resumes

All your questions about how to write a good resume, answered — from formatting to content to what hiring managers hate to see.

a pain-free guide to writing a resume

No offense, but your resume is probably a mess. It’s not that you aren’t skilled or accomplished, but most people’s resumes are middling at best. That’s understandable – resumes aren’t something you write on a regular basis, and most of us feel weird about trying to sell ourselves. Fortunately for you (although unfortunately for me), […]

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should I use a two-column resume?

A reader writes: I am going to school for a master’s degree for a health adjacent profession (think psychologist, clinical social worker etc) and I have a question about the best way to format my resume. Most of the things on my resume take up maybe half of the space on a line. For example: […]

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should I lie on my resume to make myself stand out?

A reader writes: Like many people, I am desperately applying for jobs right now. I have also been frequenting job-seeker forums to get advice and tips. One thing I keep seeing is tips on how to embellish your resume and then “cheat” the background check. For example, imagine your actual job title was “administrative assistant,” […]

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here’s a bunch of help finding a new job

Since lots of people are job-searching right now, here’s a round-up of some of the most key job-searching advice on this site. Resumes and Cover Letters The first thing to know is, if you’re not getting interviews, you probably need to fix your resume and cover letter. If you’re thinking your materials are fine, know […]

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can I put running my household on my resume?

A reader writes: I’m looking to move out of arts/media, where I’m currently director of a small department, and into business operations, probably looking for director of operations and similar jobs. I’m part of a three-adult-one-child family and act as family CFO/COO/HR, and I’d like to reference that experience when I’m applying for jobs. We […]

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my step-by-step guide to writing a resume

If you’re like most people, your résumé is … not great. That’s not because your work history is bad or your accomplishments aren’t impressive (you are undoubtedly Very Impressive). It’s because you suck at writing a résumé. Most of us do. It’s hard to be good at something you probably only do once every few […]

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how far back should your resume go?

A reader writes: I’ve been going through the resume topic on your site recently, and while you’ve discussed resume length, I didn’t see anything on how much time a resume should encompass. Generally, how far back should a resume go? As far back as will fit, or is there an amount of time hiring managers […]

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