Resume Best Practices for Nonprofit Professionals

I think we can talk about resumes on a regular basis and always have something new to add.  There is a certain fashion in resumes that keep the topic current:  skills/qualities at the top or a position statement?  Education first or last?  Volunteer activities listed with work or separate?

But, i think one thing that is most important about a resume:  it needs to reflect you.  You need to be proud of what is in your resume, you need to understand why you chose to list/mention particular activities or skills and you need to feel confident that the resume reflects your ability to do the job.

All of that is great, but we know you are trying to get in front of a hiring manager—and trying to think like a hiring manager.  The trick there is everyone reads resumes differently. 

I often read a resume from the middle and then go to the top and then the bottom (similar to how i read magazines:  I start in the middle).  Does that mean you should rearrange your resume because of that quirk?  No.  It means that if you are clear and concise, I can find my way to information quickly and easily.

Some basic points:
Education at the bottom, dates optional, no grade point average:  Education shows what you’ve done and that it is completed.  After that, it doesn’t share much about you, so don’t let it take up important space.

Skills/statement at the top:  If I read your work history and it doesn’t match the skills at the top, then I think there is a problem.  Either you don’t think the work you’ve done is related to your skills, or you’ve added to your skills and that isn’t supported by your work history.  Either way, the skills statement has to be supported by your work history:  consistently.

Work History:  What have you done/learned/achieved?  Can it be measured?  Does it show progress from position to position as you’ve grown your skills?  Is each work entry easy to read and understand?

Volunteering:  Readers like to find points of connection with candidates.  Volunteering can help with that.  If you want to show how volunteering trained you or could be considered work, then you need to treat it like a work history:  what did you learn, is it measurable, how did you grow.  Otherwise, it is volunteering.