relevant dragon-slaying skills

My new job is fun. And boring. I am learning quite a bit about office politics but that is about as far as I will take that comment. It is pretty relaxed and for now i can pick and choose most of my own projects. Yesterday myself and lady at work decided that the one resume template on a disk that had been passed around for clients to use was not great and, well, there was just one; I made two more and learned about different styles of resume like the functional (not really a fan to be honest but I can see it has its benefits)

there have been some rewarding experiences: students walking in and having no idea where to start with a resume and me sitting down with them, us brainstorming (any awards? certificates? anything?) and coming out with something that they are proud of. So if there is one thing I see quite a bit of it is resumes. Before I go on I would like to make a disclaimer: I am not the bestest resume writer, I still have uber amounts to learn about the art; but I know a good one when I see one and I can create a reasonable one.

Things I have seen and would not recommend that you copy (yes, most of these were produced by high school grads, some uni grads so I'm not picking on the grade 9's)

1. A photo of yourself at the top (uh, it makes me not even want to read the resume, especially if it's a casual, poorly cropped photo to begin with. It isn't a modeling position so its a bit arrogant to be counting on your good looks)
2. Bullets that do not match up: now I'm not talking one section slightly off line from another (although avoid this too) but masses of bullet points sloping down the page creating a summit of qualifications)
3. One big paragraph with no attempt to separate...well...anything!
4. If you are hoping to be a cashier you don't need to tell me that you enjoy "hanging out with friends" as a hobby or interest (not really useful unless you are applying to, um, work for a beer party team? Although then I think they'll notice your cup-size before reading your nifty chronological work history)
5. tacky dollarama cloud print paper (after having the experience of reading through them I can tell you that no, coloured paper does not help your case. Actually it's annoying. Maybe (maybe) slightly off-white, maybe a bit thicker or better quality (not white cardboard thick, mind you). Mostly its the styling and consistency on the page, the overall layout that will make me want to find out more.

there you have it, hopefully you were already past these little faux pas but if not, run right now and fix them and then pretend like you never had those problems and snicker at those poor saps who included their references right on the resume or included three pages of experience for a floor-cleaning job (uh it happens, don't get me started)

Tomorrow is garage-saling, it doesn't look especially promising but you just never know.