General Layout
Keep your resume clear, concise, and easy to read. Remember to use empty space to give your resume a crisp look. In an effort to stand out in a stack of resumes, some have tried fonts or paper that is special and colored. Usually this technique does not work well and should be avoided! Use a clear type style (Arial font # 11 or 12) and print it on the best quality plain paper you can find. This is much more effective than designer papers. Please avoid using any "cute" graphic images!

Length of Resume
Many of you have heard that a one-page resume is the correct length of a resume, period. Well, in our opinion, it is much more important to present your background in a neat, orderly and accurate fashion than to try to squeeze your resume into one page. Generally, it is our suggestion to keep your resume to no more than three pages. If you have years of experience and are a General Manager or Vice President, start abbreviating position descriptions from twenty years ago.

Type Size
Many of you choose a point size that is too small. This is probably because you think that you must keep your resume to only one page or you are trying to put too much data about your positions into too little space. Remember that many resumes are faxed. Normal fax distortions make documents harder to read. Some fax machines shrink documents to fit plain paper output that reduces the size even further. Therefore make sure your telephone number is in a sufficiently clear and large font. Try not to use fonts where i.e. # 6, 8 and 9 when distorted over the fax, can no longer be distinguished from each other.

Dates of Employment
The correct presentation of dates of employment should be month and year of start and finish. If you use years only, the reader automatically suspects you are hiding short tenures or hiding stretches of unemployment. If you have several positions with the same company, show it clearly. Breakdown the length of time with that same property or company by indicating month & year from start to finish for each position held.

Company or Property Information
You should always briefly and accurately describe the hotel, resort, restaurant, etc. on your resume. By this, we mean hotel's number of rooms, size of banquet space, number of outlets and possibly type of business for which the property is known. For food and beverage situations include cuisine style, number of seats and general hours of operation. Do not include employer address! This clutters up your resume and is entirely unnecessary. Please include city, state and country under each property.

Job Description
Briefly tell of the scope of your responsibilities. Please mention the departments that directly reported to you. This is particularly important when you are an Executive Assistant Manager or Resident Manager or Director of Sales & Marketing etc.� . You should list your accomplishments in bullet point format. Use action verbs, leadership words and result phrases. Do not write a book, just the highlights . Do not try to explain what is obvious i.e.: "As Food & Beverage Director I was responsible for the Food & Beverage Department�". NEVER use "I" when mentioning your accomplishments. i.e.: "I increased occupancy by�", "I improved the average check at the restaurant�!" Instead use: "Successfully increased occupancy by�". "Managed to improve the average check at the restaurant by�" If you have held the same position at different properties or companies, NEVER copy and paste the same job description under more than one same position.

Personal and Salary Data
Information such as salary, date of birth, marital status etc� should only be included if you personally wish to do so. If you are seeking an overseas (outside the USA) position this information is normally expected. Including your salary history on your resume is inappropriate. (For US citizens or permanent US residents: Never include your Social Security number)

Contact Information
We are surprised at you many resumes we receive that do not come with a telephone number! This sounds ridiculous but it is true. Please do yourself a favor and list your current address, telephone, and if available: your fax number, e-mail address, and for candidates working overseas on determined period contracts, your permanent address back in your home country with a telephone number. If you do not have one, then use a close family member's or a close friend's address and telephone number. Remember it may take several months before you find the next position; this means that the information you had initially enclosed on your resume and mailed out to potential employers will no longer be valid due to you having relocated from the country or state you where originally residing in.

References
Keep an up-to-date reference sheet of five to eight individuals you have previously contacted who have agreed to answer the reference questions from prospective employers. These should be people to whom you have reported to and who know the nature of your performance. Co-workers are good as well. You should include the following information for each reference: name, current title and company they work for, current address and a phone number as well as the connection as to when and where you have worked for them in the past. It is your responsibility to keep this list accurate! It is no one else's job but yours to "track your references down". This may be the difference between you getting the job or someone else!

Spelling
Make very sure you have your resume proofed. Check the spelling of everything you send out! Misspelled potential employer names, words and work dates are a major turn off. If you do not have the time to review and correct your resume, then that is what the potential employer will think of you as being the quality of work as well as lack of attention to detail that you will bring to their organization.

Be Truthful
Remember that accuracy is very important. The Hospitality Industry is very small community. Do not assume the reader of your resume is uninformed. Do not brag about accomplishments you had no control over. Many employers are now checking to see if you really have that degree, or that title, so please be honest!

Resume Services
Most candidates do their own resumes. This is fine if you spend some time with it and pay attention to the points mentioned here. Otherwise, consider a resume service that specializes in resume writing and production. You are ultimately responsible for the content. A resume service will generally not be aware of our industry jargon. Furthermore, before you select a service, ask to see some samples of their work. Do not assume that more expensive is better. Prices range from $25 for a basic re-type to several hundreds of dollars for resumes with multiple cover letters. Remember that some of the mistakes we list here are from resumes prepared by professional resume companies. Remember to review it very carefully no matter who prepares it. Take your time it is your future!

Final and Last Suggestion
If you are sending out resumes then do yourself a big favor, get an answering machine at home! There is nothing more frustrating to an employer who has put your resume on a short list, not to be able to contact you to let you know they want to speak with you! Also cut the 2 minute messages to a professional simple short and clear message on the answering machine. You can go back to having all sorts of animal noises, babies or children's voices and romantic or rap music backgrounds on your personal answering machine once you have landed to position you were seeking.