The Post About Resume Tips and Tricks

I have a day job. I'm a marketing director at a child and family welfare agency in Alabama.

I adore it.

Even on days when it's tougher to love, I  simply tweet out my solution...

But trust me, even on the worst day, there are not many better places to work. Coworkers who are normal, an office with a comfortable chair, and a mission of nurturing children by strengthening families.

I think the word is out on our goodness or the economy is in the crapper, because we receive 100s of resumes for each job we post.

However, our HR Director doesn't read them all. Who would have time for that? So she works it out so some get eliminated from the beginning when they violate a few rules.

Here's how you wouldn't make it past square one in our hiring process:

1. Use Comic Sans as your resume font. There are other options folks. Arial, Calibri, Helvetica, Georgia exist on almost every computer on the planet. Use them. Even the disaster that is Times New Roman would be better than CS. A professional job demands a professional font.

2. Don't follow instructions. There is only one way to submit resumes to my nonprofit which we include in every job posting - email attachment to employment@childrensaid.org. If you snail mail or fax or hand deliver it, then you will not receive a rose. Most employers have guidelines for submitting applications or resumes...follow them to the letter. 

3. Send resume from an unprofessional email address. When my best friend Kara decided to return to the workforce after being a stay-at-home mom, she asked for tips. I suggested not sending her resume with her email address that begins with "kpookie." So unless you're applying for a job in a pet store, your resume email address should not be dogsgetme81@aol.com.

4. Using an unprofessional ringback song and/or voicemail message. I was hiring camp staff this summer and I made a call to an applicant. He was a graduate student in counseling who was also looking for permanent employment. His ringback tone was the unedited version of F*** You by Cee Lo Green. His voicemail was "Hey...it's _________. I'm probably busy gettin' busy so leave a message. I might call you back. I might not." 

True. Story.

5. Don't proofread. Spell check and grammar check won't protect you. Make sure you have someone else proofread your cover letter and resume. Employers are assuming you're putting your best self forward in your cover letter. And no ones wants to hire a "best self" with a master's degree, 10 years experience who can't write. 

Note: This applicant also left a digit out of her phone number. So, there's that.

What job search tips do you have?

{images: Jamie}