April Dowling, author of PseudoHR, recently wrote Ten resume tips for the non-HR job seeker and she shares some excellent advice. She says, “Resumes are a way to get your foot in the door; here are a few tips to help ensure the rest of you gets through the door.”

I really like several of the tips April shares in her blog post:

Spell check – It’s included in every word processor, use it, please.

Italics – Italics are for names, movies, books etc; not for your job title or entire resume.

Hobbies – We don’t care, keep it job related. [A note from the management: we really don't care and not only that we think you don't have good judgement because you just told us the names and ages of all of your children and your cat. I'm sure they are all lovely but they belong on Facebook not on your resume.]

Past work history – Rule of thumb is ten years but if you don’t have that much history list the information that pertains to the job posting.  If it’s a management position and you have management experience at McDonalds include it but if were just a burger flipper don’t include it.

Objectives – My personal preference on resumes, don’t include an objective.  Your objective is to get a job, same as everyone else.  Use that space to add information about your job experience.