ten tips for resumes

Your resume is your first contact with any prospective employer. It plays an important part in the presentation of your skills, behaviours and career experience. AustCorp believes the more detail the better.

It is all about information delivery and understanding keep in mind that your resume may be searched by using a key word index. This means that if you are an engineer you should mention the project names you have worked on and give the technical detail required to be found by a technology search index.

For example: AustCorp uses Google Search as our internal technology search index, key words, project names and company names you have worked for will be indexed.

Here are some general guidelines to bear in mind when writing your own resume.

Tip 1 – be brief

Detail is good but it must be easy to read and understand. Readers are less likely to become bored with a resume that is concise and informative and one that has interesting detail. A good guide is no more than 5 - 7 pages for a senior or executive role.

Tip 2 – show a history

Organise the content of your resume in chronological order with the most recent events first. It is a good idea to keep all your dates on the one side of the page for easy reading and reference.

Tip 3 – visualise your future

Start with a statement of your objectives and goals. This immediately grabs the reader and shows you have given thought to your future.

Tip 4 – show results

Try to always refer to results that you have achieved and relate these to your role's requirements.

Tip 5 – be correct

It is a good idea to have someone else proof read your resume for errors and give you feedback on how it reads. Check your spelling!

Tip 6 – lay it out neatly

Use a format that is easy to read and understand at a glance. Cluttered, untidy resumes send a poor message to the reader, and when time is money...

Tip 7 – make it legible

Always use a point size from 11 to 14, depending on the font you use. This will make your resume more pleasant to read.

Tip 8 – be relevant

Only use information that is relevant to your career goals and professional objective. This avoids the need for the reader to sift through pages of out of date or superfluous information.

Tip 9 – keep it simple

Use standard-size white paper when printing and avoid decorative fonts and graphics. Use two fonts at most.

Tip 10 – don’t skimp on your future

Remember your resume has the power to set you apart from the crowd - it is well worth investing in the time to design and compose it properly to get the job you want!