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When people complain about not having heard back from a hiring manager they sent their resume to, there’s usually one possibility; the hiring manager isn’t interested in hiring them (and may not want to ruin their mood by telling them). Most of the time, hiring managers and talent acquisition heads do not have any interest in hiring a particular candidate for a job because they do not find enough information on the individual’s resume. Here are some tips to consider making your resume effective and landing you before the screening panel of your dream employer.
The golden rule to writing a killer resume is to know when and how you can break the golden rules. Paradoxically, when you follow all the rules, you actually reduce your chances of success.
Tweet This1. Be Simple and Consistent
As much as you can, keep things simple and don’t over complicate things. Your resume should be readable. If you are not in the creative industry, it needs four sections – a summary of your qualifications, education and certifications, work experience, and technical skills and activities. These sections should be neatly organized and should not overlap. The headings of these sections should be in bold and should draw attention (increase the font size to achieve this). Use a grammar checker such as Grammarly to check your resume.
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The maximum number of pages you need for a resume is two pages. Even a page is not too small. It is a good tactic that helps keep your resume simple and still on point.
“By making your resume original, you demonstrate your creativity and ability to use non-standard approaches in standard situations. It can be much more effective, than mentioning your creativity on the list of your professional qualities.” – How to Write a Killer Resume
The entire content of your resume should be consistent all through. Do not mix bullet points with numbers or dashes in your resume. When you maintain a steady consistency throughout the entire resume, you are simply informing the employer that you are very attentive to details and will be able to cope with the establishment.
You should ensure that you do everything you can to pay attention to your fonts too. Choose a font that is legible and easy to read. Also, do not mix font types in your resume. It is advisable to use a font size of twelve for the resume body and font slightly larger than size twelve for headings which should also be either underlined or bolded.
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2. Choose Your Terms Wisely
The best resumes that easily beat other resumes to the job had an added advantage by making use of certain keywords. When you begin to litter your resume with important keywords like “Team player”, “Hardworking” and “Pays attention to Detail”, you are surely going to hold on to the employers’ attention and you would be guaranteed a callback.
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3. Include Major Achievements
Including your major achievements over a period of time helps in getting you the attention of the hiring manager. The most important strength of a potential employee, which an employer looks forward to harnessing, is an optimal focus. The employer wants to know if you are going to be focused and you can help him or her clear the doubt by presenting experiences wherein you were able to overcome distractions in order to get the job done and at record time.
4. Avoid Using resume Templates
For most individuals, the process of creating their personal templates seems to be very burdensome and that immediately discourages them from being creative. In such instances, they will choose to simply snag up any template that they find on the internet without realizing that they cannot simply get ahead using such a tactic. The process of creating your unique resume template is one that you should try and follow with unique patience and dexterity. It is like creating a unique piece of art that is sure to last for a lifetime. Let me quickly tell you a secret: most employers who look through resumes always spot out a recycled resume at first glance. Because there is no originality to the template, such employers become discouraged and move on to looking for something original. Even if your friend or family tells you that the template is a sure guarantee, resist the urge and then proceed to craft out your own.
5. Mention You’re Most Important Points First
One of the most significant errors that many people tend to fall into is that they save the juiciest parts of their resume for last. While this may work within an entertainment show such as a blockbuster movie or a play, it does not work when sending out your resume to employers. Employers are very busy folks who spend a lot of time sifting through thousands of potential candidates for the job they posted. This means that they generally have about ten to fifteen seconds to spend in sifting through your information and if you are not placing your most vital achievements in the first few lines, it is very certain that the employer would not see it. This is the reason why you should place it at the very top in order to grab the attention of the employer long enough until they read your entire resume.
6. Focus on the Job You Want
Specificity is the most important key factor that you should be aiming to achieve when writing your resume. There is absolutely no point in trying to impress your prospective employer with information that does not pertain to the job offer. If the job is for hiking, there is no need to discuss how you won the spelling Bee championship when you were at a smaller age. And if you are applying to become a financial analyst, there is no need to talk about your editorial experience while you were in college. Be specific!
Other Resources
- Resume Builder – How to Write a Resume
- Resume in 15 Minutes. Simple To Use, No Registration or CC Required.
- TopStack – Get a free, confidential resume review from TopResume
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These six tips from experts will help you write a professional custom resume that will make the employer invite you for an interview and I’m sure you will agree with me that going for an interview is a step closer to being employed.
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