Cutting the “fat” when it comes to writing and developing your resume is more necessity than design style. A jobseeker can’t afford to have a resume littered with excess, as every square inch is needed for more important details.
Here’s food for thought.
If your email is “abc123@email.com,” does it make sense to list “email:abc123@email.com”? Listing the “email:” part is certainly redundant and unnecessary. Even my 63-year-old mother knows what an email address is, and what one looks like.
Cutting resume fat, and applying the above logic, the same applies to phone numbers.
Take the before and after as an example:
BEFORE
John M. Doe
123 Miller Avenue
Springdale, IL 45523
Email: jmdoe@email.com
Home: 817-235-1351/Cell: 817-237-9911
AFTER
John M. Doe
123 Miller Avenue
Springdale, IL 45523
jmdoe@email.com
817-235-1351/817-237-9911
My resume clients sometimes ask, “Shouldn’t I tell hiring managers which is my home number and which is my cell phone?”
Why? Aren’t you giving the best means to reach you?
The idea is to provide a number where you’re readily reachable. If you’re never home, it doesn’t make sense to put your home phone number in the resume. If you check your email only once a week, well, it doesn’t make sense to include your email address. In fact, avoid listing *anything* within your resume that requires an HR manager to leave a message, or wait for an email response. Playing “tag” with hiring contacts is never fun.
Small tweaks, even those as minor as what’s listed above, will nicely lighten your resume.
Resume Advice: Active jobseekers should list their cell phones, ideally with Internet access, within their resumes. Certainly this is the most optimal approach, allowing jobseekers to promptly respond to incoming job queries.
Related posts:
- Tips for Naming Your Resume (Back-to-Basics Series)
- Resume Writing: Accomplishments Are Key (Back-to-Basics Series)
- Resume Writing: Chronological, Functional, and Hybrid Resume Formats (Back-to-Basics Series)
- Tell Me About Yourself, Interview Strategies (Back-to-Basics Series)
- Purpose of a Cover Letter (Back-to-Basics Series)
