If you are looking to get employed, chances are you will be asked to present your resume. Of course, you want to have the best chances possible for an interview and so, you need to have a proper resume. Here are some resume tips.
Include Contact Information on The Heading
Your heading needs to include your full name, phone number, email, and address. Your email address should also look professional, so avoid using nicknames and funny characters.
Avoid Including Anything Personal
You should never include anything that’s not related to the job. This includes the date of birth, age, social insurance number, marital status, etc. You should also not include photos unless your personal appearance is vital to that particular position, for example, a movie actor or TV presenter.
Include a Clear Objective
Your objective statement in a resume has to be clear, short and concise. It should be an objective that is relevant to your current resume and not your plans for the next 10 years. Do not forget to mention the specific position that you’re interested in as well as a professional summary to prove that you’re qualified for the job.
Utilize Action Verbs & Numbers
Using action verbs and numbers helps substantially in demonstrating accomplishment, particularly in regards to the description of your work experience and qualifications. Just listing your responsibilities and duties isn’t adequate.
You need to add impact to your work experience, show the results of a campaign that you implemented, the number of clients that you attracted to an organization, the percentage increase in annual sales, etc.
Leave Some Info For The Skills & Qualifications Part
The education and skills and qualifications parts are different. The institution’s name, degree and year of graduation should be put in the education section of the resume. If you are a recent graduate, you may include your honors and grade point average.
However, if you’re midway into your career, you may want to list your education after the work experience part as it brings more attention to your practical and professional achievements.
As for computer literacy, languages, skills and the like, should be included in the Skills and Qualifications section and need to be relevant to the position that you’re applying for.
Mention Your Volunteer Experience
If you’re a recent graduate with no work experience or are looking to change your career, then you’ll want to think about building your skills via internships and volunteering.
Find a volunteering experience that’s related to the position you want as this will give you the skills you need for the job. Volunteering ideally shows that you’re willing to contribute to society without being paid and this is often seen as a positive trait.
Do Not Hesitate To Go Beyond Page
More often than not, you’ll come across recommendations of having a one-page resume. However, you should never feel the need to limit yourself to one page and just consider the most important information to write.
If you use a second page, just ensure that you include a header, with your contact information and name. Ensure you leave some ‘white space’ on the resume as crowding all the information makes it hard to highlight the most important bits.
Review Your References
It’s important to prepare a list of your references in advance as chances are the employer will ask for it. This will usually be either upfront or after the interview. As such, you may want to include the phrase ‘references available upon request’ at the bottom of the page.
Ensure that the contacts of your references are good as you can be certain they will be checked. Prepare a separate page with a similar header for the references.
Utilize Buzzwords
Another one of the great resume tips is to use buzzwords. Keep in mind that your resume may be read by a computer and resume-scanning programs are designed in a manner that they pick up keywords related to a particular posting. So, before creating a resume, go through the job description and take note of all buzzwords. These are often nouns and will help you create an ideal resume.
Create a Cover Letter
As you prepare your resume, you should not forget to write a cover letter. That’s because you will be rarely called for an interview without one that is well-written.
A cover letter reveals skills and information that can’t be included in a resume, like the ability to communicate in writing, attention to grammar, professionalism, initiative, spelling, punctuation and more. Ensure that you dedicate adequate time in writing an effective cover letter and make sure you proofread it, as well as the resume.
Listen to the Experts
For more information on how to craft a standout resume follow these tips from a professional resume writer.