Each year, Virtual OneStop helps thousands of job seekers find the perfect job and guides employers to their next great hire.
During the fall of 2017, our corporate workforce trainer, Dan Fitzgerald, conducted several webinars on labor exchange concepts that workforce staff deal with on a daily basis. At least once a year, Geographic Solutions conducts informative training of this nature, focusing on best practices for résumé development, job and candidate search, and effective job order creation.
In our most recent series, we received close to 800 responses on a variety of résumé-related questions. Survey participants gave their professional insights on several hot topics, including acceptable titles and length, desired employment history length, and the best way to summarize skills and experience. A few questions were specific to our software, and we excluded those questions to stay generic.
Daniel Fitzgerald, Geographic Solutions Trainer, compiled these insights into the article “800 Workforce Staff Can’t Be Wrong: Best Practices for Creating Effective Résumés.” Below is a summary of the key points from that article.
Résumé Length
- 1 to 2 pages is preferred by most workforce staff.
- 1 page is also popular for its brevity.
- 3 pages is acceptable to some, but less common.
- Longer résumés (7-10 pages) are rarely recommended.
Résumé Title
- Should include the occupation and some personalization.
- Avoid including personal details like name or social security number.
- Tailor the title to the job being applied for.
Should Résumés Have an Objective Section?
- Most respondents prefer a Professional Summary instead of an Objective.
- If included, the Objective should be short, and employer focused.
Should a Résumé Be Written in First Person?
Most respondents indicated that job seekers should avoid first person in their résumés.
How Many Years Back Should You Go with Your Employment History?
Nearly all responses were consistent, stating that your Employment History should go back 10 years.
What is the Worst Universal Problem with Résumés?
Here are some of the worst problems workforce staff encountered, in order of importance:
- Bad grammar, misspellings, and punctuation
- Bad titles
- Too long
- Not enough keywords for applicant tracking systems
- Unsure of salary and other labor market job attributes in a specific area
- Too much contact information
- Not enough emphasis on achievement in the Employment History
- Not dynamic enough
How Should You Save Your Résumé?
Microsoft Word 97-2003 headed the list as a universal choice. Save in Microsoft Word 97-2003 format and include a PDF version.
Should You Provide References with Your Résumé?
The responses were split among the webinar attendees. Some suggest not including references, others recommend a separate attachment or indicating that references are available upon request.
Additional Tips and Insights
Term for Stay-at-Home Parent: The most popular term suggested was Domestic Parent.
Addressing Employment Gaps: Long-term unemployment gaps should be explained. A text section detailing the circumstances could be helpful.
Helpful Tips for Résumés:
- Watch capitalizations, grammar, and punctuation.
- Avoid using too many bullet points.
- Utilize Labor Market Information.
- Have multiple people review the résumé.
- Ensure keywords from the job description are included.
- Use a unique email for job applications.
- Email the résumé to yourself to check formatting.
- Avoid texting format.
- And more…
Take a moment to read each installment of Dan’s three-part series for more detailed insights.