Your resume must be set up for maximum impact to get you an interview. To be chosen, you first must be seen, read, and understood.
You haven’t got a prayer of having your resume read unless you remember a hymnbook.
A resume should be created with a hymnbook in mind. A hymnbook is created so that a singer may read the text and the music without shifting their eyes. An organist can play a measure or two with one glance. A chorus director can read all 4 singing parts and the text in quick glances.
So why is this important for a resume? Because most resumes are thrown out in 10 seconds.
From the top line of the top staff of music to the bottom line of the bottom staff of music is 1 to 1 1/2 inches. The width of one measure is usually the same. A trained musician can read two measures wide, or about 3 inches of music, in one glance. Have you noticed that when there are too many verses, some are moved from between the music staffs to the bottom of the page? If the line gets too wide, it takes two glances to read it.
Your resume must be set up for maximum impact to get you an interview. It should be created in high impact sections. Each section should be the same size and shape as two measures of music in a hymnbook: 1 to 1 1/2 inches high by 2-3 inches wide.
Most people look at a page in rectangular sections. Go to some high volume internet sites. They are arranged in small rectangular sections with high impact. Pull down menus in computer programs are also sized about the same. The reason is because you can read all that information at a glance.
Your resume has to sing to get you an interview. A reader’s eyes will naturally pause in three or four places on your resume. That is where the most compelling evidence of your attitude and productivity must be displayed. Bullet points break up an unreadable paragraph into high impact, one glance sections. Key words in bold become the center of focus.
Look at your resume. Does it read like a hymnbook in one glance rectangular sections? Or does it look like a monotonous term paper with huge paragraphs strung completely across a page. Time to get it into readable rectangular impact areas.
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My free resume planner is available at www.agicc.com/resplangeneral.pdf .
Something To Do Today
Hand your resume to a friend. Take it away after 10 seconds. Ask them what they read. That will tell you where your current high impact areas are.
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Tomorrow: The Rush Limbaugh job interview
Later: Newspapers sell