aaaaaaaaaaaa5 RESUME ESSENTIALS

By Christopher Jones 

1. Proofread your resume. 

The best practice is to put your resume in front of a couple of different folks - your boss excluded - and listen seriously to their suggestions. 

2. You are what you read. 

People will stampede to get the latest Suzanne Summers' diet book, but go catatonic when I suggest they buy a career-related book. 

"Can I borrow your copy?" they ask. 

Believe me, the right book will pay for itself. 

In college, I bought a copy of Burton Jay Nadler's resume guide Liberal Arts Power, and I still use the darn thing. Still, if you're stashing your cash for a Thigh-Master, explore the career section at your local library. 

3. Be a resume voyeur. 

Look at other people's resumes whenever you get the chance. You'll find good ideas - and bad ones. Consider using the best ideas for your own resume, as long as they relate to your experience. 

4. The truth about Ms. ASCII. 

I often get frantic e-mail from people around the world. A typical one goes like this: "Please help! I've had several companies ask me to send my resume to Ms. Ascii. Who is she?" 

ASCII is not a person, but an abbreviation for "The American Standard Code for the Interchange of Information." Or,put simply, plain-text format. 

Look at the keys on your computer keyboard. All the characters you see there - excluding the function keys - compose the ASCII family. 

Online job boards and some recruiters prefer ASCII resumes, because they retain their formatting, regardless of the software used to view them. If you plan to post your resume online or to e-mail it to a recruiter, you'll want to have an ASCII version. 

5. More resumes mean more chances. 

You finally updated your resume, but you shouldn't stop there. If you're going to apply to a variety of jobs, make sure you have a resume tailored for each. 

A writer, for example, might have as many as six resumes: One for writer with additional versions for editor, copy editor, reporter, marketing manager and freelancer.

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