Also what is the standard format for a general resume?
It’s finally happened, the economy has ground my work leads to almost nothing so it looks like I’m going to have to get a job. I doubt I can get a job in my field (residential designer) so I’ll take what ever I can get - sales, etc.
I’ve Googled “writing resume” but there are a million hits, the first page of which were almost worthless or contradictory. I’ve also searched the forums but most of the threads were question specific.
So any help anyone can offer is greatly appreciated. Should the contact info be centered? Is there a “best” font? I’m starting from scratch here and my copy of Word doesn’t have a template (that i can find). Thanks,
What’s wrong with a PO box? I wouldn’t even consider that an issue. That’s the best place to send you correspondence… no worries.
I’m in academia, where the CV is the resume equivalent, and those suckers are typically over 10 pp long… but resumes are supposed to be short, no more than 2 pages, I believe. And 2 pagers are for folks who have worked a LONG time.
Times New Roman is probably the best font. Easy to read, scans well, and is about as nondescript a font as there is. Arial or Helvetica would be good if you don’t like serifs, or are working in a more creative medium.
I’ve always been told the content matters much more than the layout and design. As long as your contact info and experiences are readable and adhere to some established format, it shouldn’t matter much. Resumes are not places to be creative.
Do you live near a college or university? The career services office will probably have sample resumes you can look at or even copy.
I am no expert, but I hire people fairly frequently and look at a decent number of resumes, so I can tell you what I think.
I don’t think putting a PO Box will be a huge issue, though, honestly, I would wonder why you did it, and if you were trying to hide anything. If you have a good reason to do it, I would say go ahead, but if not I would default to your address.
I like centered contact info, but a lot of people do it differently, and if it looks good, I don’t care one bit.
I agree about Times New Roman or a similar font. I prefer Serif fonts for resumes, and definitely don’t do anything funky.
As long as it looks clean and well-organized, I wouldn’t stress about the format too much.
In normal times, I think a PO box would be fine. However, if you’re applying for a company that is likely to get a lot of out of the area applicants, it *might *be a red flag that you’re not local but looking to relocate.
Instead of a PO box, rent a box at one of the mailing service stores such as Mailboxes Etc, UPS Store, etc. They typically are cheaper than the Post Office boxes, and your address will be something like:
PlainJane Smith
1000 First St. #123
Lincoln, NB 00000
I don’t understand why it would be an issue. Some people still live in areas where a PO Box is the only way to get their mail (USPS doesn’t deliver mail in the town where my bookstore is located in Montana), and others get one if they might be moving, or if they’re living in a temporary location, if they don’t want their roommate looking at their mail, if they regularly get packages that don’t fit through their mail slot, or if they’ve had mail stolen from their mailbox (we had this problem where I used to live in California).
There are lots of reasons to have a PO Box, and I can’t see why anyone would think twice about seeing one on your resume.
Obviously I have lived here for a bit too long – where I am, there is no mail delivery. Everybody has a box. And I’ve almost started thinking this was normal or something. Of course my box is on my resume.
If they just didn’t make us pay for them, given that we have no choice!
Hmmm, I guess I have some things to consider. Thanks for the suggestions. The reason for using the POB is that I’m in the middle of a move and I’ve used the box as a business addy for the last couple of years.
Years ago when I had a Post Office box the post office got annoyed if we had some stuff using our PO box and some using our street address. So I routinely used the PO box as my mailing address. Only where a psychical address is necessary - electoral rolls, insurance policies would I give one.
But why would it bother you? PO boxes have been around forever, and everybody knows what they are and how they work. What would make you suspicious about someone using one? I guess I’ve used them for so long I can’t understand why they’d bother anyone.
There’s nothing inherently suspicious about using a PO box. Plenty of people have them. It’s the fact that this is the only address information provided on the resumé (which is how I’m interpreting the question). The immediate response from those I asked was one of two questions:
“Doesn’t he have anywhere to live?”
“I assume he has a huge distance to commute and doesn’t want us to know. His attendance may be erratic”. (That was my first thought).
But why would you think those things? There’s nothing about a PO Box that implies homelessness or having anything to hide, yet that’s the first thing you thought. I’m trying to figure out where the prejudice against PO Boxes is coming from.
I’ve seen it before. As I mentioned, there is no mail delivery downtown in the city I live in (population 2,300). My business, therefore, has a PO Box. I certainly do have a physical address, but you can’t send mail to it. Everything that goes U.S. Mail must go to the PO Box, and I run into businesses on a regular basis that won’t ship stuff by U.S. Mail to my PO Box, so I have to pay extra for UPS. Why do they do this?
A few years ago I had to put together a resume, and I found a great template for Open Office. My career counselor at my university concurred. I can’t say that I’ve found similar ones for MS office, however.
Why would you put an address on your resume? It’s not anyone from the HR department is going to send you a letter. They’ll email or call. I just checked my own resume - no address at all, just a non goofy email address and my cell phone number.
Companies don’t send offer letters anymore? It’s been a while since I worked for anyone else, but I would certainly expect to get the terms of my employment in writing with a signature before I agreed to a job.
My employer always sends its job offers in writing through the post.
I agree it doesn’t imply homelessness. But every other applicant gives a home address. An applicant who does not give one immediately sets himself apart, prompting the obvious response “Why no home address?”
The last offer letter I got (from a very large company) was via email. I printed it, signed it, faxed it back.
I still don’t see why a postal address has to be on a resume. If you get an offer letter, the HR department can ask for an address at that time. For the person actually reading the resume and making decisions, an address is superfluous info (unless they want to Google Maps/Street View your house for some reason).
I would probably view a PO Box as an indicator that someone is looking to relocate to the area. I’m in DC, so it’s not that unusual for us to get non-local applicants–especially people who anticipate moving to the area because a spouse/partner has gotten a job here.
Make sure to customize your resume according to each set of job requirements. We usually get 200+ resumes per job posting, so the resumes with irrelevant work experience are the first to be weeded from the stack.