Ten Tips To Make A Pimpin' Professional Resume

Recently a couple of my friends asked me for some help revising and editing their resumes. 
I figured this must be a pretty common thing to be dealing with since at school they really only teach you the very basic way to make a "professional resume", not considering hundreds of applicants are fighting to stand out in order to catch the potential employer's eye, and ultimately take YOUR job opportunity. 

With that in mind, I decided to make a 'How To Make a Pimpin' Resume' post.

I'm not going to say my friends resumes were terrible (well, one of them was). However there was some definite work to be done there. You see, they were going with what a formal, average resume looks like, but who wants to be seen as average?

I've mostly freelanced and done work for which my portfolio and samples are what matters most rather than my resume so I never really thought about it too much. After  going over the flashing images of good and bad resumes I've come across in my time, I figured a resume is the equivalent of the first impression you make when meeting someone, except you aren't there to guide the situation in your favor.

Look at it this way, if you were just about to meet a potential employer in person, how would you like to be seen?
Would you want to be average, not stand out and seem just like the rest of the contenders?
Or would you like to be memorable?
Do you want to come across as happy, serious, formal, playful or just plain dull?

Resumes are your introduction to a new potential employer, so basically it has to be as appealing as possible and it should represent you and "sell" you to your employer prior to even making contact.

With that in mind, here are the
Ten Tips to Make a Pimpin' Professional Resume:

1- Establish how you want to be perceived.
This is the first thing to figure out. If you are going to work at a Law Firm you obviously don't want to seem like a fun loving party animal, however, the opposite applies if you are looking for a job as a DJ.

2- Clear the extra info.
Include contact information but unless it is job related, leave your personal address, age and details that are just taking up space OUT! To some people you'll seem too young and for others too old, so why not just let them wonder?!

3- Be direct and type in what matters.
Under each position you've held, don't enter every lame detail of your duties. Only enter what might matter to your potential employer. Sure, jobs sometimes require us to do meaningless tasks, but you don't need to bore people with the details.

4- Figure out a strong design at a glance.
Make the page design attractive as a whole. If you take a look at your resume from a bit of distance, does it catch your eye? or does it get lost in a sea of resumes?

5- Edit, edit, edit.
Make sure to have an accessible file that you can lightly edit in order to fit your employer's expectations as best as possible. To them you must seem like a job match made in heaven!

6- Don't be afraid to break rules, follow your gut and
show off your skills!
Always include all your special qualities in there. Are you a leader? do you make a great team player?
Blow your own horn and own it!

7- Have an accessible online version of it.
Don't underestimate the power of the internet! Have an online version ready to share by link, should the opportunity to share it present itself. Either that or have it saved in your email so you can blast it at a moments notice! Also, if you have a website, make sure to include it on your printed resume!

8- Safe = Boring
Enough said. Put some color in it! and don't be cheap when you print it.

9- Get personal and make sure to include a photo of your sexy self.
So you are an accountant, and you think image doesn't matter, WRONG! Make yourself presentable and get some professional good looking pictures of yourself. Just make sure you look the part you are going for. And please don't be too sexy! I know this can be a challenge but please try.

10- Get it out there! the worst thing that can happen is they toss it!
Share, share, share! Upload it everywhere, post it everywhere, email it to every semi important person you know. It might just fall into the right hands.

I hope these tips help you land your next job, or if anything,
help you get the foot in the door and land a few more interviews
than your old boring resume was! ;)