In many ways, writing a resume is a way to learn more about yourself. You have to sell yourself to a potential employer, which is hard because you have to find a balance between being objective and selling yourself.
Your resume should include a summary of your education, work experience, and qualifications in a way that fits your career goal. Putting your whole professional history on one or two pages can take a lot of time. That's why we sometimes spend hours and days writing and rewriting our resumes to get the content and format just right before sending them to a potential employer. But when we look at the same content over and over again, it's easy to miss simple typos, grammar mistakes, or poorly written sentences that might make the hiring manager wonder. Have someone else look over your resume before you post it on job search websites or send it to companies you're interested in working for. This can be a scary thought, because even if you want your friend's help and feedback, you might worry that they won't like something about the way it looks, and you'll feel like you have to change the way it's put together. And since you've already spent a lot of time on your resume, you don't want to have to start over.
Since you know having someone else look over your resume can help you, the key is to set some limits and goals for that review. If you know that grammar isn't your strong suit, ask your friends to proofread the content. If there are gaps in your work history, ask a friend to play the role of a potential employer and look over your resume and cover letter with you. Do they have any questions about your past jobs, or did your cover letter answer everything? Accept comments about the content, but make sure your friends are asking good questions about what you're saying. If they tell you to change an action word, can they give you a good reason for doing so, or are they just telling you what they want to hear? Don't get into a fight about how your resume is formatted. Instead, do your research ahead of time to find out what the right style is for your field. Before you send your resume to potential employers, it's also a good idea to have more than one person look it over. This helps you figure out if the feedback is based on personal preferences or professional concerns. The person you ask for help from should ideally have experience in your field and be able to help you make sure that the action words or phrases you chose are right for your industry and position level.
If you're not sure if you're on the right track with your resume and you feel like the research you've done is too much and not helpful, get help from a professional resume writing service. A professional resume writer should be able to point you in the right direction, make changes to your current resume, or help you make a new one. Make sure the professional you hire can give you references and samples, and that they have experience writing resumes for professionals in your field. Even though this option requires you to pay someone to help you, it may be the best choice in the long run.
You can always be your own editor for your resume. Step away from your resume for a while. Give yourself some time, usually a day or two, between writing the resume and reading it. This lets you look at the final draught of your resume with more objectivity, since you are not as close to it at the time (the way you would be immediately after completing the draft).
No matter which review option you choose, make sure you look over your resume before sending it to a possible employer. You don't want the person who is hiring you to find out about your mistakes, do you? A resume that is well-written and free of mistakes is more likely to get you the job you want.
