Top 10 Resume Tips
It can be difficult to craft a clear and concise resume that highlights your skills and quickly draws a hiring manager’s eye to key information — to make it easier, we’ve outlined the Top 10 Resume Tips to follow. Review an individual tip below or download the Resume Tip poster for reference.
Contact Information: In today’s world of identity theft you can just list your city, state, and zip. Include a professional email address and customized URL for your LinkedIn profile.
Headline: Can be written to show the overall capability of your work experience and/or targeted position(s).
Professional/Executive Summary
Objectives are extinct! Employers want to know what you bring to the table so tell them in 2-3 sentences while eliminating fluff and generic words.
Key Areas of Expertise: Have a dedicated section of 6-12 key skills that are backed up with examples throughout your resume. Steer clear of using soft skills. This section also helps with ATS/keyword optimization.
Career Highlights: If you opt to have a highlights section, and seasoned professionals should have one, limit it to no more than five major achievements that are written in the CAR(Challenge + Action + Results) method.
Value/Accomplishments: Get to the core and strength of the job description for each of your employers, list major achievements for each role, and minimize day-to-day job duties. You should provide detail on work experience for the past 10-15 years.
ATS Compliant: Like everything else in life, technology is playing a factor. It’s the same for resume writing and the job search process. To ensure all the content on your resume is scanned when placed in an ATS system, create a document that is free of columns and text boxes.
Keyword Optimization: Your resume should flow with consistency based on the jobs you are targeting. Utilize keywords from the descriptions when describing your experience. Tools like word cloud technology can help you identify the top keywords that should be used. Our favorite is www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud.
Design & Layout: While space is important and size matters because resumes need to be ATS and human reader friendly. Have a clean and neatly formatted resume and add a pop of color! We suggest a one-page resume if you have <5 years of experience. For those with 5+ years of experience, 1+ pages are okay.
Make it Your Own!: Be Creative and Unique! - Try to steer away from templates. Remember, hiring managers see TONS of resumes so original layout and design are always eye-catching! If you have to use a template, change the color or readjust the layout to make it your own.
