If I am looking at one I want it to be a as concise and as meaningful as possible (i.e. don't waste my time). It is there to help me decide if I want you to go to the next step or not, nothing more nothing less.
#1. Do you want to see a photo of the person? Why or why not?
if the person is applying to be a model,a stripper, TV personality... appearance has some value and a picture can be worth adding, maybe if the person hiring is racist or discriminates on appearance they might like a pic as well.
Personally if I am looking for someone to answer the phone or pull wires ...... why would I care what they look like? I never got one with a pic but if I did at best it would go at the end of the pile.
#2. What about an About Me section? I thought this would be a short section to talk about her parents who met in the military and interesting facts like she was born in Manhattan and spent 10 years of her childhood living in Puerto Rico before moving to Chicago. Also shes heavily involved in animal rescue.
no, no one cares this is not facebook. You can include a summary (about me) but it needs to be relevant to what you are looking for (eg "heavily involved in animal rescue." for a job as a dog walker, " spent 10 years of her childhood living in Puerto Rico" for a job as a Puerto Rico travel guide.
#3. For work history im just going to include the company names in chronological order (most recent listed at top) with what she did there so like...
this is tricky for example
My mother got me a job at a stereo store at 12. At 15 i was working at a liquor store nearby and the stereo store. At 18 full time at the stereo store. At 19 two full time jobs as a security guard and delivery guy...someone got me both jobs...on and off at a hot dog joint for a few years and full time at my current job for over 20 years.
If you are in your 40's no one cares if you worked at the liquor store when you were 15 or sold hot dogs when you were 20. you would not need to include all that, but since we are an AV firm
the stereo store 19xx-19yy
stock boy until 19zz
sold VCRs
...
even though the tech has changed it is still useful to now
if the job is relevant you need to add more like responsibilities and achievements, if they are old and useless just drop them
Any real need to provide phone numbers to previous employers? I feel like its a waste of time because no one ever calls to check on sub $75k per year employees. Obviously if you were applying for an important job i think it matters.
I prefer a simple "references available upon request". I will ask for them and will check one or two but references are step 2+ while at this point we are step 1, weeding out and throwing away the ones that are not interesting. If you attach 5 reference letters I won't even bother looking at it since I am not there to waste my time and read a small book.
PS I can google the company name and get a generic number if the company still exists, references should be people that know you personally. If I call that number it is to find out if you are the type of person that is dependable or the type of person that shows up 1h late and drunk.
Any other advice?
1) you need an education section (bottom) BUT if you are in your 20's it can be worth it to get into the details (I want to know about you and it will probably say more than your job experience e.g. I am working at McD and finishing my PHD in electrical engineering in....), if you are in your 50s keep it short it was a long time ago and your work experience will tell me more (e.g. 30 years ago I started working at McD while getting my PHD in electrical engineering in....),
2) you need a skills and competencies section(s) (top)
3) One page is OK, Two pages is good, three is absolute max, anything more and it goes to the garbage, time is money.
4) not to be mean, but I feel the monogram comes off a bit as childish but in itself it would not hurt job prospects so do what you want. Don't forget, what you are building is a tool so that the future employer can decide in a minute if you make it to the next step.
5) If there is a large "work gap" (eg decided to stop working to raise the kids) explain it with a line or two something like raising kids or taking care of sick family members I can understand and respect, a blank did not work for several years looks worst.
