Writing the Resume

The absolute first thing you should do after you have become unemployed or knowing you will be laid off is to write your resume. If you haven't undated it in the last six months, it needs to be polished.

If you are unfamiliar with writing a resume, find a family member or friend who is a good writer and possibly works with hiring or in human resources. The key to your resume is that your skills "pop" right off the bat.

Try to limit your resume to two pages. In my husband's case, he has a career that spans over 20 years, his resume is 2.5 pages long. A description of each of the major parts of your job should be written with bullets below it describing the intricacies of the job. For example if one of your main roles is a Manager, you'll want to clearly state what you manage and how you manage, weather you manage money, a contract or people, the information should be there for prospective employers to see. Adding key words to your resume will help the resume surface when the HR department is looking for resumes using key words. The keywords should pertain to every part of the job(s) you've done.

After you've completed your resume, have several people look it over. If there is an Unemployment office near you, they have counselors that will look at it and make suggestions. You want your resume to be up to the latest standards that hiring managers and HR reps are looking for. Whatever you do, do not pay Monster or Career Builders to write your resume, they don't know you and you are unemployed - the math alone here makes sense to do it yourself.

After the resume is complete, you can start your job search!