Here are a few useful resume writing tips to land a job. Imagine yourself as an employer sitting at your desk with hundreds of resumes piling up against a vacancy need quickly filled: some vacancies and many applicants – innumerable.
As an employer, it is your responsibility to select the most deserving, suitable, and competent candidate. So, it is up to the candidate to grab the employer’s attention out of those hundreds of resume applications. As such, writing a resume is all about knowing what employers specifically look for in an application.
Never make the mistake of underestimating the importance of a good, eye-catching resume.
Now, a good resume has nothing to do with mentioning elite schools or exceptional employers. It has everything to do with your performance. A blue-collar worker without college may have an impressive resume, while a white-collar professional with an ivy league education may have a poorly written one. A good resume is your first step to enter the door of a good job; you must understand that it is your representation to an employer before you get there. A resume provides detailed info about a candidate that is truthful, brief, and to the point.
There are certain things that a good resume has within its set margins.
Here are Your 10 Resume Writing Tips
- First of all, decide the format of your resume. Decide whether you want it to be in a functional, chronological, or hybrid format.
- Write your resume in active verbs.
- Highlight your skills and objectives. Make it your resume headline.
- Be specific about your professional background. If you are an experienced person, mention your tenure with previous employers; and in case you are a freshman, define your professional qualifications.
- Unless you create a CV (curriculum vitae) or federal resume, avoid defining your current pay scale or expected salary. Only listing salary information can take you out of the running because you need to consider benefits plus compensation as total remuneration.
- If your resume is targeted towards a specific career path or employer, you must know all their requirements and mention them in your resume very clearly. Research and understand the qualities that will prove beneficial to the employer and think about how your capabilities match those qualities.
- Next, don’t be bogged down with the minutia of personal details. Highlight your contact details so they can get in touch with you. Still, here in the U.S., it is illegal to ask about religion, race, gender, political position, marital status, family status, or other intensely personal information.
- Be professional, concise, brief, and clean. Avoid being too flashy with your resume design.
- Stick to preparing a one-page cover letter as much as possible.
- Last but not least, be sure to edit and re-edit your resume once you are done writing it.
Remember, your resume’s objective is to reveal your accomplishments and qualifications to the employer’s recruiting committee. Think of it as a promotional brochure, a pamphlet displaying your organizational and career skills.