Indeed, impactful resumes are a must for everyone looking out for job opportunities in this competitive world. A resume is like a distinct marketing tool that provides the first impression of the candidate’s background, skills, and qualifications to prospective employers, helping individuals land their dream interview opportunity.
Meanwhile, a well-written resume solves the problems faced by recruiters who receive countless job applications, making it daunting for them to pick out relevant ones. Whether you’re a newbie or seasoned job applicant, here are a few dos and don’ts to keep in mind when creating or updating your resume.
Following these guidelines would help you get enriched, organized, comprehensive, and clear resumes that can effectively get some great career opportunities that you wouldn’t be able to get with a poorly made resume.
DO: Write a Concise Resume
When creating a resume, the foremost thing to remember is to make sure it’s concise. Recruiters need to go through hundreds of resumes, so they don’t want to spend much time assessing each one. Having a concise resume with all the information regarding your accomplishments, experience, education, and other relevant details is crucial but try to make it epigrammatic.
DON’T: Use Complicated Templates
Recruiters prefer easily readable resumes. Try to curate an attention-grabbing resume, but make sure it requires less time to skim through. For better results, professional resume writers recommend picking out a basic resume template with a touch of creativity to make it stand out from the crowd.
However, don’t experiment too much with infographics, colors, font styling, and other design elements to keep a consistent flow, making it easier for the Applicant Tracking Systems to add your resume to the selected talent pool.
DO: Customize Your Resume
Make sure you customize your resume and update it regularly as per the particular job description requirements. Recruiters typically pick out worthwhile and relevant resumes by searching for specific keywords during the screening process.
Try adding in some relevant buzzwords and keywords regarding your qualifications, skills, experience, and so on by proactively looking at insights and the latest industry trends. Regular resume customization is necessary for those undergoing skill-up-gradation, contact information changes, etc.
DON’T: Use Passive Voice on The Resume
Professional resume writing experts advise against using passive voice statements. They unnecessarily add length to the content, making it redundant and unclear for the recruiters. For example, write ‘Successfully implemented new processes’ or ‘Managed XYZ project’ rather than writing ‘Project XYZ was managed by me.’ It helps keep things concise and easier to understand for prospective employers.
DO: Mention a Summary Statement
Summary statements are typically added in the beginning section of resumes to give an idea about how the individual can benefit a particular organization. Generally, it emphasizes relevant skills and experience for recruiters.
The best way is to avoid long, objective statements, as it’s supposed to be a summary. Moreover, try to come up with an enriching yet unique summary statement rather than copying one from any other resource to make it stand out.
DON’T: Include Irrelevant Interests or Hobbies
No recruiter has the time to scroll through irrelevant interests or hobbies on a resume. No need to tell them about your favorite cartoon character or the cuisine that makes your tastebuds dance unless you’re applying for a chef’s job where such a piece of information might be relevant. It’s beneficial to add interesting hobbies but try to make them professionally relevant to the job you’re applying for.
DO: Highlight Your Relevant Achievements
Highlighting relevant accomplishments, experience, and achievements helps give recruiters an idea about your relevance to the job opportunity. Try to add in and highlight the most relevant and important achievements first.
Though you’re not required to mention each one in detail, you can be a little descriptive wherever needed. But keep it crisp. Moreover, it’s recommended to avoid highlighting any unnecessary or obvious skills, as it could negatively impact the recruiter.
DON’T: Use Idioms or Cliches
Phrases like ‘detail-oriented,’ ‘hard-worker,’ or ‘team player’ are too cliched. Avoid them unless they have been used as keywords in the job description. Also, consider avoiding too much industry-specific jargon or complicated language as sometimes the person reading the resume might not be familiar with certain terms.
DO: Include Accurate Contact Details
Although this is one of the most basic aspects of resumes, it’s also immensely underrated. Try including a valid phone number, email address, and other contact details to make it easier for recruiters to reach out to you.
It’s also a great idea to add your LinkedIn ID and other professional networking platform links. If you haven’t started maintaining your LinkedIn yet, check out professional LinkedIn profile writing and optimization services by The Resume Store to get started right away!
However, avoid adding personal social media account links, marital status, religion, and other unnecessary personal details. Instead, use the space to include details regarding relevant analytical and soft skills, such as team spirit, leadership, management, etc.
DON’T: Forget to Check Grammatical Errors
Proofreading your resume multiple times is one of the most important things to rule out spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, etc. Even the smallest mistakes could leave a negative impression on the recruiters. It’s recommended to use different tools and ask others to read and pinpoint potential errors. It’s also a great opportunity to ask for feedback and suggestions to make the resume better in any way possible before it reaches prospective employers.
DO: Connect with The Resume Store for Worthwhile Resumes in Largo
Considering how fickle and competitive the job industry is, resume creation requires expertise and experience. If you lack this, your resume will not be well-structured and well-written. Self-written resumes have a 37% less chance of being given another look, meaning candidates struggle to land an interview.
The Resume Store leverages insight, skills, and expertise to write hyper-specific resumes that reflect each individual while highlighting their unique qualities to help them get closer to their dream job.
Whether you’re looking for entry-level resume writing services, executive resume writing service, federal resumes, government resume writing service, or cover letter writing service, they’re the right people to contact. You can also browse through their reviews or check out their sample resumes for more clarity.
Struggling to get a job? Get yourself a copy of The Get a Job Manual, written by Arnie Sherr, the founder of The Resume Store. It’s your golden ticket to understanding how to write an excellent resume and cover letter, but it’s also a great tool for understanding the rules of the road.
Contact them today via a quick call to get a well-articulated resume that’s likely to get you plenty of interviews to help you land your dream job.
About the Author
This blog’s author works for The Resume Writer. He has ten years of experience in recruitment arenas. He helps the firm prepare resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles to get the clients’ interviews with prospective employers they prefer working with.
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