There are a number of theories on resumes, but they all come down to the best way to get an interview in the first place.
I think the “Objective:” part is BS and best left off.
The best advice I got was to have a one-page resume that lists accomplishments, to serve as an advertisement to get potential employers to ask for more information, at which time you have the second full resume that has job history. The former contains things like “Designed and implemented a mutual funds accounting system,” while the latter includes “1990 - 1998: XYZ Investments, Inc., New York, NY. Primary Design Analyst, Mutual Funds Team,” and is in chronological order, most recent job first. It can be two or even three pages long, and would also include the types of tools, processes, software, or whatever that you are skilled in using.
The one-page ad would contain the most important or attention-getting items first. Use a large font, no less than 12 point. Put your name, address, phone & email at the top, not “Resume.”
Don’t bother with fancy paper , cover sheets, binders, or any other time-wasters, on either one. These days a lot of resume submission is done on-line anyway. Just be absolutely sure that there is not the slightest typo, misspelling, or any other easily-seen error on it. I have seen resumes get tossed directly into the circular file because of a single punctuation or spelling error, on the theory that if you don’t care enough to do your best in your own interest, you will be even more careless on the job.
If there are gaps in your work experience, don’t mention it. If the rest is good enough to get you an interview, be prepared with a positive explanation for the time. “I chose to stay home with my children/devote time to my family/explore volunteer activities/pursue further education.” Unless the real reason was that you were in jail, most employers won’t care.
Go back as far as necessary with employment history, but only go into detail with related work experience, especially recent work. Include significant projects, assignments, accomplishments. For anything really early, or completely unrelated, you can add something at the end such as “Five years experience teaching Art History.” Do not include flipping burgers during high school and college.
Put down the last known city and state of the companies that are out of business. If/When you get the interview, you can always comment that they are no longer extant.
References: Do NOT put “References available upon request” on your resume. Do not list them, either. I would not suggest carrying a letter of recommendation with you. That suggests that it was written with your input. If/When you get to the point where references are asked for, provide contact information for the people who are offering. Have a separate piece of paper with you so that when you are asked, at the interview, you can just pull out that envelope and hand it over. Even better, presuming that these are folks in the know, they could help by actually making some contacts for you by contacting others in a position to hire you before you even go there. When I was in a position to do hiring, if a current employee, or someone I knew well, contacted me with info about a person they could recommend, I always gave that person top priority.
If the nickname is easily deduced from your real name, (Eddie vs. Edward) use “Edward” on everything. If a reference says “Eddie” it will be understood. Also, as indicated above, you should not have the letters pre-written. The process should work such that the potential employer is contacting the reference. So if they call or write to ask about “Fauntleroy Higginson” and the reference responds with a letter about “Leroy” or “Buddy” Higginson, it should be able to be understood who the reference is speaking of. (Or, seeing as to how you mentioned a husband, perhaps that should be “Gertie vs. Gertrude” and “Dorothea Higginson” vs. “Thea” or “Dolly.” )
Do not under any circumstances mention your age. It is presumably illegal to discriminate against you because of age, but you can never prove it one way or the other unless some idiot actually admits to it. Some experts recommend leaving anything that could possibly cause your age to be deduced off the initial one-page resume. For example, if you mention that you graduated from high school in a particular year, it’s obvious that you were about 17 or 18 at the time, and one is presumed to have graduated college in one’s early 20s. You can certainly make a list of your accomplishments, and add that you have an MA in economics from Yale without giving the date of graduation.
When you get the interview, or are otherwise asked for more details, you can provide the full resume, which includes dates of employment. You might be asked for college info so that they can verify that you are not lying. At some point it will become obvious that you are not 25 years old, but there is no point in making this obvious in the beginning. Do not provide any family or other personal information on your resume unless it is somehow relevant to the job.
Regarding age, you want to create the impression of maturity, dependability, a proven work record, etc. If the opportunity presents, for example, if there is a question about overtime, or work hours, you might be able to work in that your children are grown up now and that you don’t have to rush home to get anyone at daycare.
A disclaimer: I acquired these and other suggestions during 8 long months of resumes and interviews since last July. I finally landed a job via taking a temp position that worked into permanent full time. My resume WAS successful, though, in getting me quite a few interviews. I was told by several potential employers that it was “impressive.” Unfortunately, they all also told me that I was either (a) overqualified or (b) underqualified.
