Resume review

There is something quite excruciating about writing a resume. Maybe it's just the struggle of capturing your professional life on a few pages. For others, it's filling in the resume gaps or working out when embellishment becomes outright lying. You'll find a detailed story on resume writing in the "Job hunting advice" section of careerone.com.au but in the meantime here is a few things to keep in mind.

Every part of the resume should be a positive statement about you. It should be concise, to the point and show how your career has progressed but lay it out in reverse date order. A short profile at the top providing an overview of your strengths, experience and training/education is a good way to get a hiring manager hooked quickly.

No silly email addresses when writing your contact details. Anyone who doubts my need to say this should see my growing collection of silly emails. My new favourite includes both the words "murder" and "killer". What is with that? Avoid waffling sentences filled with overused clichés like "proactive" or "highly focused on outcomes" as well as a "responsibilities" section that goes on forever. Also, review your hobbies and interests section or get someone else to. If you are going for a job in a risk-taking environment then don't list a bunch of risk adverse hobbies. Don't lie either, just don't list any.  

The length of your resume depends on your profession/industry and or seniority but three to five pages is the general rule or up to two pages for a school leaver or grad. 

Finally, and it does need to be said, check your resume for typos, spelling and grammatical errors. Check it again and then get someone else to check it.

Kate Southam, Editor of careerone.com.au, writes her syndicated column Ask Kate for newspapers and the web.