Comments on: Resume Dos and Don’ts (Plus Resume Makeovers) http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2009/04/17/resume-dos-and-donts-plus-resume-makeovers/ A premiere personal finance blog, established 2003. Within, Flexo discusses his own experiences with money, and he and other authors comment on a wide range of personal finance topics. Sat, 21 Nov 2009 16:42:00 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.5 hourly 1 By: Greg http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2009/04/17/resume-dos-and-donts-plus-resume-makeovers/#comment-192866 Greg Fri, 17 Apr 2009 21:44:08 +0000 http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/?p=5925#comment-192866 One point I'd like to add is that it's okay to leave out irrelevant work experience -- like the food service jobs you did in college. In fact, if you had to choose between putting in a job unrelated to the one you're applying for, or a hobby that was very relevant to the job you're applying for, I would put down the hobby. When I was helping to hire techie people for help desk positions, most of the resumes I was looking through were from younger people who didn't have a lot of work experience. For a lot of them, though, they did have plenty of "hobby experience" (eg., in building their own computer, creating websites for friends and family, etc) that were way more relevant to the help desk position. If more of them listed their tech cred (via their hobbies) instead of their lame fast food jobs, more of them might have gotten offered an interview. Bottom line: put in what's relevant for the job you're applying to. Leave out the cruft. This is a very helpful post! I'm going to link to this article from Wise Bread's resource page for folks recently laid off: http://www.wisebread.com/lost-my-job-tips-for-the-recently-laid-off Thanks for writing it, Ginger! Thanks for posting it, Flexo! One point I’d like to add is that it’s okay to leave out irrelevant work experience — like the food service jobs you did in college. In fact, if you had to choose between putting in a job unrelated to the one you’re applying for, or a hobby that was very relevant to the job you’re applying for, I would put down the hobby.

When I was helping to hire techie people for help desk positions, most of the resumes I was looking through were from younger people who didn’t have a lot of work experience. For a lot of them, though, they did have plenty of “hobby experience” (eg., in building their own computer, creating websites for friends and family, etc) that were way more relevant to the help desk position. If more of them listed their tech cred (via their hobbies) instead of their lame fast food jobs, more of them might have gotten offered an interview.

Bottom line: put in what’s relevant for the job you’re applying to. Leave out the cruft.

This is a very helpful post! I’m going to link to this article from Wise Bread’s resource page for folks recently laid off: http://www.wisebread.com/lost-my-job-tips-for-the-recently-laid-off

Thanks for writing it, Ginger! Thanks for posting it, Flexo!

]]> By: Kyle http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/2009/04/17/resume-dos-and-donts-plus-resume-makeovers/#comment-192850 Kyle Fri, 17 Apr 2009 12:40:45 +0000 http://www.consumerismcommentary.com/?p=5925#comment-192850 I think it is ok to have a resume that is 2 pages long, if the information you are providing is relevant to the job you are applying for. I got a resume one time that was 5 pages long all work experience where the applicant had changed jobs every 2 years. It looks pretty bad when you have 3 whole pages of just work experience. I think it is ok to have a resume that is 2 pages long, if the information you are providing is relevant to the job you are applying for. I got a resume one time that was 5 pages long all work experience where the applicant had changed jobs every 2 years. It looks pretty bad when you have 3 whole pages of just work experience.

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