I had never given much thought to writing a good resume, or the value of a well written resume until I decided to put out a job ad, looking for a graphic designer.

I have always looked at my resume from an employees perspective, but had never reviewed resumes from an employers perspective.  It is only then, that you realize how important it is to send out a well structured and presented resume.

Whilst it may not be the case in other parts of the world, when I received resumes of prospective employees in Bahrain, I must admit, I was some what shocked at the level of presentation.

I trashed a group of resumes straight away for the following reasons:

1) Some people did not even attach a word/pdf formate resume.  Their resume was literally 4 lines written in an email.

2) Some people sent me an email saying that they were interested to work with me, and if I wanted their resume, I should just ask them to forward it to me.  (Come on, if you are applying for a job, would you not just send it anyway?  Are you waiting for me to say – Yes please, make sure you send it! When I don’t even know anything about you?).  These were deleted due to the poor logic.

3) I recieved emails from people saying that if I wanted to see their portfolio, I should just request it from them, and they will send it.  Again, you are applying for a graphic design role, the same principal as point number 2 applies.

4) I think one of the biggest time wasters, is receiving a resume, for some one looking for a completely different type of role all together.  They are not graphic designers, they are just looking for “any” job that I might find suitable by reading their name and address.  Hmmmm .. Thats a tough one!

Some resumes I actually kept, due to the slim pickings, even though they were full of spelling mistakes!  So I guess spelling is not crucial, whilst it doesn’t make a great impression.

My advice for job seekers is as follows:

1) Be very specific about what you want to do, and don’t settle for “any job thats open”.  This doesn’t help you, and it doesn’t impress your employer.

2) Carefully outline why you would be the right candidate for the role.

3) Make sure you use the spell checker on your word processing software.

4) If it is relevant to provide a portfolio for example, then just provide it and don’t ask your employer to take an extra step by asking you for it.

5) Do you dress nice to meet someone for the first time, because first impressions last forever?  Well your resume is your first impression on your prospective employer, so think about the presentation, and make it professional.  If you are not sure how to present it, there are many templates that you can download online for free.

6) If you really want to impress your prospective employer, why not take the extra step of learning a little bit about them, and suggesting ideas of how they can improve, or how you can add value to their business.  Even if they are not acted up, they make you look great!

7) If you are not officially experienced for the role, but you absolutely believe that you would be perfect for it, then why not even go a step further by offering to do give a demonstration of your abilities for free?  If they like it, surely they  would consider you.

8 I don’t think I received one cover letter.  You should really considering writing a good cover letter to explain why you are applying for this role, and a little bit about yourself.  This should not really be in an email, and should be attached with your resume itself.

9) If you are applying for hundreds of roles at the same time, try to send out your resume in separate emails to each employer.  If you must email them all simultaneously, please use the “b cc” field so that the employer does not see that you are sending this email to them and 99 other people.  It becomes in-personal, nonprofessional, and shows that you haven’t given much thought to the job.

If you guys have any do’s or don’ts yourselves, I would love for you to contribute them here.  

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1. Should you email your next resume or just pick up the phone?

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