The do’s and don’ts of resume building

The Street

LinkedIn Career Expert Andrew McCaskill joins TheStreet to share his tips on how to build the perfect resume.

Transcript

00:00 - Talk to me about, you know,

00:02 oftentimes before you even get into that door,

00:04 it's based on what's off a piece of paper.

00:06 It's based off your resume.

00:07 Do's and don'ts of resume building,

00:09 I'd imagine avoid typos is probably somewhere on that list,

00:12 but that in and of itself is a competitive field, right?

00:15 Hey, you've got your CV, I've got mine,

00:17 and before they know anything else about us,

00:19 it's just whatever's off the paper that shines through.

00:22 - Here's some things I think are really important.

00:23 One is the verbiage should be action-oriented

00:28 and results-oriented.

00:30 So no passive language in your resume

00:31 and on your LinkedIn profile.

00:33 It should be very skills first.

00:35 Like, these are the things that I do incredibly well.

00:38 Here's how I've used those skills,

00:40 and here's the results that I've garnered

00:42 for my company or my employer

00:44 using those skills really, really well.

00:46 The other thing goes back to that thing

00:48 about the whole typo thing, man.

00:50 It should be easy to read, it should be easy to follow,

00:52 and there are tons of tools out there,

00:55 from AI tools to proofreaders and all that thing

00:59 that you should not really have any sort of typos

01:03 and big mistakes in your resume.

01:05 One of the things that people are fearful of, though,

01:08 is that what if I have a time gap on my resume?

01:11 There's not the same stigma

01:13 about having taken time off from work anymore.

01:16 Don't try to hide that.

01:17 Be really forthcoming about it.

01:19 If you took time off to be a caregiver,

01:23 or if you took time off for mental health reasons,

01:25 or if you took time off just to reassess

01:27 or learn a new skill, or to take a break,

01:32 it's okay to have those gaps on there.

01:33 Don't fudge them.

01:35 Be honest about them and upfront about them.

01:37 - Move the months around.

01:38 - Yeah, and then they look really weird

01:40 'cause then the months are wrong on your resume,

01:42 or when you look at your LinkedIn,

01:44 or you forget the dates in your head.

01:47 Listen, I think that being honest and forthcoming

01:49 about that in the beginning, you'll be fine.

01:51 - Good call.

01:52 (sighs)

01:54 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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