HBR Guide to Getting a Job

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How to Write a Résumé That Doesn't Annoy People

by David Silverman

David Silverman has been an entrepreneur, an executive, and a business writing teacher. His latest book is Typo: The Last American Typesetter or How I Made and Lost 4 Million Dollars.

Find more content by David Silverman at blogs.hbr.org/silverman

A Google search for “résumé” results in over 178 million hits, whereas “possum” nets only 5,340,000. Thus the documentation of work experience is 33.3 times more popular than arboreal marsupials. But what does this really tell us? Not much, but neither does the average résumé that comes across my desk. Some excerpts:

• “Administered resolution of issues and implementation of ideas surfaced by individuals.”
• “Partaking ...