Use of Technical Language in Resumes
Many people, particularly in technical fields, feel that in order to convey the depth and breadth of their knowledge, they have to write their resumes in very technical terms. For instance, an engineer claims he spearheaded early involvement on the installation and process debugging of a manufacturing line expediting new widget development. Sounds impressive, doesn’t it? What’s wrong with that?
Well, for one thing, the person reading the resume and trying to match it to a job opening may not be an engineer. The average human resource person would have no more idea what that sentence meant than you did. Your goal should be to make your resume understandable to everyone who picks it up and reads it.
This can often be accomplished by gearing the difficulty of your resume toward the comprehension level of an average high school student. Why? Because high school may be the last time the average person gets a broad exposure to a wide range of topics. Therefore, if you explain your computer science or engineering or research background in terms a high school student would understand, you can be assured that everyone who picks up your resume will understand it as well.
Take care not to underestimate your reader, though; you still need to convey your qualifications and expertise. You’ll still have to include any industry buzzwords or acronyms that a resume scanner would be searching for. Just avoid fifty-cent words when a nickel word will do. In the case of the engineer above, he could have said he was responsible for the setup, installation, and troubleshooting of a widget manufacturing line. Simple – easy – readable...Let 1-on-1-Resumes.Com help YOU!...
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