Applying for a job is not a light matter. This is not about filling in a form, hitting a “send” button and waiting. Today, professionals, experienced or fresh graduates, apply for jobs everyday for many reasons. For whatever reason you’re applying for a job, one matter is constant: resumes matter. Despite all platforms including personal and professional information, writing effective resumes still lands successful candidates great jobs. To write an effective resume, you might want to know seven very important tips.
Collect Personal and Employment Information
Typically, a resume is made up of your professional information plus some personal information about you. If you’re an experienced professional or a fresh graduate, you have professional and personal information you need include in your resume. You might have already looked up websites for help. Or typed: “tips for a good resume,” “tips for writing a good resume,” or “tips for creating a resume.” This is all too common. In fact, creating a great resume or writing a great resume is something you can do. Take a deep breath. Set everything aside. Make sure you have all past work history and any documentation of your personal experiences, including any past resumes. Compile a list of your professional and personal information. This should your first resume draft.
Most important, make sure you include all relevant information of a job you’re applying for. For amazing resume preparation tips, go to resume services online.
Move Most Important Information Up
Employers are notoriously known for very short attention spans. If you believe a long and fancy resume will impress, you’ve to stop applying altogether. Typically, a resume should be within 1-3 pages – maximum. For starters, one page is enough. For experienced professionals, three pages may be needed. In either case, applicants have very little space and time to grab an employer’s attention. That’s why, you should always keep your most important and relevant information up and visible in your resume. There is much room here for creativity. If you believe some of your less impressive information is up in your resume, reshuffling is important. In short, make sure what your employer cares most for is visible – and quickly – in your resume.
Use Simple Font
This might be a very minor detail. Given how much information you might be collecting and formatting, font is in comparison marginal. In fact, font could be a game changer. By choosing a readable font, you avoid your employer squinting – and dumping your resume. Despite all great accomplishments in your resume, using a fancy font might render your resume a pain to read. There is always a temptation to impress. You should save your inclination to impress, though, for improving and highlighting your achievements. Generally, Arial, Times New Roman, and Calibri are very easy to read fonts. Use any and make sure you highlight special sections using bold and italics wisely.
Simplify Design
As in font, you should keep your resume design simple. There is – again – a temptation to impress in design. That could have been okay years ago. Today, job applications are processed via an Applicant Tracking System (ATS). Increasingly, ATSs are used by employers to process hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes, possibly everyday. Looking for specific keywords, such ATSs skip resumes not including keywords employers need to look at a resume. That said, design is a second complication.
The current ATSs find hard reading resumes including fancy designs. That’s why, you should avoid very complex figures, charts or illustrations in your resume. Keep everything simple, presentable and readable. For ideas on great yet simple resume designs, go to PerfectEssay.
Highlight Achievements
Your resume is one way you brand yourself. In a crowded job market, you need every possible way to highlight your achievements. Instead of a list of all of your duties and work history, you need emphasize your accomplishments. Ironically, many applicants simply comb all former job descriptions to include in a job application. The effort made in collecting perhaps long lost information is wasted, though. So, a question about how to prepare a good resume is about, well, how. Indeed, you might do all your homework yet fail to deliver because of how you choose to do so. That’s why, you should always make sure you emphasize your skills, knowledge and accomplishments. More, you should make all up and visible – for your employer and ATS – to read. Here, you also have much room for creativity. You can, for instance, use numbers, testimonials and/or endorsements to highlight your achievements. In whatever way you choose to do so, always be succinct, simple and, most important, relevant.
Use Relevant Keywords
As mentioned, keywords are seminal to your resume. In addition to ATS readability, using relevant resume keywords show your employer you understand your applied-for role well.
Having passed ATS test, your resume is now in a hiring manger’s hands. To gain any chance of landing your job, you need more than just using ATS-appropriate keywords. In fact, you need to paraphrase your resume in order to match your potential employer’s job description. To do so, you should reread any old resumes you might have and rewrite in a language matching a new job you are applying for. Or, if you are writing from scratch, you need to match your knowledge, skills and experiences with required ones. More, you need to do proper research about your potential employer to ensure your credentials match your employer’s specific requirements.
Proofread. Proofread. Proofread
Now you’ve got a complete resume ready for delivery. So what? Don’t ever make a very common mistake a good many applicants do: push send button before proofreading. This is a mistake that usually costs applicants great jobs. Again , employers are notorious for impatience when it comes to reading resumes. So, if your potential employer spotted the slightest mistake, be sure your resume is now in trash. So, to avid a fate of a good many applicants, make sure your give a second hard look at your resume before you apply. Take a deep breath and start reading your resume out loud. If you spotted a grammatical mistake, change it. If you felts you are wordy, tweak your sentences a bit to be succinct and easy to read. If possible, reach out for a friend or even for a resume editing service such as essay writing.
Wrap Up
Writing a good resume could be time consuming. Tips are everywhere and you still don’t know if you are on the right track or not. There are seven tips, though, which if you follow will help you improve your resume writing skills. Collect personal and employment information; move most important information up; use simple font; simplify design; highlight achievements; and proofread. These are tips you should apply every time you apply for a new job. Good luck!