For a recruiter to be interested in meeting you, your qualifications must be presented in your resume in a clear, succinct, and strategic manner. It should reflect your abilities, professional background, and assets. The purpose of the resume is to highlight your professional abilities while also demonstrating what an employer can expect from you. A modernized resume is essential for an effective job search. Here are some tips for a modern resume to follow.
Showcase your expertise and experience
Include job history or accomplishments that are relevant to the position you're looking for. Examining the job description or the employer's website will help with this.
Your work title will make clear what your responsibilities are. Instead, emphasize your accomplishments by personalizing your job responsibilities and giving concrete examples. Avoid making generalizations that fail to showcase your unique contribution. Unspecific words like "Responsible for increasing efficiency and reducing costs" don't tell an employer anything. Make your experience more unique.
Put in your resume any volunteer work you've done for a reputable organization or a worthwhile cause. If these experiences are relevant to the position you are applying for, you should list them under "Work experience" or "Volunteer work."
Impress with numbers
Metrics can be used to highlight your accomplishments and show the recruiting manager exactly how you affected your prior workplace. Make use of precise figures that the employer would like. For instance, how many employees you managed, how many things you sold, how much more sales you increased, etc.
Use a minimalistic resume template that is easy to read and ATS friendly
Most employers utilize a piece of software called an applicant tracking system (ATS) to control the entire application procedure. All of the applications are gathered, scanned, and ranked by this system. A resume that complies with ATS standards is one that was written so that the applicant tracking system can easily parse it — the layout, structure, and fonts are straightforward and simple to scan. Keywords from the job description are also included in ATS-friendly resumes, which additionally highlight relevant work experience and professional qualities.
Your resume should be formatted to make it simple to find your qualifications. Make sure the content is organized logically. A hiring manager will go from top to bottom of your resume, the strongest elements should still stand out even if people don't read the entire document, which happens frequently. The easiest way to get started is to use free Google Docs resume templates.
List your professional social media accounts
Experienced candidates with a strong online presence should include links to their blogs, Twitter accounts, and LinkedIn profiles. Including them on your resume can be useful if, and only if, your social media accounts are loaded with professional articles relevant to your sector. The hiring manager will see that you enjoy staying current and are interested in learning more.
Imagine yourself as your employer
Keep in mind when writing, as well as in the upcoming interviews, the key thought — "How can I be helpful to the company." When the first draft of the resume is ready, take a break from it for a while. Before you read it again, imagine yourself as an employer who receives this document, would you hire an employee with such a resume?
Avoid the most common mistakes
- Check your resume several times for grammar mistakes, and be sure to let someone else read it.
- Double check your contact information so that the employer can contact you
- Specify your contact details optimally. Your name should be the basis for your email address. Any nicknames, digits, or special characters should be left out. Don't forget about LinkedIn, an optional link to a portfolio site or GitHub.
- It is preferable to omit any personally identifiable information, such as age, height, weight, marital status, preferred religion, political leanings, or any other characteristics that might be contentious. Thus, any potential bias will be avoided. The most crucial rule is never to list your Social Security Number on a resume.
- Adding a photo to a modern resume is not a good practice, consider this option only if your work will be exclusively related to your appearance.
- Avoid using "I," "mе," or "my." Write your resume as if it were being written by someone else in the third person.
- Add information about hobbies or interests only when they are directly related to the specialty for which you are applying.
- Your resume should be positive, never state the reason why you left your previous job.