background — Blog — Tom Mihok

I tell students and professionals I advise you don’t always need a resume. Don’t offer one if not requested. Sometimes just a conversation or even a piece of paper with your name and contact info is the best way to create an opportunity

At the end of the semester I ask students to tell me what what worked well, what could be improved, toward my goal of presenting a superior learning experience, this one among their best. I make changes based on student comments continually. My cou

Client resumes sound like and make visual images in your mind of the client as you read and get to know them. For some resumes, the initial image (before Optimization) is of them straining, neck muscles tensed like ropes, arms bulging, veins protrud

When I meet with a student or professional for a first look at their resume, I often hold their resume up and squint at it, making the words blurry and turning the page into blobs of dark and white space areas. I ask the client to do that too, so we

If you are younger (college or grad school) and your education and experience make it obvious and easy to assume the direction you want to go, don’t waste space on the page with a Summary section. Use the space you would’ve used for a Su

(Worst) Duties
(Better) Achievements
(Best) Stories
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Ranked worst to best for your bullet-points: duties|achievements|stories
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Listing your duties tells people what you did. If you have done spectacular things—discovered a cure for cancer

This is a professional example of cascading. It’s the lucite deal announcement I earned during my investment banking days I posted earlier.
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Notice the cascading: font sizes, some bold type some not as you go lower, my firm top and left oth

Cascade your information. Use ALL CAPS, bold, italic, upper and lower cases, different font sizes and indentations.
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These communicate relative importance and guide the reader’s eye enabling faster absorption of what you’ve presented.

you Let’s revisit this. It’s a key thesis that drives other strategies in Resume Optimization. There are three key points: (1) people read, and so they SKIM WHEN READING, top to bottom and left to right; (2) you must use techniques that

Interests can expand what your reviewers learn about you and can help establish uniqueness. Some believe it’s important to show there’s more to you than work alone, others don’t care if there’s something to you outside of wor

I mentioned I’d talk about this last week.
You always have to weigh the cost/benefit (A/B test in today’s terms) of diverging from what the reader expects.
Remember Elle Woods resume in “Legally Blonde”—pink and smelle

A resume is a limiting document—how can one or a few pages possibly do justice to how talented you are/how much promise you have? Use it only when it’s in your best interests or is required. Don’t offer your resume if it’s n

From the Estate Planning chapter in my FREE video personal finance course. YouTube channel: Tom Mihok.

Many more great topics there—take a look!! And check out my website: tommihok.com for Resume Optimization and other personal finance educat

Odd faces from my Personal Finance videos!
Want to learn about Mutual Funds, Stocks, Bonds and Investment Fundamentals? Find these and lots more at my YouTube channel: Tom Mihok.

#personalfinance #onlineeducation#financialliteracy #goals#financialp

To answer this you must know your audience, i.e.—do your recon in advance. Graduating undergrad? Chances are your audience is expecting one page. 30 years’ experience? Several pages makes sense. If you’re in medicine or academia

Proper section design facilitates faster and more complete absorption of information. Section design depends on: **order of the sections on the page or in the overall resume **use of white space to define the sections and make them discrete **organi

Think of the way people read a page—top to bottom, left to right. They scan the beginning of bullet points and don’t get to the end, skip sentences completely especially when too much information is bunched together.
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Put your most im

Posts in background

How Do I Make a Stronger Impact with My Resume?

background, introductionTom MihokApril 30, 2020introduction, background

Why Do I Still Need a Resume (in This Age of Social Media)?

introduction, backgroundTom MihokMarch 8, 2020introduction, backgroundComment

Welcome to Resume Optimization!

introduction, summary, backgroundTom MihokMarch 7, 2020welcome, first post, summary, backgroundComment