How To Type Up A Resume

How To Ace Your Next Interview

Youve perfected both your resume & cover letter. Now, its time for the next step – the dreaded job interview.

Whether youre an extrovert or an introvert, you probably hate the interviewing process. After all, sitting there while someones prodding into your past experiences and judging the hell out of you isnt the most fun experience.

Did you know, though, that most interviewers ask the same questions? Yep – all you have to do is learn how to answer some of the most common interview questions, and youll be an interview away from landing your dream job!

Want to learn more? Check out our complete guide to Job Interview Questions and Answers.

Visual Character Templates And First Impressions

Were all visual creatures.Our first impressions are always based on aesthetics, symmetry and images.

We choose our clothes for an interview with care, why shouldnt we put the same effort into the appearance of our resume? Its our primary ambassador before any sort of physical meeting.

According to a study done by TheLadders, recruiters spend an average of 6 seconds glancing at a resume before moving on to another one . During this short time, a subconscious decision is often made based on the looksof your resume. If its clean and beautiful, the hiring manager is likely to admire it for a while.

By adding iconsto your resume, you can draw attention to particular sections and stand out from the crowd.

You can create your own templates, but unless youre a professional designer, it may be best to rely on field-tested visuals. Templates project a certain character and mood with their design:they can emphasize creativity, dependability, discipline and other qualities.

Use professional designs and templates that have been optimized for content, psychology and visual perception.

Spend hours or days creating the perfect design/layout from scratch, only to discover it has technical issues.

Resume.iotemplates are divided and developed based on these identities, which can be better aligned with certain professions, industries or simply the circumstances of the job opening.

Heres an example of our diverse lineup of tested and professionally designed templates:

Who To Use As A Reference

Many people struggle to decide who to list as their references on their resume.

To help break it down, here are the best people to include on your reference page in order of importance:

If possible, list your current or former boss at the top of your references list. Most employers view supervisors or bosses as the most valuable references, because they have the greatest insight into your work ethic, skills, and professional strengths.

Additionally, consider the following details when choosing the other references on your resume:

• Which of my references are most relevant to the job Im applying for?
• Do I have references that work in the industry Im applying to?
• Which potential reference would best highlight my relevant skills?
• Who is not suited to give me a reference for this particular job?

Can you use a friend as a personal reference?

Generally, you shouldnt include friends as a reference on your resume. The exception is if theyre former colleagues, are currently employed at the company youre applying to, or are a former supervisor. In these cases, listing your friend as a reference is acceptable.

Who to use as a reference if its your first job

For a student or recent graduate, finding an appropriate set of professional references is difficult. So if you lack work experience and have no references, you can list a:

• Teacher
• Guidance counselor
• Family member or friend youve done work for

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What Is A Work Experience Section

Employment history is a detailed summary of your past work experience. Its a detailed report of all jobs youve held in the past.

Depending on your background, you can include full-time positions, part-time jobs, temporary roles, internships or even volunteer work.

You should list key information such as names of companies, locations, job titles and positions held, dates of employment and responsibilities.

But more importantly, it should highlight your main achievements and provide specific examples.

It has many names. Some people call it employment history. Others refer to it it as work experience or work history.

Tailor Your Resum For Each Job

Employers can receive hundreds of resumés for one job posting. To make yours stand out, you need to put yourself into their shoes. What do they need, and what can you offer to meet that need? These tips can help you show an employer that youre the right person for the job:

• Learn as much as you can by reading the organizations website, researching labour market information, or asking others in the industry.
• Identify your most relevant skills and training to show how you can add value to the company.

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Create A Clear Education Section

Having a clear education section is essential for your resume, especially if youre a recent college graduate or have minimal work experience.

If you lack professional experience but have a good track record in school , your education section should be highly detailed to highlight all of your education-related accomplishments.

On the other hand, if you possess more than a few years of professional experience, then its appropriate to keep your education section short and sweet.

Additionally, if youre a student or recent graduate, list your education section above the experience section of your resume. This way, you emphasize your most marketable qualifications at the top of the page.

Here are the main points to include in a standard education section:

• The names of your university, community college, or technical school
• Location of the schools
• Date of graduation
• Degree
• GPA

Additionally, include relevant coursework on your resume if youre a recent graduate and dont have much work experience yet.

Here are two examples demonstrating how to format your education section:

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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Tips To Help Effectively Fill Out A Resume

Lastly, here is a shortlist of tips you can apply when crafting a succinct, but full, one-page resume so that you can have a robust-looking document to work on your behalf:

• Use formatting to your advantage. Choose a format that allows you to fill the white space in your document. Use borders, text boxes and other graphic elements to help your resume take up the whole page. You can also use a variety of text sizes, up to 12.5 point font. Be sure though that your resume format is ATS-compliant to get through employers’ applicant tracking systems.

• Choose an efficient layout. Create separate segments for all your sections, with a set of bullets under each heading. List your skills or certifications at the side or bottom of your resume to help fill space.

• Explain your skills. If your skill set is more impressive than your work experience, take the time to provide background information on your core competencies. This should include how you acquired the skill, how it has benefited you in the past and why you think it would be useful for the job.

• Draw keywords from job listings. If you are struggling to think of skills to list or bullets to include, consult job listings for positions in your field. Find out what employers are looking for and include any phrases or keywords that are relevant to you.

• Add external links. Consider adding links to any supplementary websites. Provide links to your online portfolio, your professional website or your professional social media profiles.

Make Your Cv Easy To Read

Recruiters take 15-20 seconds to scan your CV the first time. If you make a good impression, they’ll read your CV more closely.

To make your CV look good:

• use a black, easy-to-read font in one size
• use short sentences and break up blocks of text
• use bullet points to list information
• keep the tone formal
• avoid abbreviations, slang or jargon
• avoid photos or images
• have strong headings and lots of white space
• keep your CV to two pages.

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Work History And Work Or Volunteer Experience

List your most recent jobs or work and volunteer experience first. Your work history needs to include:

• the name of the employer
• the job title/role
• where the job was located
• start date and end date.

Beneath this, list the tasks you performed. Also list any achievements.

If you change jobs in the same organisation, include both job titles/roles.

You don’t need to list all your work history keep your CV short.

Examples of work history

If you choose a skills-focused CV:

• customer service
• increased sales of large coffees by 10%.

If you choose a work-focused CV, describe your skills more:

Responsible for food and drink and customer service in bakery.

• demonstrated excellent customer service skills when taking customer’s orders
• lead sales of large coffees, increasing sales to 10%.

Use action verbs to describe your work history

Use action verbs to describe your work history and skills. These are words like demonstrated, managed, lead, developed, organised.

Gaps in your work history?

If you have gaps where you haven’t been in paid work:

• use a skills-focused CV

How Do You Spell Resume

The short answer is: its completely up to you. Resume, résumé, and even resumé are all supported by dictionaries and style guides, so you can pick the one that most appeals to you.

Heres what some major dictionaries and style guides say about the proper spelling of resume:

• MerriamWebster: prefers résumé and lists resume as a variant, with resumé a less common spelling.
• American Heritage Dictionary: résumé, resume, and resumé are all equally acceptable.
• Associated Press: No accents on resume or any other words, apart from peoples names
• Chicago Manual of Style: Preserve accents from foreign words where possible .

As you can see, in terms of the spelling of resume, sources approve of all three options.

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How To Write A Work Experience Section If Youre An Artist

Artists are, well, different. Because of that, it probably comes as a no surprise that their work experience is different too.

In short, as an artist you should say goodbye to wordy descriptions and focus almost entirely on your portfolio. But you already know that, dont you?

There are several options available and its only up to you which one will suit you the best. Polish up your social media profiles, create your own website, make sure to upload your portfolio to Behance or Dribble.

Get Help With Your Cv

If you’re a student or recent graduate and you’d like help creating a CV then you can get professional advice from your university careers service.

During COVID-19 many university careers services have moved their programme of activities and events online to support students and graduates during the pandemic.

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Whats The Best Resume Template

Theres no best resume template. Each job-seeker has their own skill-set and qualifications, so theres no singular template that magically fits the mold for everyone.

To find the best template for you, first consider what format is right for your professional background, as well as what resume design suits your needs.

Our team designed each resume template to meet the requirements of different types of job seekers. From entry-level applicants to experienced professionals and even executives, we aspire to have the perfect template for every candidate.

If you cant find a resume template you like, Google also provides a variety of .

Think Beyond Your Job Duties

Hiring managers don’t want to read a list of your job duties. They want concrete examples of your accomplishments in previous positions that show how you can make a difference in this new position. Rangel noted that specific merits are more engaging to read than just your experiences. For example, “I reduced operating expenses by 23% in six months” is far more interesting to an employer than “I have 30 years of sales experience,” she said.

When deciding what information to keep or cut out of your resume, focus on striking abstract traits and qualifications in favor of concrete, quantifiable results.

“The best resumes highlight a job candidate’s actions and results,” said Bob Myhal, director of digital marketing at CBC Automotive Marketing. “Employers want employees who get things done, and who take great joy and pride in what they do. Rather than a laundry list of your qualifications, your resume should reflect your accomplishments and enthusiasm for your career.”

You shouldn’t ignore your skills section either. Sade reminded job seekers to list any industry-relevant apps or programs they’re familiar with, and find ways to incorporate examples of their soft skills into their job descriptions.

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Cv Versus Resume Whats The Difference

Today, a lot of employers and job candidates use the terms CV and resume interchangeably. Indeed, you may see just as many references to resume templates as you do CV templates.

Traditionally, a CV referred to a comprehensive account of your entire professional life, while a resume was a summary of your education, skills and work experience. However, in more modern times, the need for a lengthy overview of your career history has become redundant, with a hiring company instead expecting a two-page summary. At the same time, people began to use the two terms reciprocally. Now, whether you call your career overview a CV or resume, it has no bearing on your chance of reaching an interview shortlist.

What Are Employers Looking For In A Resume

Hiring managers look for three things on your resume, What did you do? Why did you do it? And what was the result? says Muse career coach , owner of Career Therapy. If you can answer all three of these questions in…your resume bullet points, youre going to be on the right track.

Clear, easy-to-understand language is key. The truth is that most resumes make no sense. They are stuffed with jargon, they are too technical, and they are filled with redundancies. Try to read a resume that isnt yours and you will quickly realize that it feels like an alien wrote it, McGovern adds. Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter who has no idea how your role workshow can you make your resume accessible to them?

The hiring manager also cares about more than just you and you alonethey care about you in relation to them. Hiring managers want to see if a candidate matches the requirements of the role theyre hiring for, Yurovsky explains. Your resume should paint this picture so the hiring manager not only knows what day-to-day responsibilities you can handle, but why you, above other, bring value to their organization.

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How To Set Up A Resume

Your resume is usually one of the first things an employer sees when reviewing your application. A resume that fits your experience and education can help you stand out from other candidates. Learning what to include in your resume ensures you show your best skills and experience, which can impress the hiring manager. In this article, you can learn how to build an effective resume that fits your history.

How Do I Make A Resume In Microsoft Word

There are two primary methods for making a resume in Microsoft Word:

To use a template, go to File > New and then select a template from the Resume and Cover Letter section.

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And Lets Wrap It All Up

If youve followed all of our advice until now, congrats! Youre probably an expert on how to make a resume.

To wrap it all up, lets brush up on some of the most important lessons weve learned so far…

• Use the rightresume builder. You dont want to mess around with formatting for hours before even starting to work on your resume!
• Focus on achievements. Mention your achievements instead of responsibilities, so that you stand out from all the other applicants.
• Include the must-have sections. That is, resume summary, work experience, education, and skills.
• Tailor for the job. Everything listed on your resume should be relevant for the job youre applying for.
• Perfect your cover letter. Its as important as your resume, so make sure you pay as much attention to it!

At Novorésumé, were committed to helping you get the job you deserve, every step of the way! Follow our career blog to stay up to date with industry-leading advice. Or, check out some of our top guides:

Andrei Kurtuy