Your resume is your first opportunity to sell yourself, and you won't get much time to get someone's attention and set yourself apart from the pack. The initial screener spends about 30 seconds scanning each resume before deciding whether to toss it.
It's difficult to summarize your entire career on a single page and highlight your best skills and accomplishments, but at least there's lots of help available online:
* Don't know where to begin? Use one of the free resume-generation tools, and polish the results on your own. At least it's a start.
10 Minute Resume: www.411web.com/0/10minuteresume/
Resume Masters: www.resumemasters.com
* Looking for free samples? Review resumes for IT executives and network administrators at the Web site of the resume-writing service A Write Impression. Monster.com's Resume Expert Library also contains resumes for a few different technical professions.
www.awriteimpression.com/itmgt.pdf
www.awriteimpression.com/it2.pdf
content.monster.com/experts/resume/library/
* To see how a few small changes can make a big impact, go to the examples at:
www.provenresumes.com/reswkshps/restips/compinfo.html
* Finally, check out the Related Links section below to the vast collection of previous newsletters on the subject. Resume writing is a perennial challenge, and my colleagues' tips are among the best you'll find.
RELATED LINKS
Amy Schurr is an editor for Network World's Management Strategies and Features sections. If you have any career topics you'd like her to cover or want to comment on this newsletter, you can reach her at aschurr@nww.com.
Careers index
Past newsletters.
Network World Career Newsletter, 11/28/00
Resumes
Network World Career Newsletter, 02/22/99
Resumes, then and now
Network World Career Newsletter, 07/05/99
Write a resume, not a job description
Network World Career Newsletter, 07/20//99
On your resume, tell what you really do
Network World Career Newsletter, 12/13/99
Tips on technical resume writing
Management Strategies: Key communicators
Network World, 04/16/01
