Kristyn Lenc, an Elance provider, is what you might call a ‘resume whisperer’. Since joining Elance, she has coached hundreds of elancers on how to punch up their resume for maximum impact. Kristyn has over 300 resume projects under her belt, and has truly become a resume expert, offering in-depth knowledge on the essential elements needed to create an effective resume.



Ready to spruce up your resume? Browse Kristyn’s list of resume musts and don’ts:

Resume musts:
 
1. Be specific
Does your resume speak specifically to your prospective employer? Does it demonstrate what you have to offer and highlight your relative past accomplishments? Adjusting your resume to promote the value-added benefit you would bring to the specific job you’re applying for is an essential key to success.

2. Attract attention
“With only seconds to attract the attention of the reader, any resume needs to be both visually appealing and well written,” Kristyn points out. Make your resume stand out from the crowd. Take extra steps to appeal to your reader – for example, find out what qualities the position requires and use those qualities in your writing style.

3. Be clear and concise
“Having spent hours on the other end reading resumes, I appreciate those which translate quickly,” Kristyn says. Try to put yourself in the reader’s shoes. They need to be able to quickly comprehend what you have to offer and how it relates to the open position. Also, try to speak the reader’s language to get your message across effectively.

4. Highlight accomplishments
For each job listed on your resume, don’t forget to include your specific accomplishments along with the duties you performed. Sure, you were in charge of managing the front desk – but what was your impact and what were the results?

Resume don’ts: 

1. Grammar and spelling errors
This seems like a given, but you would be amazed at how many resumes have errors. Double, triple, quadruple and buddy check your resume for spelling and grammatical errors before sending it out to prospective employers. These types of simple errors can quickly raise red flags.

2. Outdated work 
“Generally speaking, the reader is interested in your recent and relative employment history – this means it isn’t necessary to go back farther than 10-15 years,” said Kristyn. “Instead, provide recent history that is relative to the job you’re interested in.”

3. Personal, ancillary data 
Avoid adding personal data to your resume. Kristyn points out that in most cases, the employer is only interested in your work history and qualifications to see if it relates well enough to the available position. Kristyn notes, “Unless you are outside the US, or applying for a position where including personal information can be common, as a general rule, this information is not relevant.”

4. Unexplained gaps in employment
Gaps in employment are okay, but they should be explained on the resume – don’t save the explanation for the interview. When you don’t address it in the resume, you leave it to an employer’s imagination. It’s best to be clear on your resume, and leave no room for interpretation. These types of gaps can be easily explained with honesty – you were in school, helping family members, on a sabbatical, etc.

5. Force fit your resume into one page
If you need more space, take it. “One of the most common mistakes job seekers make is to attempt to keep the resume within one-page,” said Kristyn. “This is not effective or realistic unless you are a recent graduate with little field experience.”

So what’s your next step? Review your resume – or hire a resume expert like Kristyn to do it for you.