Resume Advice – Cover Page? Nooo!

As a professional resume writer, I often come across people who have some kind of fancy cover page, sometimes with pretty pictures relevant to their profession, and sometimes even a photo of themselves! Yes, some of these people have paid big money to a resume writer / developer….. and this is what they have done for them! NO! Please stop it and get rid of your cover pages. Discard, delete. Think of it like this…..the average recruiter / HR person spends an average of 15 – 20 seconds on a resume…..so if you have a cover page with nothing but irrelevant information like your Name in big font, the job you are applying for, your title etc, that is valuable seconds wasted by the recruiter just hitting the scroll button on the computer…scrolling too far, having to scroll back etc….aghhh!! The recruiter / HR person is already annoyed and they haven’t even started reading your resume!

As someone who has viewed hundreds and thousands of resumes, I can say that we recruiters do not like them, they waste time and to be honest, they make you look a little bit wanky….especially with photos of yourself (stop it!)

It is like using a slow dial up connection instead of broadband – in this day and age, we want information quickly and we want to cut through irrelevant info. The title page is irrelevant.

If you have paid for someone to do your resume and they have included a front page, bear this in mind… YOU are their client, they want to impress YOU so you will feel good about paying them big money! Sometimes professional resume writers get overly caught up in the flashiness side of it, and the content, relevance and market targeting slips. I have had many people come to me recently with examples of what they paid for, and it isn’t good enough. I am sorry if you have had a bad experience with resume writers and developers. I can only focus on my own reputation and its all about awesome-ising you and your achievements, without wanking it up!

My reYOUme’s look professional, pop, are well organised, flow and your awesome jumps off the page. I use black, white grey and one popping colour to suit you and the market or company you are going for. I have been known to match the colour of your resume, to the logo of the company you want into to. Its all part of the awesome!!

Anyway, the bottom line is, stop it on the cover pages!

If you want help, contact me on 0423 171 234 or seona@youcentre.com.au

To Your success,

Seona Craig