10. I work on my own schedule. And my schedule puts my family first. That makes for a charmed life.

9. I set my own rules. And since they revolve around client satisfaction, I spend my days collaborating with happy clients.

8. No commute. I work from my laptop, wherever I am.

7. I have a network. Supporters, colleagues, friends. They give me help when I need it, encouragement when I think I’m drowning, and it’s a reciprocal thing – I give back too. I’m not an island.

6. I love my clients. They’re really awesome people. They’ve done great things, been heroes in their industry. All I do is let them shine. It’s kind of like polishing a chrome sink – it’s fantastic on its own, but after being polished it sparkles!

5. Did I tell you that I love my clients? Really. I do.

4. Because I work for myself I have the freedom to give back. I work with people who can’t afford a shiny new resume to tweak their own. I speak at career events. I reach out to the community.

3. Not to brag, but I’m kind of… well, good at it. And let’s face it. It’s always more enjoyable to do something you know you’re good at, than something that kicks you in the patootie.

2. I bring out the best in people. No, really. I do. In my clients, that is. My job is to figure out all their strengths, and let those strengths shine in their resume or CV. And that’s fun.

And the number one reason I love my job?

1. I help qualified people get new jobs. And there’s nothing better than watching someone you believe in do what they do best. It’s priceless.

Image credit: SCOTT News

Doesn’t he look friendly? He’s not. He’s a resume eliminator. Okay, well maybe he isn’t, but most companies and recruiters use software that analyzes resumes for keywords, years of experience, credentials, etc. His entire job is to weed out the mediocre resumes and deliver the best ones to the hiring manager. The question is, when you’re writing your resume how do you make sure Mr. Robot will like what he sees?

Avoid the temptation to show off your word processing skills. Yes, I’m sure you can whip up some tables, columns, and funky dividers that make your resume look cool and make you look like you knew Word before Word was cool. Mr. Robot doesn’t like that. Use plain text, and format with simple bullets, bold, and italics if you really feel the need.

Make your name and contact info are easy to find and recognize. You may think it looks cool when it rides the side of the page in a colored text box. But the resume scanner can’t recognize it. Put your name, address, phone number, and email address (yes, all of those things) at the top of page 1. On subsequent pages put your name and email address at the top.

Put a keyword section in front of your professional experience. Separate keywords with a bullet character and use keywords that you find in the job ads you’re applying for. For instance:

Project Management • Continuous Improvement • Change Catalyst

See? If those were the top keywords Mr. Robot was looking for my resume would go to the top of the list.

Put your professional experience in reverse chronological order, with your current or most recent job at the top, working backwards. Put everything in order by date because the software can actually do math! Well, not all of them are smart enough, but you don’t want to confuse the robot by jumbling your dates and making it think you have negative 12.4 years of experience, right?

Finally, focus on accomplishments, not responsibilities. If you focus on your job description (managed projects, responsible for budget, handled client inquiries), you’re unlikely to hit those keywords. Focus on what you did that someone else in your position might not have accomplished, and that’s where you’ll be able to show off – for the robot and the hiring manager when the robot delivers your resume to her inbox.

Of course, the best thing to do is avoid the robot altogether by applying to jobs through your personal network. Use personal referrals to make sure human eyes get face time with your credentials.

One job searcher told me this morning, “There are so many different ideas about resumes – it’s impossible to please everyone. I’ll just keep my resume the way I like it.” And it’s true. You can talk to 50 different professionals and get 50 different pieces of advice. There are as many ways to write a resume as there are job seekers.

But the inverse is just as true. Hiring managers and HR professionals have certain expectations, and just like there are standards in any other industry, there are standards in the resume industry. Hiring managers tell us that when they read one of our resumes, they breathe a sigh of relief. After reading scores upon scores of mediocre resumes, when they stumble onto one that lays everything out properly, it’s just a good thing. So, here are a few tips that apply to all resumes and CVs.

1. Hobbies don’t belong in a resume. Sure, the fact that you breed dalmatians might give you ‘dimension’ – but it just as well might make you seem quirky. And quirky isn’t the greatest first impression. What’s more? All those hobbies take up precious resume real estate. Use space to get the greatest impact – make it all relevant to your career search.

2. Leave personal data for the personal ads. Unless you’ll use your resume to score a date for Friday night, don’t include age, gender, marital status, etc. Most of that information is protected under Equal Opportunity legislation, and most hiring managers will toss the resume out of sheer fear of a lawsuit. They won’t want to touch it with a 10 foot pole. Even in the UK the trend has made its move away from personal information on the resume. 10 years ago? Yes, we would include it. Prominently. But times they are a changin’.

3. Post pictures on Facebook, not your resume. If you have a professional picture of yourself – one that looks approachable and professional – feel free to include it on your LinkedIn profile. But not your resume. Pictures do not belong on your resume or your CV.

4. Show most recent experience first. Function-shmunctional. No hiring manager wants to read a functional resume. Get used to the term Reverse Chronological. In regular speak, it means list your jobs, starting with the most recent and working backwards. Include all relevant experience, and focus on accomplishments.

So, you’re looking for a professional resume writer. There are a lot of us out there. So, how do you know who to choose?

We’ll break it down to the differentiating factors for you.

1. What’s your style? I don’t mean do you wear pleats or flat front, I’m talking about your expectations of personal attention. Are you the type who likes to send a single email and get results? Or do you prefer a little more personal interaction? Big companies (the ones that pay lots for keyword advertising on search engines) – they avoid personal attention like the plague. Everything is automated. Your results will likely be great, but will probably lack much of your input. If you’re the type who wants to have more input in the process, go with a smaller company (like us) who isn’t afraid to pick up the phone.
2. Do they have a satisfaction guarantee? Anyone worth your cash will offer you some type of guarantee, though don’t expect a money-back guarantee. People should get paid for their work, but you should have the opportunity to request a re-write if what they produce doesn’t generate results.
3. Do they create fully custom resumes, or do they customize templates? You might have to do some digging to get the answer to this one, or maybe call or email to ask them about it. If you’re going to invest the money in a professional resume, you should get a professional custom resume, not a template.
4. Check out the samples. A well-trained professional resume writer will avoid certain resume faux-pas. There are some forbidden words and phrases that have no place on a resume, and a good writer knows that. Red flags are:

Responsible for; Handled; Good Communicator; Team Player; Hard Working, Helped, Duties, Adroit. Other phrases to avoid: References available on request. Open to relocation. What else? The resume should be written entirely in a single font – preferably arial, with no colors or pictures.

A big part of the answer to who to choose is intuitive. Find a company or writer that feels right to you and offers what you consider to be an appropriate level of interaction. Make sure they allow edits, and that they’ll stick with you if you’re unhappy. And as always, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Most writers charge an average of $30-50 per hour. If the price is low, it generally means they won’t spend a lot of time on your document. For an investment as important as your personal marketing document for the job search, you want to make sure it’s given the attention it deserves.

What’s the single biggest adjustment you can make to your resume to help it stand out from the rest? It’s one of those secrets we resume writers like to keep to ourselves, but I’ll let you in on it. Why? Cause I’m a good person like that.

… Drum roll please …

Focus on achievements, not job duties or responsibilities. If you were a project manager, and you’re applying for a project manager job, every HR person knows exactly what your job description was. And it’s identical to the job descriptions of the other 300 candidates applying for the same project manager job. Use your resume to show how you stand out from the crowd. Showcase your achievements. Show off a little.

And the second adjustment after you do that? Proofread. And have someone else proofread. And then proofread some more.