HELOISE: Making your resume work

Dear Readers: It is important to make a good impression when applying for a job in person or through your resume. Potential employers may look at your resume for only 15-20 seconds; it is the first — and many times the only — impression! Here are some hints for composing a resume if you are just entering the job market:

To sound more professional, don’t overuse the words “I,” “my,” etc.

Have all the information on how you can be reached at the top of the document.

There are three types of resumes: chronological, functional and a combination of the two. Do some research to decide which is best for you and the industry you are applying for. Use action verbs such as “directed,” “collected,” “assisted,” “negotiated,” “devised,” “generated,” etc.

Write in short bullet points, and use as much space on the paper as possible.

Typically, a resume should be limited to one page, but this can vary.

Proofread your resume multiple times! Let others proof it, too.

If you are printing your resume to mail or to hand out, use good-quality paper.

Heloise

Dear Readers: Uses for old tires:

As planters for your garden.

Tie one to a tree with a sturdy rope for use as a tire swing.

Attach one to an outside wall to hang the hose on.

Put your composting pile in one.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I would like to share a super hint mentioned to me by a fellow volunteer at our local Friends of the Library.

We sort books and clean them before offering them for sale. The sticky residue that remains when the price tag is pulled off can be easily removed with a squirt of hand sanitizer and a little elbow grease. It leaves no residue.

This cleaner leaves them blemish-free and undamaged. I never miss your column in the Orange County (Calif.) Register.

Marge Eid, Fountain Valley, Calif.

Marge, this is a helpful hint, and it’s really the alcohol in the sanitizer that works. Just don’t do this on cloth covers.

Heloise

Dear Heloise: I was cleaning my tile floor when I slipped on the wet surface, which could have resulted in a broken bone or worse. My friend suggested that I wear water shoes while doing this task. So much safer!

Pat Jackson in San Antonio

SOUND OFF

Dear Heloise: Why do people stand in line to pay for something (at the grocery store, a drugstore, when checking in at a motel) and not be ready to pay? The clerk asks, “And how would you like to pay for that?” The customer says, “Oh?” then digs out a wallet or money. Do people think they do not have to pay?

K.E., via e-mail

King Features Syndicate