Your resume touts your personal brand in a succinct format that captures the attention of recruiters and hiring managers. Improve your hireability by paying close attention to what goes on a resume. Update your vital document with these eight resume factors that can increase your chances of success when trying to land an interview.
1. Keep It One Page
Say what you need to in one page with concise words. Recruiters and hiring managers scan your resume very quickly because they're busy people. Keeping a resume short and to the point makes it easier to see certain keywords while trying to ascertain your top-level skills.
2. Make More Than One Resume
Each recruiter and hiring manager has different preferences for job postings, qualifications and skill sets. Cater your resume to each position you apply for, using keywords you find in the job description. Use industry-specific words to ensure you're the right fit for the job in the mind of a recruiter.
3. Use the Right Words
Go for action verbs to describe your skills and experiences. Make sure to include terms found on the company's website and buzzwords your profession uses. These words make you come across as an expert in your field while increasing your value to a prospective employer.
4. Customize to Your Profession
Different professions may prefer different formats for your resume. A creative profession, such as graphic design, writing or video production, may prefer images to text. Conservative industries, such as finance, law, retail and accounting, may prefer standard formats with appropriate text.
5. Present Your Skills
Marketable skills are the most important part of your document. These skills show you're a perfect fit for the position. List specific computer software, transferable skills and leadership skills in this section to stand out from other candidates.
6. Present Hard Numbers
When presenting accomplishments and responsibilities, use hard numbers to make your accomplishments appear accurate, reliable, provable and tangible. Your former supervisors should be able to verify these numbers in some way as employers check into your background.
7. Create a Career Summary
Consider a professional summary that lists your high-level skills at the top of your resume. This draws the attention of a recruiter or hiring manager, and it makes it easier for someone to decide whether to contact you for more information.
8. Fix Mistakes
Go over your document and fix any grammatical errors and typos. If a recruiter or hiring manager comes across an error, it makes the person think you have a lack of attention to detail. Run the page by a friend, colleague or family member to have another set of eyes look at the document. Sometimes, another person can point out issues you need to fix before submitting the resume.
Improve your hireability with these eight tips for composing your resume. Refreshing a resume can capture the right kind of attention and get you to the interview phase more often than not. What tips do you have for creating a dynamite resume?
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