Searching for some tips to impress recruiters and land more job offers? Then you have come to the right place!
Creating a rock-solid resume is a mix of art and science. Although it seems like common sense, many job seekers find it hard to convey application materials in a clear, concise, and attractive manner. To help you to succeed in your quest for a job we outlined 15 expert-approved resume tips.
- Review successful examples
Different positions call for different kinds of resumes. Reviewing some resume samples could be a useful idea, whether it is your first job or the fifth one. A thing to remember is to take advice from people who have already achieved what you want. Also, maintain to include sections that are relevant to your dreamed position and can add the biggest value to your resume.
- Your resume is your marketing tool
A well-written, professional resume enables you to show your value for the organization and enter a face-to-face interview. It is not just about listing the steps of your career path, but also about creating a sort of marketing tool to promote your brand. Remember that the principal goal of your resume is to sell yourself as the best candidate for the vacant position.
- New job calls for anew resume
We often tend to forget that our resumes are not all about us, they are also about our potential employers. Given that, it might be not enough to create a single resume that includes all pertinent components for your field of employment. True, certain positions have similar job descriptions, but every company makes a difference. Tailoring your resume for every brand will help you to get a higher level of employers’ response.
- Formatting matters
From our research, you have got less than 10 seconds to improve your recruiter. Thus, your resume needs to have clean formatting and no typos. In most cases, your document should not exceed one page so try to communicate everything you want to say within this volume limits. As for the fonts, do not reinvent the wheel and use standard ones. Note that the optimal size for body text is 10–12 points depending on the style of paper. If all of this feels overwhelming to you, not to worry, you can use a resume maker to generate a well-structured and formatted resume in minutes.
- Link your social media accounts
Social media is a prominent part of our lives, which tells quite a lot about our personality traits. According to resumewriters.com reviews, hiring managers are likely to check your profile online before inviting you for a face-to-face interview. No panic, just try to manage your public info to fulfill the story presented in your job application.
- Incorporate custom keywords
It seems to be easy to think of your resume as a summary of your professional experience, but it is not that simple. To take your advantage, you should optimize your resume with the accurate keywords taken from the job description. These must describe skills, experience, and corporate culture of a role you are applying for.
- Forget about the personal objective section
In the past, career counselors put a lot of effort pushing job seekers to add a personal objective statement usually placed at the top of the resume. This part traditionally contained information about what kind of job and company you are seeking. But modern trends in the job market indicate this section to fall out of favor since organizations care more about what they are looking for rather than you.
- Work experience goes before education
Since employers are more interested in your career wins rather than your academic life description, put your professional experience and skills before your educational achievements. You should show how your education and professional path prepared you for the role you are currently applying for.
Just for a note: this advice works unless you have just graduated from college.
- Emphasize your accomplishments rather than responsibilities
Despite you might have extensive work experience, it is important to convey an overview of job tasks you had to deal with within no more than 3-5 lines. Therefore, you should select several most important achievements in your previously held roles. As practice shows, accomplishment-focused information seems to be more valuable for employers and does work to differentiate you among other candidates.
- Stick to reverse chronological order
There are many more chances to make the recruiter interested in your candidature right off the bat if you avoid providing the full list of your job duties from the very beginning of your career path. Given that employers have an extremely short time to review your resume, it becomes vitally important to structure your educational and working chronology in a brief and cohesive manner.
- Give yourself enough time
It is never a bad idea to spend a bit more effort to achieve your goals. Good things take time, and this old rule of thumb also holds true for writing a good resume. Make sure you have that extra couple of hours to research your potential place of work. Every employer values attention to detail and consistency, so take your time and craft a detail-oriented resume to get your dream job.
- Use Colors to Stand Out
Another way to impress your recruiter right off the bat is to add a bit of color to your resume. But saying so, we mean subtle colors that complement each other to look professional. Recruiters love seeing a clear story coupled with a visual balance. In case you will use the brand colors of the company you are applying for, it will instantly signal that you have done your research and that you really want this position.
- No Generic Skills Section
Another piece of resume advice is to divide your skills info into two subsections, namely hard and soft skills. The first will outline your primary skills linked to your specialization (i.e. accounting). As for the second, this one is likely to provide your winning personal traits and showcase your unique talents. Each subsection should contain 3 to 5 bullet points.
- Save Your Resume in a PDF-Format
Always save your document as a PDF before sending it. Such an approach will maintain the hiring manager to see the right page length and formatting. Our days, everyone is busier than ever, and most of the employers are likely to deny reading your resume if it looks inappropriate.
- Proofread. Then Proofread Again.
Before hitting send, you should undergo several rounds of proofreading to make sure that your word choice, spelling, and punctuation are perfect. Check whether you have ensured a consistent design of your writing, sticking to the needed margins, font, and spacing. Also, be intentional for the accuracy of all employment dates you have provided.
Good luck with your next resumes!