Happy New Year, now back to business.

At the last productive meeting of the Free Birds, we reviewed the flock’s assorted biographies and résumés.  This is what we liked:

• Testimonials

• Indentations, bullets and clean organization

• Brevity

• Third-person narrative rather than first-person voice

• Chronological ordering starting with most recent entries

• White space

Of course, unique paper stocks, distinctive imagery and beautiful typography and graphic design were also appreciated.  Like a crow with a shiny object, we creative birds may have been caught up in the pretty things a bit.  But each of us left with a specific to-do list for improving the content of her résumé.

Some references to consider that I borrowed from the local library, yes, LIBRARY:

“Perfect Phrases for Résumés” by Michael Betrus – came in handy when I ran out of ways to say “Experienced”.   Some favorites:

•  Instrumental in….

•  Extensive involvement in….

•  Personally responsible for….

•  Consistently….

•  Expert in developing…..

“101 Great Résumés” by Ron Fry -  As a graphic designer, visual organization is second-nature to me, so it was interesting to see the array of organizational approaches and visual styles that the birds presented at our meeting.  This book lists 19 tips to a “great looking résumé” including:

1.  Limit your résumé to one or two pages.

7.  Don’t mix typefaces.

11.  Use generous margins.

18.  Shorten your line length.

As with everything, there are no absolutes and a grain of salt may be taken with any of these “perfect tips”.