Your resume should always be up-to-date and polished. While an informational interview is not a job interview, per se, you never know when it will lead to a potential opportunity down the road. The interviewer will likely ask to see your resume, and he or she might book-mark you for a future position. Here are some key Do’s and Don’ts for your on-paper presentation:
- Do use action verbs, concise descriptions, and if applicable, numerical data to describe your accomplishments at previous jobs (for example, “developed a new metric for tracking client revenue that resulted in 20% increased efficiency”)
- Do proofread meticulously. Spelling and grammatical errors are a major no-no.
- Do limit your resume to one page, unless you’ve been in the workforce for more than 5 years.
- Do use a clear, simple font and format.
- Don’t list your random interests like what movies you like to watch. It’s just cheesy!
- Don’t use colored paper.
- Don’t list irrelevant experience from a long time ago, like when you were a camp counselor in ninth grade.
- Don’t lie, period.
