I tend to attach mine as a PDF. Is that passe? I want to know it'll look right.

I'm sure that most people get a job from a family member or friend. The rest of us need to fight for even an opportunity.

So, with that in mind, I don't think a resume is an Ipod or something that needs to be "hip." I think it should be detailed, yet short, and explain your education and accomplishments. Sometimes those accomplishments are obtaining funding, the success of a project, etc. Those need to be explained, since, after all, you are probably fighting for an opportunity just to get an interview. In the case of a resume, quality should outweigh quantity.

o_O This was all stuff I was taught to do only a year or so ago in college. WTF...

I don't think I see why some of these aren't still relevant. I mean, are jobs supposed to be listed in some random order?

Plus, if you're just out of college, most people who have done recruiting (myself included) usually won't give your resume a second look if it's well over one page. That one is definitely specific to people who have significant experience or a hefty number of publications.

@Eldritch: One page definitely fits for college, what can you really list?

I was taught to skip the objective.

They didn't cover listing jobs by relevency rather than chronologically. I was taught to cut out worthless jobs. Who cares that I spent a Christmas at Toy's R Us or a few months at a coffee shop? But breaking from a chronological listing seems like a good idea in some cases.

@redqueenmeg: the article says to do that.

But many places want it embedded in the body of the email so they can search for key words.

@supercereal: I think "list every job in chronological order" probably means quite literally every job. Somehow, I doubt anyone cares about that summer John Doe spent as a lifeguard eight years ago when he's applying to be an electrician.

@supercereal:
I agree with you. A two-page resume would be fine; anything more than that is too much.

Listing jobs in chronological order doesn't mean you have to list every job. You can still list the jobs that are most significant and leave out your time at Toys R Us.

@Pink Puppet: @tbax929: Ah, I missed the every job part. That definitely makes more sense now.

"So, Mr. Johnson, I see you're applying for our CEO position. Please tell me about your experiences at...wait...Joe's Clam Shack?"

Everyone should have at least two versions of their resume: chronological and functional. Chronological is best when seeking a job in the same industry; you want to show growth and trajectory over a period of time. Functional is great for changing jobs (transferable skills!) or when there are large gaps of unemployment. Most recruiters care about what you can do, not when you did it. Exception: IT. Technology changes fast and inactivity doesn't look good. Unemployment is a good time for continuing education to keep skills sharp.

What kind of irks me is when they have you attach a resume, but also make you fill out several forms with the same information on their online application. And too often their web applications are broken.

@Pink Puppet: Well, what I've been told cut off the old jobs. No one cares about what you did 10 years ago unless it's really really relevant to whatever the heck you're applying for. Also don't leave gaps in your employment/education history. If you have an unexplained hole in your employment history that isn't covered by school, a lot of employers want to know what happened in the missing year(s).

1, 2 and 5 are all things that they mentioned in post secondary when it came for things to drop. 4 depends entirely on who you're sending it to. Some place want it that way, some want it in the email body, some don't take email period.

#3 isn't really outdated, but it depends entirely on your prospective employer.

Wait since when is the objective passe? I'm so confused. I have an objective on my resume. I also split my work experience into relevant, somewhat relevant and irrelevant.

I think there needs to be a little common sense applied. I know that when I'm reviewing a resume for a desktop publisher claiming high levels of Word expertise, I absolutely want their resume in Word so I can look at how they put the page together.

@Skankingmike: Or both. Some HR departments have screening software that scans the incoming responses. If you have the ability to attach then they can have a decent printed copy and the scannable one.

I hate scannable resumes.

@Pink Puppet: Those of us that survived the dot com era could fill a book with jobs. I hate that it looks like I was a job hopper because tech companies merged, died or did layoffs.

So when does the job advice to wear a red "power tie" or a red dress to get noticed come out?

@JPropaganda: As I understand they just became so generic and useless that people stopped reading them.

Phew
I was scared to click this article, but no worries. The article remains silent on the issue, so it's still considered rockin' to border my resume with dancing hamsters!

@Eldritch: My college career services advisor had us print our resumes on blue bond paper. I had the college HR director as a professor for my business writing class, and she said that was a big no-no and that she wouldn't even look at a resume that came in like that. I guess it's up to the individual HR person.

Glad to hear objectives are useless. I've never used one as I figured if I'm applying for a job, my objective is to get that job.

@annab: my mom was in charge of thee first screen of resumes in her department this year. it was a middle school vacancy and some idiot put her objective was to teach high school english. well that one got put in the no pile.

seriously if you've ever seen someone go through resumes, you find out that the "rules" don't apply in all fields. my mother HATED the resumes that were printed off from the online submissions bc the font was super small, she prefers reading in 10-12 pt font.

@Eldritch: I'm a senior in college now, and I was just taught to include an objective. I've also heard conflicting things about putting GPA on your resume. Some people have told me you should skip it if its below 3.5, while other people said anything down to a 2.7-2.8 is fine to put on a resume (this is for engineering, btw).

@henrygates: Resumes are not legal documents. You can lie on your resume all you want. They make you fill out the same information on another form -- either written or online -- because now the information you enter has to be true as a condition of your employment. (Lie on those forms, they can fire you.)

@MsCongeniality: DTP in Word? You're doing it wrong.

@redqueenmeg: i applied for a job the other day, and the recruiter asked me to attach it as a word document.

@ngoandy: I was taught to list jobs based on impact rather than length of time or chronological

@annab: a few months ago, i was told to only list an objective if you're applying as an intern

Don't send in Word versions of your resume unless it's going directly to the person hiring for the position you want. If it's going online, to a job placement service, or to a recruiter, it's far too easy for them to change to make you better fit the position. Even if it means selling you for skills you don't have. Always send a PDF version.

It happened to me when I graduated college last year. I don't know how many jobs third party recruiters have submitted me for and oversold my skill set. I'm annoyed that my reputation could be damaged at some of these places. Not to mention all the recruitment spam I'm still getting from recruiters who scraped Monster.

@JPropaganda: An objective is useless when it doesn't really say anything ("contribute to the success of a profitable company"). If you tell me what you want to do next, then I might read it. Most people write drivel in their objective statements.

@Eldritch: I was just thinking that - I invited a resume expert to speak to my class the other day and she was pushing objectives, one page long, and all that stuff. Although, for college students (or the recently graduated) I guess they SHOULDN'T need to go to a second page.

"Wait, the "objective" didn't die in the '80s?"

It was the '90s. But don't give too much sass: if this blog was around then, I bet you'd be the first ones telling us to use it.

@Trai_Dep: Dancin' hamsters NEVER go out of style. I prefer resumes that also stream the dance audio...

@gStein: That would make sense.

I have always hated objectives. The only time I ever had one on a resume was when the company I was working for made everyone maintain an official resume using a standard template that included a mandatory objective. It served NO practical purpose at all. It might've been some kind of ISO thing.

So my objective was something like "To dynamically maximize and leverage strategic potentialities."

Of course, this all assumes that the person interviewing you isn't stuck in 1994 as well.

Objectives are freaking pointless though, I agree.

Recruiters, generally speaking, want me to send them a Word document so they can remove my contact information and insert their own letterhead stuff.

If I'm dealing directly with a company, then I send a PDF. It's amazing what your resume looks like after people have been forwarding it around and using different printers. Not to mention how different versions of Word will butcher your document.

This is why I always bring a couple of clean copies of my resume when I interview, so they can see what my resume should look like.

At first I thought the shirt said: "I ♥ Job Otters"

And for a second, it made sense.

The company I work for is tied up with a state university, so we have to fill out these lengthy online forms that cover everything on a resume and then some... And then you attach your resume at the end.

@veg-o-matic: Career-minded otters are very serious business, my friend. Don't feel bad, we love them just as much as you do.

@RandomHookup: What else is there to right? The objective was a stupid idea to begin with.

@tsume: omg coffee... I meant write... no, I really really did mean the word write... I'll go away now :(

My work THROWS OUT YOUR RESUME if you don't list an objective. No joke.

@Trai_Dep: Dancing hamsters would get a guaranteed interview from me. Too bad I'm only on the interview committee to be the token girl, not to have any ACTUAL say.

A common mistake that young computer science graduates make is listing every single language they ever learned on their resume. The person reading your resume knows you aren't highly proficient in all of those languages, so it makes them wonder how proficient you are in the languages that are applicable for the job they're trying to fill.

Start by removing the languages that you aren't really interested in using - that list will probably include things like ADA, LISP, assembly languages, etc.

When you apply for jobs that have specific language requirements listed, you can customize your resume for that job. If you're applying for an ASP.NET job your knowledge of Bash shell scripting won't be useful, but your knowledge of PHP, Java, HTML/Javascript and other languages may help demonstrate your proficiency in related topics - web development and object-oriented programming.

Companies are looking for people who know a language, not people who read a book once. Even if you're not highly experienced, at least read the advanced book before the interview.

@Lel: yeah that drove me crazy when I was applying. It asked for my attachment and I was like, "what for, to see it in a different font?"

@burnedout: The source article doesn't seem to be saying one-page resumes are bad, just that the rigid adherence to "one-page only" is a bad plan if two pages would be a better reflection of your experience.

Re: Word vs PDF - I think it's terrible advice to say that you should only use PDF, especially when dealing with a large company. Companies maintain databases of resumes they've received; they're usually able to import Word docs directly, not so much with PDFs.

Because your resume will often be read by a machine rather than a person, it's advisable to create a .txt version as well.

I always send a PDF of my resume. I don't HAVE a Word copy of it. Like all documents that I do that require strict formatting, I use LaTeX.