Will Your Resume Stand Out in a Crowd? QUIZ
by Robin Ryan

Will Your Resumé Stand Out In A Crowd?

A top quality resumé is essential to your success. Is your good enough to grab an employer's attention? Companies have hundreds vying for every job. This quiz was compiled by Robin Ryan based on hiring surveys, employer interviews and experience in helping numerous people create eye catching resumés that landed jobs.

Take this quiz to see if your resumé would be picked out of the competition:

___Is your resumé one page? Brief and concise works best. Employers scan resumés with a 15-20 second glance. Be a skillful editor, deleting the portions which are not relevant or least helpful to your securing that particular position. Emphasize your more recent experience in the last 5 to 7 years. Use different resumés to target different job titles.

___Does your resumé describe results and accomplishments? Employers want proof that you can do the job. Specifics that demonstrate your accomplishments are crucial. Show what you have increased or decreased, how you saved money, and contributed to the productivity and bottomline.

___Is your resumé visually appealing? The appearance of the resumé cannot be overemphasized! Use high quality paper. Watch for spacing and margins. Allow for lots of WHITE SPACE and BORDERS. Make use of italicizing, CAPITALS, underlining, bolding, indentations, and bullets to emphasize your important points. Use a computer and get a laser printed copy of your resumé to give it a sharp, professional look. PROOFREAD - make your resumé a perfect example of you!

___Does your resumé include a Summary of Qualifications section? This 5-6 sentence section will triple your impact. It includes your experience and top selling points to do the job.

___Are you starting each sentence with an action verb? Begin sentences with descriptive action verbs - such as established, analyzed, implemented, designed, organized - they add power to your sentences.

___Is your tone positive? Excluding personal statistics and abbreviations? Spell out names of schools, cities, and acromyms completely. It is more professional to give complete information, as employers may not recognize abbreviations or acronyms. Never state why you left a position. It is no longer considered professional or wise to include information about marital status, gender, height, weight, or health on your resumé. How did you do? If you need more assistance Robin’s resources will help you improve and prepare a top notch, attention-getting resume.

© Copyright 2008 Robin Ryan. All rights reserved.

How did you do? If you need more assistance Robin's resources will help you improve your preparation to ace your next interview.

Interview Advantage, with her bestseller “60 Seconds & You're Hired!” first seen on Oprah

Interview Coaching session with Robin including Salary Negotiations

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Robin Ryan is considered America's most popular career coach with over 1000 TV and radio appearances including DrPhil, Oprah, Fox News, CNN. She is the best-selling author of: "What to Do With the Rest of Your Life"; "60 Seconds & You're Hired!"; "Winning Resumés"; and "Winning Cover Letters"; and also the DreamMaker and Interview Advantage Audio Programs. Robin has a busy career counseling practice providing individual career coaching, outplacement, resumé writing services and interview preparation to clients nationwide. A dynamic national speaker, Robin frequently teaches audiences how to improve their lives and obtain greater success.