LIM College

by Edel Singh

The most amazing thing about LIM College is that when you graduate you don’t just get a diploma; you leave the college with an impressive resume.

While there are several rules and regulations regarding the formatting of resumes, it’s easy to focus more on the look of it, rather than the content. After having read through several resumes during my time at LIM, I found some common errors that might be a part of the decision whether you get the job/internship or not.

1. Check for spelling errors and consistency within bullet points. Lines should either all have punctuation marks, or none of them should. Don’t start mixing and matching. Also, make sure your spacing is consistent for each section and that your margins are accurate and your bullet points are aligned. This sort of stuff shows that you have an attention to details, which is a trait in high demand.

2. Make sure that you’re using the correct tenses in the bullet points. If you’re describing a previous job or internship, it should be in the past tense. It’s common sense. Hey, that rhymed! Now remember it.

3. Quantify your work by using numbers. It’s easier to understand in what scale you’ve been working in. “Exceeded sales goals by 40%” sounds a lot more impressive than “Exceeded sales goals.” The same applies to “managed a team” vs. “managed a team of seven people."

4. Under "Skills" be sure to also add to that list Adobe software such as Photoshop, InDesign or Illustrator, and other job specific software like Fashion GPS, MailChimp, etc. 

5. Keep your resume to one page. The average person’s attention span is now about eight seconds. (It was 12 seconds in 2000. Goldfish apparently have an atention span of 9 seconds. Just sayin'.) So, try to be as clear and concise as possible. Making a recruiter dig for the actual information is not a positive thing. There’s a reason why you have bullet points below each job title or internship, and not an essay.

Also, I highly recommend having someone else proofread your resume before submitting it to Symplicity or a potential employer. When working hard on a document that is so personal, it’s easy to overlook details, and it would be terrible to miss out on great opportunities based on spelling errors or vague statements. Remember that you are your own brand and if you’re not doing an excellent job on representing yourself, how are you going to represent the company?