This post is part of our series on free resume help. Learn why the format of your resume (and cover letter) is important.

If you’re a consultant, graphic designer, advertising or marketing guru, or other service provider, your roster of happy clients is likely one of your biggest accomplishments. But what happens when your client list grows to unwieldy proportions? On your resume, you want to convey the breadth and depth of your experience; but you don’t want to overwhelm readers with information that doesn’t pack a powerful punch.

Keep these tips in mind when choosing what clients to list and how to handle them on your resume: (more…)

The rule of thumb for resumes today is to spend valuable resume space on no more than 10 years of your career history, whether that involves 1 position or 5 or more. Professionals with longer careers can indicate their older roles and companies briefly at the end of the resume in an “Additional Roles” section, and offer details on request. But what should you do if one of those older roles is relevant to your current job search? Perhaps that role was in an industry you’re currently targeting, or involved tasks you’d like to pick up again in a new position. Here are 3 strategies for how to highlight that role on your resume — without bogging down your most current information.
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In previous posts, we’ve demonstrated the effect a professionally written accomplishment can have on your resume. Clearly highlighted and dynamically written accomplishments facilitate resume skimming and ensure that your achievements get readers’ attention. But what if your achievements aren’t quantifiable? What if you haven’t been managing million-dollar projects, generating triple-digit sales growth, or increasing the size of a critical team? This doesn’t mean your accomplishments are any less impressive or important. Here are 3 before-and-after examples to show you how to make your own unique achievements stand out.

Example #1

BEFORE:
Did a variety of tasks on several software development projects, which helped provide experience in this new area.

AFTER:
Gained thorough knowledge of complete SDLC by serving as team member on 5 key development initiatives.

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Employing a professional resume writer is your best bet for developing a dynamic, attention-getting document that will get your foot in the door. In the meantime, however, there are a few things you can do to tweak your existing resume and put yourself on the path to resume success. These 5 tips will help strengthen and clarify your accomplishments and tighten your resume’s focus.

1. Separate your tasks from your achievements.

One of the best quick improvements you can make to your resume is to clearly separate your day-to-day tasks from your achievements for each of your job positions. If you’ve used bullet points for every item within a job description, put your day-to-day tasks in paragraph form, and save the bullets for the accomplishments. If your resume is bullet-free, tease out your achievements and make them stand out with bullets. If a reader has just a few seconds to skim your resume, make it easy for him or her to find your accomplishments fast—don’t bury them in a sea or words or a forest of bullets.
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