Personal information on resume. What to write about yourself on your resume

Very high. To get a prestigious job, you need to think carefully about what to write about yourself in your resume. Examples are quite numerous when a well-written document brought success to the applicant for the position. After all, a resume is the first thing that characterizes you in the eyes of a potential boss.

What should be a resume?

A resume is your face. It is on him that the employer will make a first impression of you. An example of a correct resume should meet the following parameters:

  • volume - no more than 1 page;
  • well readable font;
  • describe personal qualities and professional skills in the first person, in the present tense;
  • unified design style;
  • the presence of a photograph;
  • no errors;
  • business style;
  • the language of the resume is the one that we use in the organization (for example, if you are applying for a position in a foreign company, the resume must be translated).

Structure

Not everyone knows how and what to write about themselves in a resume. Examples of such documents allow us to conclude that they all have a similar structure. No matter what position you are applying for, your resume should contain the following main points:

  • Personal information. This is everything that identifies you - full name, date of birth, address, contact information, and so on.
  • Career objective.
  • Education. Indicate all educational institutions with specification of the time frame.
  • Work experience. A listing of all companies with which you have worked, indicating the time period, position, duties and special merits, if any.
  • Key skills. It is your abilities and special knowledge that characterize you as an experienced specialist.
  • About myself. This is any additional information that will help the employer to make a positive impression of you. This usually includes personal qualities, hobbies, etc.
  • Recommendations. If you have positive feedback from previous jobs, be sure to mention it.
  • Portfolio. In the resume itself, it is enough to indicate that you can provide examples of successfully completed work.

Section "About me" in the resume, examples

When compiling a resume, many people make the mistake of omitting the “About Me” section, believing that only data related to professional activities matters. But this is not entirely correct, because you are not just a working mechanism, but, first of all, a person. So always include an "About Me" section on your resume. Examples allow you to highlight the following basic information:

  • Personal qualities. In this section, describe all the characteristics that make you seem like a good employee. If the company's website describes the requirements for applicants for a position, you can transfer personal qualities from there to your resume.
  • Habits. It’s not just about bad habits, but if you don’t have them, it’s not superfluous to point it out. But it's worth looking a little deeper. For example, the habit of always finishing what you start or working beyond the expected time will characterize you extremely positively.
  • Business connections. This is participation in any organizations that are not related to the main activity. Perhaps you are a member of a social movement or a charitable foundation.
  • The documents. Here you need to indicate whether you have a driver's license, open visas, etc. It is quite possible that this will be useful to you in your work.
  • Hobby. If you have a serious passion for something (sports, some kind of art, collecting, etc.), be sure to mention it. But about some negative hobbies (card games, participation in sweepstakes, etc.) it is better to keep silent.
  • Foreign language skills.

Lively speech instead of dry clericalism

Of course, the resume should be short and concise. However, a dry enumeration of clerical terms cannot characterize you as a person. It seems that you just copied a standard set of qualities from the Internet. It is necessary to make the "About Me" section more lively and colorful. Examples of the formulation of personal qualities can be as follows:

  • Sociability - the desire to build trusting and respectful relationships with colleagues and partners for productive collaboration.
  • Responsibility - quick response to orders, operational independent work on their implementation.
  • Discipline - strict adherence to the standards, rules of work and behavior adopted in the organization.
  • Punctuality - strict adherence to established schedules and deadlines.
  • Efficiency - performance of a large amount of work in a timely manner without loss of quality.
  • Loyalty - respect for the interests, beliefs and personal qualities of colleagues at work.
  • Analytical skills - the ability to study and structure large amounts of information, as well as draw appropriate conclusions.
  • Customer focus - the habit of working in strict accordance with the expectations and requirements of customers.
  • An active life position is the desire to improve one's own performance, to rationalize the labor process.

Key Skills on a Resume: Examples

Resume writing is confusing for many people. It would seem that you are an employee with experience, but you cannot make a list of key skills and competencies. As a rule, everything is limited to knowledge of a PC, a foreign language, the ability to work with documents. But this does not characterize you as a specialist. How to write a resume for a job? An example of a search algorithm for key skills is as follows:

  • On a piece of paper or electronically, make a list of everything that you can do (regarding the job). Don't limit yourself to standard items. Think back to everything you did in your previous jobs. Thus, your list can be supplemented by such provisions as "negotiation skills", "public speaking", "recruitment", etc.
  • Read the list carefully and break your skills into several groups according to their degree of mastery. Be sure to indicate this parameter in your resume so as not to overestimate or underestimate your merits.
  • From the compiled list, select exactly those items that are most relevant to the position for which you are applying.

In what form should a resume be submitted?

An example of a professional resume should be short and to the point. But not only the content is important, but also the form of submission. A common mistake is writing a resume in solid text. It is acceptable to use bulleted lists, but the most successful form is a table.

job applicant (name)

personal information
Full nameFullyA photo
Date of Birth
Family statusNot necessary. You can also indicate if you have children here.
Address
Telephone
Email
Position and salary
Job titleYou can omit this paragraph if you indicated it in the title
RFPSet the rate based on your work experience or the industry average. Do not underestimate the size, because the employer will probably want to "bargain" with you
Education
SchoolNamePeriod of study
Secondary special educationInstitution nameFaculty/specialtyPeriod of studyDegree
Higher education
Educational coursesNamePeriod of studyConfirmation document
work experience
Place of work 1Job titleJob ResponsibilitiesAchievementsWork period
Place of work 2
...
key skills
Skill 1
Skill 2
...
About myself
Personal qualitiesCan be combined
habits
Business connections
The documents
Hobbies
Foreign languagesSpecify the degree of ownership
Application List
Attachment 1NameDescription
Annex 2
...

Individual approach

An example of a correct resume implies an individual approach to a potential employer. Try to find out more about the organization itself, as well as the personal qualities of the boss. Of course, most managers appreciate the qualifications of an employee. But if, for example, your director does not have a higher education or special knowledge in some area, he may see you as a potential competitor or even an enemy. Therefore, it is not always worth listing all your merits and regalia. You will have the opportunity to demonstrate your competence in the process of work.

Conclusion

An example of the right resume for a job will certainly bring you success. Give as much attention and time as possible to this issue. Prepare a standard document that you will adjust based on the requirements of a particular organization.

One of the most important components of a successful job search is a well-written resume. This small document is designed to distinguish the applicant from other applicants for the position and to interest a potential employer. It is important not only to accurately indicate age, education and work experience, but also personal qualities in the resume. Real-life examples show that recruiters and managers have been seriously paying attention to this information lately. You can seek help from specialists or try to do it yourself.

Important nuances

Before choosing which personal qualities to indicate in a resume, examples and samples you need to study, familiarize yourself with the basic rules for filling out this section.

  • Any information must be reliable and truthful. Deception will sooner or later be revealed anyway, so you should not lead by the nose either those around you or yourself.
  • Personal qualities should be stated briefly and clearly. However, you should not use only hackneyed general phrases that do not carry any specific information for a potential employer.
  • This section, like the entire resume as a whole, must be written correctly, without errors and colloquial vocabulary.
  • As a rule, they are asked to indicate the five most important personal qualities, so there is no need to overdo it and list everything in a row. It is necessary to carefully analyze which particular traits of character or behavior can be useful for a particular profession or position. For example, an economist does not have to be creative at all, but the ability to get out of conflict situations is very useful for a salesperson.

Groups and templates

Personal qualities for a resume can conditionally be divided into several groups, each of which has its own template phrases.

  • Work and duties. These include: high efficiency and diligence, purposefulness or focus on results, analytical skills, determination, responsibility, ability to adapt, discipline.
  • Relationships with people. Templates: sociability, friendliness, stress resistance and non-conflict, the ability to convince, the ability to work in a team, justice, politeness, competent speech.
  • Creative thinking and development. Possible options: easy learning, desire for development, desire for self-improvement, creativity, creative approach, resourcefulness.
  • Character features. Typical expressions: perseverance, attentiveness, accuracy, activity, punctuality, decency, cheerfulness.

Personal qualities in a resume: examples of writing for some professions and positions

There are many template phrases that can be used when compiling a questionnaire. The employer carefully examines the personal qualities in the resume.

Leader example:

  • focus on the result of the work of the whole team;
  • the ability to persuade and direct; the ability to quickly analyze the situation and make decisions;
  • stress tolerance;
  • increased performance.

Accountant: attention to detail, scrupulousness when working with documents, the ability to easily learn and adapt when changing legal requirements, perseverance, decency.

Lawyer: literacy, the ability to find, memorize and analyze the amount of information, perseverance when working with documents, the ability to make decisions quickly, contact.

Secretary: pleasant and well-groomed appearance, competent speech and good diction, ability to communicate, ability to smooth out conflict situations, quickness, accuracy.

It is very important to correctly describe personal qualities for professions that involve working with people (managers, salespeople, consultants, etc.). You can use the sample to write a resume.

Personal qualities (example): sociability, the ability to easily establish contact, the ability to convince, stress resistance, non-conflict.

First work

If the resume is being compiled for the first time, and there is nothing to fill in the labor activity column yet, then in the section on the personal qualities of a specialist it is better to indicate the following:

  • desire to develop and improve;
  • fast learner;
  • good memory;
  • activity;
  • creativity and creative approach to work;
  • desire to work in a team.

However, do not forget about the relevance of qualities for a particular place of work.

Nobody is perfect

From the information presented in the previous paragraphs, it is clear how to write personal qualities in a resume. The examples above will help you understand and correctly complete this section. But what if the employer asks you to state your shortcomings?

In no case should this item be ignored and left blank. Because perfect people simply do not exist. Reluctance to point out your weaknesses can alert a potential employer. In this matter, it should be remembered that some negative character traits or behaviors for some professions are simply unacceptable, but for others they do not matter or, on the contrary, can be very useful.

So, let's look at personal qualities in a resume: examples, weaknesses in a favorable light:

  • Excessive scrupulousness or perfectionism. For the organizer of the holidays or the animator, such a shortcoming, most likely, will greatly interfere with the work. But such an accountant or financier will be just a godsend for the manager.
  • Excessive activity. For professions that require perseverance (analysts, accountants, economists, accountants, seamstresses, telephone operators, etc.), this is a big drawback, but for those who are expected to "roll mountains" (managers, salespeople, journalists, etc.) ), this negative quality is actually simply irreplaceable.
  • Inability to deceive or deceive. For the seller, most likely, such a shortcoming will be significant, but an assistant manager with such a weak side will suit a potential employer.
  • Having bad habits. Today, many firms and enterprises refuse to employ people who lead an unhealthy lifestyle, but a person who smokes cigarettes will fit quite harmoniously into the position of sales manager in a tobacco company.
  • Appearance. For example, extra weight can be a huge disadvantage for many professions, but for a help desk dispatcher or a telephone operator taking taxi orders, such a disadvantage does not matter, because no one will see it.

Resume at the interview

When writing your description, you should take into account the likelihood that at the interview the applicant will be asked to confirm what was written with specific actions. Therefore, it is worth seriously considering what personal qualities to indicate in the resume.

Example: a person applying for the position of an analyst wrote about his ability to quickly find any information. At the interview, he may be asked to do this in order to make sure that he has this skill in practice.

Or another example: an applicant for the position of a sales manager who easily finds an approach to people may be asked to get to know each other and take the phone number from the first person they meet.

Such checks are now very popular and are used in hiring in many large companies.

All this is just written. Every second resume contains an incoherent set of adjectives and / or nouns, the reading of which in HR can cause a smile at best, annoyance at worst. But both good and evil HR will rush to close your resume, unless, of course, you are the only candidate for an open vacancy. Please forget about this:
“I am sociable, proactive, flexible, honest, stress-resistant. I consider systemic thinking, result-oriented, good managerial skills to be my strengths. I charge the team with my positivity and energy. I don't drink, I don't smoke«.
and again forget:
“High efficiency, ability to identify risks, ability to work in multitasking mode, leadership qualities, ability to work in a team, organizational and managerial abilities, stress resistance, ambitious goal setting. Hobbies: skiing. Married, two children.
and for those who still remember: FORGET once and for all!
“The total work experience in the specialty is more than 9 years. Personal qualities: sociable, purposeful, positive, stress-resistant. Interested in continuing education. High self-motivation. PC is a confident user.

For some reason, most applicants strictly follow the instructions of the hh site, and as a result, each resume contains the same information, which has absolutely no value at the resume selection stage. At the same time, keep in mind that this last section is the culmination of your resume, on which the hiring manager stops his eyes. And your last chance to draw attention to your CV.

Therefore, when filling out the “About Me” section in a resume on the hh.ru website, there is only one regulation: you must summarize your experience in terms of the requirements of the job you are applying for. For example, if the vacancy states that you need an employee with experience in mechanical engineering and management of 1,000 people, then emphasize this in this section. You can also indicate your main areas of activity, specialization, key projects and competencies, technical skills.
How to fill in the "About Me" section I told in the publication:
Next, I will give 4 examples for different positions so that you can understand and visualize how this can be done correctly.

No. 1. Position "Sales Manager", 32 years old
Bad example: “Professional with excellent leadership qualities. Sociable, open-minded, sociable, responsible, punctual, independent, loyal, stress-resistant. Hobbies: reading, cooking, sports - latina. Marital status: married, son.

Good example: " I have experience in sales and customer service in Russia and abroad with representatives from different countries. I know how to work with the premium segment. I am fluent in English and professional vocabulary. Conversational level of Chinese (C1)”.

No. 2. Position "CFO", 48 years old
Bad example: " Focused on results and continuous growth. I have good communication skills. Good effective presentation skills.
Analytical mindset, I quickly learn different aspects of business. I know how to argue my point of view.

Good example: " I have more than 10 years of experience in manufacturing companies in large diversified holdings. I have expert knowledge in the field of accounting, tax accounting, financial analysis and budgeting. I know the methods of assessing assets, profitability, risks. I have a successful experience in attracting external financing, passing tax and audit audits. Experience in managing a team of over 300 people.

No. 3. Position "Territorial Manager", 28 years old
Bad example: “A proactive and effective professional manager with a successful 7-year experience in sales. I love to travel and take pictures. I run, I go skiing. Single, no children.
Without bad habbits".

Good example: “I have experience in active sales of banking products, including investment and insurance products, as well as with premium clients for more than 7 years. I have knowledge of banking products and sales techniques, personal financial planning methodology. I know how to identify the needs of the client in financial products, develop a financial plan that satisfies the client.”

No. 4. Position "General Director", 52 years old
Bad example: " High professional level. A sober approach to solving professional problems. Good organizational skills.Constructive relationships with subordinates, colleagues and management. High work capacity. Dedication to the cause and the Company.Constant striving to improve knowledge.

Good example: " 20 years of experience in managing all services of a manufacturing company, including large industrial and unique industry investment projects. Main activities: metallurgy and mining industry. Key competencies: development and implementation of an enterprise development strategy, ensuring transparency of the financial and economic activities of enterprises, implementing projects to improve the operational efficiency of a business (reducing costs, increasing labor productivity, optimizing business processes); expertise of investment projects”.

Download the chapter from the book "Smash on the spot. #Resume" and get examples of positions for the "About Me" section.

STOP! Prohibited in the "About Me" section:

  • "Be like everyone else": list your character traits, such as responsibility, attentiveness, stress resistance, diligence, honesty, etc.
  • "Be a Parrot": repeat information from other sections of the resume.
  • "Being a Narcissist": to use: personal pronouns, emotional turns and self-praise tone - “I love”, “I like”, “I develop with pleasure”,“professional”, “best result”, “I have pronounced leadership qualities”, “I work actively and efficiently”, etc.

Life hack: How to write a good text for the "About Me" section?
Come up with a short description of 2-4 sentences that describes you as a professional in your field. Make up your persuasive and specific answers to the questions:

  • What is your profession?
  • What experience and in what areas do you have? How many years?
  • What do you know?
  • What are you good at?
  • What skills do you have?

It is not necessary to use all answers. Select the most interesting and functionally significant vacancy for which you are applying. What to do with other answers? They will also come in handy when answering a question at an interview.

Your resume on hh can be viewed in as little as 5-10 seconds, but the last “About Me” section is the place to be noticed. The summary is a solo, not a choral performance. Don't follow the rules, personalize your CV. It is quite difficult to do this within the established framework of employment site templates, and only one “About Me” section will allow you to stand out from other candidates who unquestioningly follow the regulations and rules. So make the most of this opportunity.

Job search and career development coach. Author website, the only trainer-interviewer in Russia who prepares for all types of interviews. Resume writing expert.

You can not write about yourself in your resume, but this reduces the chances of showing uniqueness and usefulness for the employer.

Of course, if the applicant considers himself an indispensable worker, he may not go into details at all, indicating, in his opinion, his "super advanced" quality or unique work experience, but such situations are now extremely rare.

and learn how to correctly fill in the "about yourself" section.

Finding resume samples is not a problem, and all candidates usually send recruiters good but similar documents, which make it difficult to stand out from the crowd.
Sample resume with section about yourself should contain as much information as possible that other applicants cannot repeat, and information about yourself is just such a section.

Proper placement of the column about yourself in the resume

The column itself cannot be large, and you can even skip it if you have rich work experience, however, HRs recommend that you still think over and fill out this section.
- many sites recommend, and you can specify some helpful tips:

  • Selectivity of information. What to indicate in the additional section of the resume, of course, the applicant himself must decide, but this should be information that is not available in other sections. If the candidate has described personal qualities in detail, the same information should not be repeated.
  • brevity. The paragraph about yourself should include three to five characteristics, phrases or descriptions. If the applicant writes half of the autobiography in the section, recruiters are unlikely to appreciate this approach.
  • Truthfulness. Qualities about yourself in the resume can be easily checked, and already at the first interview. Even by phone, an HR is able to assess knowledge of foreign languages, and an interview in the office will clarify the knowledge of computer programs.
  • Required sample for a specific job. The column about yourself should contain information useful for the employer, and for a new vacancy, the resume template will have to be redone, and not only this section. On the other hand, one should not blindly follow patterns, stereotyped ideas about useful qualities for this position.
  • Restraint. Briefly about yourself is the main motto of the subsection, and experts believe that humor and irony are generally inappropriate here, that is, writing “I drink a little, but it happens” is guaranteed to fail.

It is important that it is useless to take a finished resume and rewrite data from it., more precisely, this approach is unlikely to bring dividends, it is more useful to know what to write about yourself in a resume and make your document the best.

The most common phrases in the column about yourself

An example of myself in a resume for a job will probably contain the most common qualities or skills that are difficult to avoid, and should not be.
If a person wants to say that he is punctual, then this cannot be done otherwise than to indicate his quality - "punctuality".

You can, of course, write something like “I fulfill all agreements,” but why complicate things when punctuality or pedantry best characterize a person as an executive employee.

Additionally, you can specify a hobby, various hobbies, it is only necessary to draw an analogy between the duties in the service and the given characteristics.

  • - this is a separate category and we are talking about them in another article.

Personal qualities that are mentioned in the "About me" column, are listed below, in order of most frequent mention in applicants' resumes. Our statistics have assigned these characteristics a certain percentage of frequency of use, while the presence of one quality in a resume does not exclude another:

  1. Demonstrate a responsible approach to the performance of official duties - 31%
  2. I maintain a dialogue with all potential clients of the company 27%
  3. Able to handle a hectic work schedule 17%
  4. I carry out all orders - 14%
  5. I quickly learn new skills 12%
  6. Punctual - 10%
  7. Able to work, if necessary, without breaks and days off - 9%
  8. Always keep order in the workplace - 7%
  9. Attention to detail - 6%
  10. Excellent communication with the team 5%

Remember that if you want to talk about achievements in your resume at previous jobs, then this information should be indicated in the work experience section.

Correct and incorrect phrases about yourself

Question, how to write a resume about yourself, includes a list of incorrect and correct phrases that may or may not be used.

What is better to write or what is better to indicate is up to the applicant to decide, however, there is information that should not be used:

It is important to understand how to correctly write about yourself in a resume, because using ready-made examples is not enough. You need to know what can be added to the section for a specific vacancy, and what will not be very appropriate.

A good resume is short, contains extremely useful data, and even a candidate with no work experience can indicate something useful in this section.

Examples of completed subsections "About me"

The section of additional information in the resume is just a few phrases, so they need to be made perfect, or at least try to get closer to the ideal.

What to write about yourself, it is impossible to definitely recommend, but some examples can be given:

  • Engineer. Teamwork, publications in radio engineering publications, possibility of overtime work.
  • Driver. Experience in delivering valuable goods, driving a cash-in-transit vehicle, the ability to go on long business trips, transporting passengers.
  • Accountant. Work in a large team, membership in a professional club of accountants, familiarization with new legislative acts.

Knowing how to fill out the additional section correctly is extremely useful, since the main thing to do is to adapt all available information (examples from the Internet, job requirements, your data).
Ready-made resumes with examples about yourself are useful, but they only need to be processed, “passed” through existing skills, otherwise you get another set of identical phrases. At the same time, another difficulty arises - the need to write briefly, describing each useful skill in just a few words. Thus, a minimum of information should be indicated about yourself, while it should be informative and useful for the employer.

Listen to a man who has looked at over 100,000 resumes in his entire career and really knows how to make a resume more attractive. By the way, here's my LinkedIn profile, see for yourself: mpritula .

But let's agree right away: no deception in the resume. Only honest information. How to make your resume really cool without cheating - about this in my life hacks.

Why is it almost perfect? Here are 10 tips I could give on this resume:

  • Take a photo on a plain background (white or gray).
  • Remove one phone. Why should a recruiter think about where to call?
  • Change email to personal, not some company.
  • Remove marital status.
  • Combine competencies and key experience. Shorten sentences to 7-10 words and arrange in the form of a list.
  • Remove recommendations.
  • Correct the mistake in the word "company" in the last place of work.
  • Reduce responsibilities to 10 lines.
  • Make the link short (bit.ly, goo.gl).
  • Reduce the total length of the resume to two pages.

Making your resume more valuable

Now let's talk about what makes a resume more expensive. I advise people on how to improve their resumes. Representatives of various positions send me their resumes: from ordinary salespeople to company directors. Everyone makes the same mistakes. There was not a single resume to which I could not write 10 tips on how to improve it. Below I have collected the most frequent advice that I gave on the submitted resumes.

10. Combine many jobs into one

It is considered normal if a person has been working in a company for 2-3 years. If he changes jobs more often, he may be called a job hopper. Recruiters do not like such people, since about 70% of customers refuse to consider such candidates. And this is quite natural.

A person after a year of work is just beginning to benefit the company.

Of course, everyone has the right to make a mistake, and a good resume can have a couple of places where the candidate worked for 1–1.5 years. But if the whole resume looks like this, then its value is very low.

However, it often happens that a person has changed several job positions in one company or moved from company to company within a holding structure. Or he was engaged in project work, in which he changed several employers.

In such cases (and wherever possible) I recommend that this be done as one place of work, with one name and common dates of work. And inside this block, you can unobtrusively show the change of positions, but so that visually, during a cursory examination of the resume, there is no feeling of frequent job changes.

11. Stick to the ideal length of your resume

I believe that the ideal length of a resume is strictly two pages. One is too little, only for students, and three is already too much.

If everything is clear with one page - such a resume looks like a resume of a novice specialist - then with three, four, and so on pages, everything is not so obvious. And the answer is simple: the recruiter will look at only two pages in 80% of cases. And it will read only what you have indicated on these two pages. Therefore, whatever you write on the third and subsequent pages, it will be left without attention. And if you write valuable information about yourself there, the recruiter will not know about it.

12. Share your accomplishments

If you remember only one sentence from my article, let it be about achievements. This immediately adds 50% value to your resume. The recruiter is simply not able to interview everyone who sent a resume. Therefore, the one who indicated his achievements and was able thereby to interest the recruiter will always win.

Achievements are your measurable ones, which are expressed in numbers, terms or significant qualitative changes in the company. They must be specific, measurable, impressive and relevant to the position.

Achievement example:

  • Increased TV sales by 30% in three months (store manager).
  • Brought a new product to the market in four months, which helped to earn 800 thousand dollars in six months (marketing director).
  • Negotiated with suppliers and increased the delay in payments by 30 days, saving the company on loans - 100 thousand dollars a month (buyer).
  • Reduced staff turnover from 25% to 18% through work with employee engagement (HR).

13. Tell me about your personal qualities

Now more and more attention is paid to the personal qualities of the employee in the selection of candidates. If you analyze what exactly you will be assessed at the interview, then most likely it will be like this:

  • 40% - professional knowledge;
  • 40% - personal qualities;
  • 20% - motivation (the desire to do this particular job in this particular company).

What are personal qualities? These are personal qualities of a person that contribute to the effective performance of their duties.

This includes: energy, openness, ability to work in a team, initiative, proactivity and so on. And these are no longer empty words, at the interview more and more often you will hear such a question: “Tell me about the situation in which you had to take responsibility, and how you coped with it.” This is called competency assessment.

Therefore, your personal qualities, especially if they correspond to those required in the vacancy, are extremely important. And if earlier it was enough just to list them, now this is no longer enough. Now you need to confirm their presence, so I recommend writing them like this (examples, of course, give your own, a mandatory rule: they must all be real and from the past):

  • Initiative: developed and implemented a strategy for exiting the department from the crisis when the head left.
  • Energized: My 2014 sales volume was 30% above the departmental average.
  • Stress resistance: I successfully negotiated with a client who refused seven managers, and concluded an agreement with him.
  • Leadership: conducted five management trainings and raised 10 managers from line employees.

Here it is important to write not many qualities, but qualities with examples. That is, examples here are more important than quantity.

14. Throw functional responsibilities out of the job description in the trash!

The functional responsibilities that are indicated in the resume are usually the most banal and boring thing. In 30% of cases they are copied from their job description, in 50% of cases they are copied from other people's resumes or job descriptions, and only 20% write them really well on their own.

I always recommend writing exactly duties, not areas of responsibility, and describe them in the form of actions that you performed. This is about the same as with achievements, but numbers are not required here, responsibilities may not be so impressive, and, of course, these are not one-time actions.

Before writing them, I recommend reading a few vacancies to get an idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwhat is generally worth writing about. Next, write out the responsibilities in order of their importance: in the first place the most significant (strategy development, launching new products on the market), and in the last - the least (preparation of reports).

15. Sell your job title and company

Job titles and a list of companies are, in fact, exactly what a recruiter looks for in a resume in the first place. It's like a customer skimming the shelf in a store looking for familiar brands (Nescafe, Procter & Gamble, Gallina Blanka, Mars, Snickers, Tide). It is on these lines that the recruiter forms the initial cost of the resume in his head and only then begins to look for details.


  • We write only the common name. If you work for Nails and Nuts LLC, which is an official dealer of Coca-Cola, then simply write Coca-Cola. Believe me, the legal name of the company is of no interest to anyone.
  • In brackets we write the number of employees, for example: IBM (3,000 employees).
  • Under the name of the company, we write briefly in 7–10 words what it does. For example: in the top 5 in consumer lending.
  • If the company is little known, but works with well-known brands, be sure to indicate this. For example: Autosupersuperleasing (leasing partner of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Honda). The name of well-known brands next to an unknown company will greatly enhance the perception of the company.

16. Remove formulaic phrases from the "Goal" section

Immediately after your contact details on your resume, there is a section called “Purpose”. Usually in this section they write formulaic phrases like "Maximize your potential ...". Here you need to list the list of positions that you are interested in.

17. Always check your spelling

Typically, about 5% of all resumes I view contain errors:

  • elementary grammatical errors (there was no spell check);
  • mistakes in writing foreign words (only Russian spelling check is configured);
  • errors in punctuation marks: a space before a comma, a comma between words without spaces;
  • in lists, there are different punctuation marks at the end of the sentence (ideally, they should not be; the period is placed after the last item of the list).

18. Save your resume in DOCX format and nothing else

  • Not PDF - many recruiters make their edits or notes (salary expectations, their impressions of the candidate, information that was obtained during the interview) in the resume before sending it to the client, they will not be able to make them in PDF.
  • Not ODT - may not open correctly on some computers.
  • Not DOC - a sign that the resume comes from the past (pre-Office 2007).
  • Not RTF - usually weighs more than alternatives.

19. Use a Recruiter Friendly Resume File Name

The title of the resume file should contain at least the last name and preferably the position. So it will be more convenient for the recruiter to look for a resume on his disk, send it, and so on. A little concern for the recruiter will definitely be noted. Again, in the eyes of the recruiter, this makes the resume a bit more expensive.

20. Show your value in a cover letter

There are different opinions about cover letters. I always say this: a good cover letter can add value to a resume 20% of the time if it's written right. But it is not always necessary.

If you decide to write it, then here's a simple structure for you:

And if you show an example, then it could look like this:

Mistakes on your resume

Along with the secrets to increasing the cost of a resume, there are things that make a resume significantly cheaper. Let's talk about some of them.

Now many job search sites allow you to download a resume created there. At the same time, they always add their logo and various fields for entering information that is not needed for a resume at all in such a resume. For example, gender. These resumes look like real cheap, so I advise you never to do this.

21. Remove obscure abbreviations

When you work for a company for a long time, some of the abbreviations adopted in it already seem so familiar that you write them in your resume. But they are unfamiliar to the recruiter, so very important information is lost. Try to avoid abbreviations wherever possible.

22. Paraphrase formulaic phrases

Very often you want to give in to the temptation and cram into your resume formulaic phrases that can be easily found in any resume or job description. Avoid them, as they represent empty space for the recruiter.

Rephrase, for example:

  • Result orientation = in my work I always think about the result.
  • Customer focus = the client always comes first for me = I put the interests of the client above my own.
  • Sociability = I can easily negotiate with any clients/colleagues = I freely maintain a conversation with clients.

23. Create a normal box

What separates a professional from a child? A professional calls his mailbox by name and surname, and a child - by children's words, nicknames from games and forums, date of birth.

Well, it is absolutely unacceptable to indicate your workbox. The recruiter in this case will interpret this nuance as follows: “I am fired from my job, and therefore I can not be afraid and send my resume from my work email.”

24. Remove marital status, it is only of interest to visitors to dating sites

There is only one case when indicating marital status can play a positive role: if a young girl is looking for work and wants to show that she will not go on maternity leave immediately after employment. In this case, you can indicate the presence of children.

The options “civil marriage”, “divorced” immediately reduce the cost of a resume, as additional questions arise.

The option “I have children” is written by very narrow-minded people, since all normal people are “”. :)

25. Explain the work experience gap

You can’t just take and show a gap in work. It is necessary to write why it arose. The option “I will explain at the interview” is not suitable, since the recruiter, seeing the gap, will think the worst that could happen.

If there was a decree between two jobs, then we write. By the way, if the decree was without leaving for another job, there is no point in writing it at all. I don’t even recommend highlighting this in an interview.

26. Remove the last job end date

This is the one resume trick that can be forgiven. It is believed that a person draws up a resume even before dismissal and simply does not update this date after dismissal. In any case, the specified date of dismissal will play against you.

27. Don't write reasons for quitting

There is no reason why you need to write down the reasons for dismissal. Whatever you write there, the recruiter will always have a suspicion about your desire to explain the reason for the dismissal. Or maybe you're lying?

28. Don't explain the details of your resume

It is not allowed to write explanations, comments, footnotes, etc. in the summary. Only dates, facts, achievements.

The worst thing that can be is the "Recommendations" section and the phrase "I will provide on request." What's the point of this section? The list of references is redundant. No one will call them before the interview with you. And after the interview, you can already provide this list if there is a request.

30. Remove tables and large indents

The tables in the summary were adopted in the early 2000s. Then the whole civilized world abandoned them. Don't act like a dinosaur.

Also, don't make the bulk of the summary very large indents on the left side of the document.

31. Leave the first jobs for your grandmother

For simplicity, I'll just describe how it will be OK:

  • Last place of work: 7-10 lines of duties and 5-7 lines of achievements.
  • Past place of work: 5-7 lines of duties and 3-5 lines of achievements.
  • Place of work before last: 3-5 lines of duties and 3 lines of achievements.
  • Other places of work: 3 lines + 3 lines of achievements, if they are included in the interval of the last 10 years of work.
  • Everything that was before 10 years ago: only the names of companies and positions.
  • If in your career there were jobs that were not relevant to the current position, feel free to delete them. For example, now you are a marketing director, and started 15 years ago as an engineer at a factory or a salesman in the market.

32. Remove the vocational school

If you studied at a vocational school, college, technical school, and then graduated from a university, show only the university.

33. Do not show resumes to HR specialists you know if you are not sure of their professionalism

We have a lot of HR professionals who consider themselves gurus and give advice left and right. Find out how many vacancies they filled themselves, how many people interview on average per day. What books have you read about recruiting? How many of them were foreign.

If you get answers like this:

  • more than 500 vacancies;
  • 5-10 per day;
  • more than five books (at least!);
  • Lou Adler, Bill Radin, Tony Byrne;

…then feel free to trust the advice!

I'm doing a little research, so in the comments on this post, write which of all the tips described turned out to be the most valuable for you. This will help me understand your needs and write another cool article on how to sell yourself for more during an interview.

P.S. Friends, thank you all for your comments. I wrote a book with a colleague where I shared even more tips. It is available via the link.

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