How To Write A Good Resume That Will Land You A Job
Since you only have a sheet of paper to explain what you offer, it is important that you only include what is necessary. Be as precise as you can while writing descriptions and remember to utilize keywords.
Dont be afraid to show your personality and make your resume unique, this will help it stand out from the rest.
Be sure to keep reading our blog for more articles about resume building and landing your dream job!
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Action Verbs And Power Words
Speaking of unique, the primary goal of your resume is to make you stand out from the rest of the people applying for the same job and another way to make that happen is to use action verbs and power words .
Action verbs and power words are exactly thattheyre words that help catch a hiring managers eye and give you an edge. After reading hundreds of resumes, many using the same words and phrases, its nice to have one that stands out and one of the best ways to do that is by incorporating action verbs and power words!
Youre not exaggerating and youre certainly not lying, youre just swapping out old and tired words for ones that are a bit moredynamic and exciting!
When listing skills, accomplishments, or job described, try using the most impressive words you can think of .
Were you a leader of a project? Instead of saying Led, use one of these words:
Chaired, controlled, coordinated, executed, headed, operated, orchestrated, organized, oversaw, planned, produced, programmed.
Did you pull a project from conception all the way to completion? Instead of saying developed, created, or introduced, try:
Administered, built, chartered, designed, devised, founded, engineered, constructed, established, formalized, formed, formulated, implemented, spearheaded, incorporated, initiated, instituted, introduced, launched, pioneered.
Are you an organizing wizard? Are you increasing productivity? Sales? Efficiency? Use these words to really hit home how dynamic you are:
Emphasize Your Educational Preparedness
If you are a fresh graduate with no professional experience, lead with your academic background, honours, and extra-curricular activities. Dont believe it when people say that grades dont matter in the real world they do when youre just starting out.
As Fred Damian, HR partner of Ernst & Young-Manila, explains, potential hirers understandably give hiring priority to young people who have more or less proven themselves in academic tasks and school-related activities. Positions of responsibility in extra-curricular and community organizations are also reliable indicators of leadership and social interaction skills, he says. Thus, make sure theyre all in your resume.
Leave off the negative points. If you made it to the deans list in the first semester of your first year and never made it again, it might be wise not to include the details anymore. That is, unless youre prepared to discuss it during the interview. Your educational background should always be positive and purposeful to encourage the thinking that you are well prepared for the rigors of the corporate world.
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Highlight Your Professional Experience
Unless you are a new graduate, you should begin the body of your resume with an outline of your employment history, starting with your most recent work. List down all the jobs youve had, the company names, dates of employment, titles, and responsibilities.
A choppy one, on the other hand, where you jump from one company to another within fairly short periods, or have unaccounted pockets of unemployment, will inevitably lead to questions about your work ethic, your sense of stability, company loyalty, etc. Be ready to talk about this during the job interview.
Examples Of Good Objectives For A Resume
We have discussed the theory behind how to write a good objective for your resume. Now, here are three examples of strong resume objectives that put the above advice into practice.
Example 1 Objective: To secure a position at Company X where I can make full use of my five years experience in project management and take overall responsibility for dynamic projects.
Example 2 Objective: To land a job that maximizes my superb interpersonal and organizational skills to help Company Y achieve its key business objectives.
Example 3 Objective: To secure a position at Company Z in which I can leverage my experience in sales leadership to identify new revenue-generating opportunities.
If you would like more help your next job search, pleasebrowse our advice sectionorreach outto one of our expert consultants today.
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Include A Summary Statement
Resume objective statements, where you state exactly what career goals you wish to achieve, have mostly fallen out of fashion. This is largely because you want to focus on what you can do for the employer, not what the employer can do for you. A resume summary statement, on the other hand, sums up who you are professionally at the top of the page in a sentence or two and serves as the first impression you give a hiring manager to entice them to keep reading.
When To Use A Resume Objective
Again, some career experts find resume objectives outdated, others say they are valuable. However, there are times when a resume objective can be very useful. Whenever you want to emphasize that you are ambitious, that you know what you want in a career, or that you have the skills for the specific job, you could benefit from a resume objective.
One specific time you could use a resume objective is when you are changing careers.
A resume objective can explain why you are qualified for the job, even if you do not have a lot of related experience. An objective can be particularly helpful when you are changing careers.
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Software Engineer Resume Objective
Experienced and knowledgeable software engineer with extensive practice in technology engineering and computer science looking to obtain a position that allows for the application of design skills, customer service and support abilities and critical thinking to produce software that meets all goals and objectives outlined by the customer.
Related: Tips for Writing an Engineering Resume Objective
The Vital Starting Point: Where To Write Your Resume
Well go straight to the golden rule, no beating around the bush.
Do not use basic text editors to write the final version of your resume. MS Word, Excel and similar programs have a host of potential problems that may hinder you before you even start.
These may include:
- A difficult and time-consuming formatting process
- Header/footer information not readable by other systems
- Poor and bland visual designs that get lost among other resumes
- Formatting that looks different in other programs
- Lost or corrupted files and so on.
So, whats the solution?
The accepted standard for submitting most resumes is the PDF file format. The benefits are clear in most cases: universal formatting that doesnt change regardless of where you view it and readability by most software systems.
Use professionally designed layouts and tools that have been tested with hiring managers and applicant systems.
Use old-school text editors that take hours of work and are often incompatible with the employer’s software.
The ideal tools to produce clean, concise and beautiful resumes in PDF format are online builders.These web and/or software solutions are specifically made to be the perfect instrument for visually striking, technically functional and content-optimized resumes. By using a service/platform that is designed specifically for resumes, you save lots of time and avoid hidden problems.
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Finish With A Concise Direct Closing Paragraph
When writing your cover letter closing, be polite, confident, and continue to sell yourself as the best candidate for the job. Its important to write your final paragraph thoughtfully and strategically, so be sure to:
- Thank the hiring manager for reviewing your application
- Summarize why youd be a good hire
- Restate your excitement about the job opportunity
- Politely ask the reader to send you an invitation to interview
Heres an excellent cover letter closing example:
Detail Your Professional Experience
The experience section on your combination resume should look similar to a chronological resume work experience section, but a bit shorter.
Whereas a chronological resume includes three to four past positions, a combination resume should only feature your twomost relevant positions to save space and keep your resume laser-focused.
Regardless of relevance, list your most recent job at the top of this section. Underneath each job, write two to four bullet points detailing some of your key duties and accomplishments.
Like your skills section, you should add numbers wherever possible to illustrate the impact you made at your previous job. This could include dollar amounts, time saved, or percentages.
Heres an example of a well-written experience section on a combination resume:
Combination resume experience section
IT AMERICA INC., Arizona City, AZ
Java Developer | August 2018Present
- Use Java/J2EE technologies to develop web applications for client server environments and add functionalities to existing applications
- Revamp various Java applications developed with Spring, Hibernate and older J2EE
- Consult with customers on project status and technical concerns Conduct user requirements analysis to design and program applications and deliver support for system enhancement
- Play a pivotal role as a part of an agile scrum team accountable, developing new applications using Spring framework backend and Angular.js frontend
INFOSYS, Charlotte, NC
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Pick The Ideal Resume Layout
The hard part is over. Youve written your resume, and are feeling confident about getting that interview. Now its time to take a moment and consider your resumes design.
Depending on the industry you work in or the job you want, you may need to adjust your resume layout to fit the expectations of the hiring manager.
How To Make A Resume
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A resume is a document commonly used in the hiring process. It includes information about your background and qualifications and should communicate the most important, relevant information about you to employers in a clear, easy-to-read format. The goal is to quickly communicate why you are uniquely qualified for the position based on your skills and experiences.
To create a resume that will get noticed by employers, you can follow a few simple steps and best practices. The main goal to keep in mind is to make your resume relevant and readable. Lets take a closer look at the best ways to write each of these resume sections. For more inspiration when writing or updating your resume, look at resume samples from your industry and job title.
If you’re interested in professional and personalized resume feedback, learn more about Indeed’s free and paid resume review services at
Optional
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What Are Some Examples Of A Good Resume
Heres the thing: Your resume wont ever look exactly like someone elses, nor should it. How you choose to format it, organize your information, and talk about specific experiences depends not just on your career path, but on your field, the job youre applying for, the company that job is at, and more.
So there isnt a universal way to do a resume. But there are common themes. To give you some context as to how yours might turn out, here are three examples of different kinds of resumes.
How To Write A Cover Letter Alongside A Resume
As you consider how to write a resume, you should not forget to consider the advantages of pairing it with a well-written cover letter.
In actual fact, employers will request a cover letter the vast majority of the time. For good reason: there are certain aspects of a cover letter that make the content very different to a resume.
For a start, a cover letter is a free-form piece of writing that allows an applicant to outline the finer details of their application. It is a personal pitch to the hiring manager, it can be closely tailored to the role in question and its arguments should form the core of a future interview process.
Every sentence in your cover letter should explore the essence of your job search why. While your resume offers the logic of why you should be hired, the cover letter offers a more emotional and personal take.
The format of a cover letter should follow the structure of any persuasive argument: the introduction sets the scene the body of the cover letter contains the key arguments and the conclusion ends on a high note and includes a call to action.
The cover letter distils your career story into 300-400 words of compelling and relevant copy. Your potential future boss should be able to read it and create a mental picture of how you will fit into their future plans. Everyone likes a good story, especially if they feel that it could become their story too.
Here are some different scenarios for cover letter accomplishments:
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Header And Contact Information
The header should contain your personal and contact information, short and sweet. Also, make sure the information is correct, otherwise this example of how to write a resume wont do you much good in the long run. Triple check your information in order to make sure everything is up to date. The must have information covers your name, phone number, e-mail address and location. You could also benefit from adding your job title, LinkedIn URL, social media or website/blog.
Stay away from information like date of birth or age unless specifically required. Create a professional email address. Nobody wants to see your childhood idea of an appropriate email address on a job application. Sure, youre witty, but lets keep it a secret for now. Should you include a photo? Depends on the job.
Choosing The Best Resume Template
Now that we know which software to use and the most common resume formats, letâs break down the actual template. This is the make-or-break deal. Picking the right resume template can be the deciding factor if a hiring manager gives you a call. Or if they skip past your resume and never bother to read it.
Our mission here at Easy Resume is to make sure that never happens to you! Weâre working hard to make sure your resume is high quality and presented in a way that will impress recruiters.
When speaking with hiring managers, we found that 78% of the time they skip your resume is because of the design. Again, we donât think thatâs fair.
Hereâs a checklist to use for your resume
We always use this checklist whenever creating any new resume template.
Use a clear heading structure
Incorrect: Donât make all headings and body copy the same size.
Correct: Do use typographic hierarchy by using varying heading sizes and font weights.
Use legible, friendly and professional font combinations
Incorrect: Donât use quirky and eccentric fonts like comic sans or papyrus.
Correct: Do use professional fonts that are easy to read and familiar. Fonts like Georgia, Helvetica, Calibri, and Cambia.
Use an ample amount of spacing
Incorrect: Donât go overboard with spacing. Using a lot of white-space might spark joy, but not when your resume becomes three pages long because of it.
Use 1 page
Use bullet points
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Decide Whether You Need A Unique Resume For Different Jobs
Before submitting an application, you should ask yourself, Have I made it as easy as possible for this employer to see that Im qualified?. If youre applying for a job that has unique requirements, you may need another version of your resume to fully demonstrate your qualifications. Decide on a case by case basis which resume to use.
Your resume is often the first step to getting an interview with an employer. Make sure you include the most relevant information on your resume, organize it to highlight the most important information and carefully review for errors. Once your resume is polished and finalized, it should help you get more callbacks, interviews, and job offers.
List Your Soft And Hard Skills
Take a moment to consider which skills make you a great fit for the job. Review the job description and highlight keywords that you have had proven success with in the past. Consider both hard and soft skills, as well as transferable skills you can use when changing careers or industries. Create a skills section with the keywords that are relevant to the employer. List any required skills like certifications or licenses first.
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Dont Forget Your Education
If youre still in school or just graduated, your education can go at the top of your resume, but for pretty much everyone else, this goes near the bottom. Most people include their school, graduation year , major, and degree. Brand-new grads might also write in their GPA, honors and awards, study abroad, thesis, or other notable achievements. But keep this section super simple, as you dont want it to take up too much space over your work experience.
Its possible you have unique education experience, such as taking an online course or certification. If you did this specifically as a way to boost yourself within your industry, definitely include it. Again, list everything more or less reverse chronologicallyso a grad school degree would go above an undergrad degree, and a more recent relevant online course would go above that.
Learn more about the ins and outs of listing your education on your resume:
Hard Vs Soft Skills: Whats The Difference
Heres the difference between hard skills and soft skills:
Hard skills
Hard skills are quantifiable, job-specific abilities learned through education, training, or on-the-job experience. Language skills, computer skills, and being able to operate heavy machinery all count as types of hard skills.
Heres a list of 24 popular hard skills to put on your resume:
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