Why You Should Read Your Resume out of Order

As a job seeker, you're going to read a lot of resume tips. Many of those tips repeat the same information, such as "make sure your resume includes the keywords listed in the job posting." Here's one tip you may not see anywhere else: read your resume out of order. If you read your resume out of order, you have the opportunity to fix three specific resume issues before you submit your job application.

When you read your resume out of order, you read the individual elements in a different order to how they are presented on the page. Instead of reading top to bottom, try reading bottom to top. Or read your career objective first, then skip to the end and read your educational history. As you read your resume out of order, examine it for three specific issues.

The first issue is to make sure every aspect of your resume relates back to the job you're hoping to get. Let your eyes fall on a random sentence in the resume. Does that sentence illustrate how you are a good candidate for the job you want? If it does not, rewrite the sentence so that it directly reflects the job posting.

Hiring managers often skim resumes, and if their eyes fall on too many sentences or bullet points that are unrelated to the job posting, they pass over your resume in favor of someone else's. Use Nexxt's tips to remove fluff from your resume and make sure every single item or achievement you list is relevant to the job you want.

The second issue you need to address by reading your resume out of order is whether it includes any unanswered questions. If your educational section includes a degree unrelated to your work history or to the desired position, make sure another part of your resume summarizes how you trained for or learned your current job skills. If you held a series of jobs for only a short period of time, consider including your reasons for leaving.

You never know who is going to read your resume. It may be a person who is very familiar with your career field, or it may be a hiring manager who does not know how one qualification differs from another. As The Muse notes, you want to make sure your resume is understandable by the average person. Do not write a resume that leaves a reader with unanswered questions about your skills or work history.

Lastly, reading your resume out of order helps you catch any formatting, typographical or other basic errors that you might overlook during a standard reading. Your eyes often skip over errors during a top-to-bottom read that are easily discovered during a bottom-to-top read. Try reading your resume backwards to catch any outstanding typos or mistakes.

If you're a job seeker, use these tips to take the extra step with your resume that most other job candidates won't take. Read your resume out of order and look for these three issues. Then use what you find to edit your resume before sending out your application.

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