A comprehensive list of actionable steps to help you write your most successful resume.
Formatting
Be consistent in your use of bold, italics, underlines, date formats, font sizes and bullets.
Go simple, remember, the content is the most important part of your resume. It’s important that your resume templates are optimized for ATS.
Use a simple machine-readable font (e.g. Times New Roman, Arial). In 2021, pretty much all companies use automated systems like an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to parse your resume. A generic intersystem font wll ensure your resume is parsed correctly. Use a font size between 10-12
A good rule of thumb is to keep your resume to one page if you have less than 5-10 years of relevant experience or two pages if you have more than 10 years of experience.
Structure
-Name, Personal Information, Education, Work Experience, Leadership / Extra-curricular Activities, Additional Info (Skills, Languages, Interests)
-Name, Personal Information, Work Experience, Projects/Activities (Optional), Education, Additional Info (Skills, Languages, Interests)
-Photo: You are not being judged on how you look. Some companies even auto reject resumes with a photo.
-References (or ‘References available upon request’): This just wastes a line. Employers will ask you directly if they ever need to contact your references.
-Personal information like religion, marital status, ethnicity, age, gender
Education
Here’s a typical example of an education section.
Work Experience
Wherever possible, you should quantify each of your accomplishments by using numbers. Here’s an example of a good resume line:
Managed a process re-engineering project to improve and consolidate end-to-end service processes; restructured communication flow among 10 departments, and cut down paperwork by 75%
Notice how the applicant has quantified the result of his work by using ‘cut down paperwork by 75%’ and ’10 departments’. Other ways to quantify your lines include “reduced cost by 15%”, “reduced the need for 3 FTEs”, “reduced process time by 20 hours/week”, “increased revenue by $5,000”
Read each line on your resume. Make sure you are not just listing your responsibilities. Instead, ensure each bullet point focuses on your accomplishments and the impact you had; action words and quantified results help you do this. This is your resume, not a job description.
this is a poor example of a resume line:
Responsible for the coordinated management of multiple related projects directed toward strategic business and other organizational objectives
It’s simply not specific and does not demonstrate enough impact or core skills. It fits more into a job description than a resume.
Your first bullet point should either describe your most impactful experience at the company, or the experience that is most relevant to the job you are applying to.
If your company name may be unknown to your target employer, use a short line to describe it
Large companies often rely on applicant tracking systems (ATS) to help filter resumes, before they even get into a recruiter’s hands. These systems work by scanning resumes for keywords, numbers and key phrases, sending only the most qualified ones through for human review. To ensure you get past these automated systems, include verb phrases and skills written in the job description on your own resume. Don’t go overboard, though. It’s really easy for a recruiter to tell when you’ve simply filled your resume with keywords that aren’t effective in the context of your resume.
Your resume should contain achievements of things you’ve already done, which means you should use the past tense as much as possible. You can also use the present tense for some bullet points, but keep it to the minimum.
Projects, Extra-curricular or Leadership Experiences
Particularly if you’re in college or a recent graduate, you can use this section to describe additional experiences, like leadership activities, volunteering work or university projects. Change the name of the section depending on what you list.
The same advice that we mentioned in the Work Experience section goes for this section too. Each bullet point should focus on your accomplishments and the impact you had; action words and quantified values help you do this.
Additional Information
it can vary based on what you are trying to showcase. Interviewers often use your interests as small talk to start the interview.
Here’s a typical example of a simple Additional Information section
Final things before you send your resume
For example, don’t use the exact same resume for both marketing and finance job applications.
This ensures your layout will be consistent for all viewers.
Use FirstName-LastName-Resume.pdf (or similar) as the filename.
Adverbs: Don’t use adverbs like ‘skilfully’ or ‘effectively’ to describe accomplishments. Quantify them instead.
Personal pronouns: Instead of ‘I managed a team of 5…’, say ‘Managed a team of 5…’.
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