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Each yearly quarter I make a habit of sprucing up my resume’ … just in case and to be prepared. Well, it’s that time of year and I am looking for some constructive comments here. I have several issues that I would like to address and have other’s input.

Challenge #1: My resume’ is currently at two pages long. Since it was last updated fully, I have gained new experience, training and job achievements. How can I include this new information, keep the current information and still maintain two pages, outside of reducing the font size to microscopic?

Challenge #2: My job experience goes back to 2000 with five companies listed, all technical. I realize that a lot of firms say two years, but in eliminating the oldest position, I will be eliminating a source of information regarding my technical experience. Why so many positions? Two were short term due to being contracted positions. Out of these five, three of companies, the oldest on my resume’, are no longer in business. I am concerned that these jobs will be looked upon as “unverifiable” in the future by prospective employers. Any suggestions as to how to handle these positions?

Challenge #3: Several of my professional contacts from the now closed companies can no longer be used as they are all now deceased, except for one who is in prison, (don’t ask, but now you know why I don’t want to use him.) I have no other contacts with the people I used to work with at these previous, now closed companies, so I have no real professional contacts outside of my current job and the previous job. I have seen requirements that they want a valid contact for each and every past job. Suggestions? I have no problem with adding personal references.

Challenge #4: I have heard that, as in Power Point presentations, you should “Bullet” your technical expertise and skills. However, listing this information in bulleted form, this takes up valuable space on the resume’. Suggestions?

Thanks all for your comments. I have a somewhat thick skin, so if you have a suggestion that you think my hurt my feelings, trust me, it won’t. I welcome constructive criticism.

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I think generally it’s a great idea to adjust your resume/CV to the job you’re applying for. After all, you might have experience in dozens of areas, but if half them don’t matter to your new employer, why talk about them at length?

I’d list the relevant experience and where you gained them based on the job you’re applying for. Then the rest can go either bulleted or in some other short form at the end, so they can still see your full working and educational history, and all the information relevant to your potential employer is right up front, easy to access.

Nobody is going to read pages and pages. You need to grab their attention with the first couple of sentences.

So, having said that, here is what I would suggest.

Challenge #1: Yes, add the new experience as well and keep the old, but make sure you precede all of that with a couple of paragraphs of the experience that’s relevant to the job you’re applying for.

Challenge #2: Again, keep your full working experience in, but in the first couple of paragraphs, which are relevant to your specific job application, you can list the companies where you gained the experience required for the new job. Something like: “I have got two years’ experience as Super-Admin-Overlord-Technician from my work at Acme Ltd. and Widgets Ltd.”

Challenge #3: References are very important once the new employer has decided you’re the person for the job. It’s all well judging you by your resume/CV and asking you to complete tests etc., but companies will want someone else to vouch for some of your experience as well. Personal contacts can work, but only if these people can reasonable be seen as authoritative on the experience they’re vouching for. If you fixed someone’s computer then they might be able to confirm that you’re good at fixing computers, but if you built a website for someone who doesn’t have a clue about websites, that person won’t be able to confirm that you’re a great ASP.Net programmer.

Ultimately be honest though, rather than try and find references that turn out not to be plausible.

Challenge #4: As before, I’d do two paragraphs or so about the experience you’ve got that’s relevant to the job you’re applying for, then the rest of your resume list the companies you worked for and briefly outlines what skills you used/learned during your working life.

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#1 & #2 - This is IT - go back no more than 10 years. No one cares that you administered Exchange 5.5 in 2000, just that you can administer 2010.

#3 - I’ve never seen that, and have never required it. Companies & people come & go.

#4 - I have a “Summary of Qualifications” right up top - table format - 2 or 3 columns wide by 5 or 6 rows.

If over 14 years you have had progressive responsibilities, leave in the company and title with a brief description i.e.:

2000-2001 Acme products - help desk - performed duties typical for this position.

2001-2003 Acme products - Network Engineer - you get the idea!

Try and quantify every item.

Put in a link to your Linkedin profile - use that to list every place & skill!

You might also be able to find some ex co-workers on Linkedin as well.