Effective Resume Writing: How to Review and Edit Your Resume Like a Pro

When it comes to effective resume writing, writers have two seemingly contradictory rules about editing. You might as well learn them right now and be as confused as the majority of us are normally.

The first is that just about every document can be edited down some more. This means we are reluctant to ever part with a piece of our writing. The second rule is to create the final product as quickly as possible. See what I mean? We're definitely torn.

The editing rule, however, is a valuable habit to develop. This particular rule comes in handy when you discover that your resume is just several sentences longer than two pages, or you've got four words more than a one page document.

This situation screams editing . . . editing . . . editing.

And if you think you just can't possibly part with any of those well-chosen, well-place words . . . well think again. But before you start hitting the delete button on your computer, let's just look at some simple, easy editing tips. These tips will serve you well as you complete your resume, but they'll also stay with you for other projects as well.

The wonderfully unnecessary word "that".

It's true. Most of the time when we use this word it's unnecessary. Now not every English teacher will agree with me, but for the purposes of saving space on your resume, removing a few ineffectual "that's" here and there is not going to cause an employer to turn against you.

Let me show you exactly what I mean. Here is a sentence with the word "that".

I ensured that all lessons included a hands-on approach that involved making a craft, accurately portraying an important point in history or creatively writing about the topic (for example, creating the daily diary of Herbert Hoover).

This sample comes from the competency statement I used earlier. Notice that the statement says "I ensured that all lessons . . ."

Well, I'm sure it's correct English, and in it is also a "useless" word. By "useless" I mean you can take it out of the sentence and not even miss it. Go ahead, try it. Here's how it sounds and looks:

I ensured all lesson included a hands-on approach . . .

If you're searching for ways to edit your resume to save a few lines, begin with this technique. Here's a dirty little secret guaranteed to save you time in your search for those extra "thats". Click the editing tool bar on your word document. Then click on the "find" section. Now type in the word "that," and find. This technique will take you through your entire document one "that" at a time.

Read each sentence to see that if you took the word out, the sentence would still sound correct. If it does, eliminate the word.

If after you do this, then you need to do some more basic "hard core" editing. Effective resume writing requires you to minimize redundancies in your writing. Such phrases as "past history" are not necessary. "History" easily explains exactly what you want to say.

"Past experience" is another redundant phrase. Unless you've mastered the art of time travel (and they may be a few of you MIT grads who have secretly done this) then all experience, by definition, is in the past.

Read every accomplishment or achievement again. Be very critical. Do any of these sentences contain extra words that just aren't needed? What about the phrase "during the course of . . . " Do you really need the phrase "the course of . . .?" I'll answer that for you: No!

Now, go through your writing one more time. See if there isn't some way to tighten that writing. There are times when phrases - especially those with the word "of" - can be rearranged to say the exact same thing, but only in a more concise form.