How To Do Job Resume

Use The Right Language To Stand Out

Trite, lackluster descriptions of your job duties and accomplishments wont do you any favors. Make sure youre using strong action words, such as achieved, designed, improved and established, to describe your roles and projects, said Sade. This will make you sound confident while imparting vital information. But be cautious about depending on action verbs make sure to include details about how you improved a process or achieved a goal.

Words such as professional, results-driven and detail-oriented provide very little helpful information, Sade said. Its better to use actual job titles than these words.

Did you know? You can use a combination of action words to highlight your experience and make your resume easier to read.

Diya Obeid, founder and CEO of ATS company JobDiva, said that you should remove words like go-getter, team player and go-to person from your resume. These come off as fluff and take up precious space on your resume.

Keep Your Resume Current

In the short term, you should tweak your resume based on each job you apply to. For example, if one position youre applying to seems to weigh a certain responsibility or focus over another, you should be sure your resume conveys your expertise in this area.

At the same time, you should be updating your resume with your experience as it develops, adding any new skills youve learned, courses youve taken or awards you won.

It is much easier to update your resume periodically than all at once, so even when youre employed, set a reminder to refresh your resume every three months, while the information is still fresh in your head. This will make your next job search much easier, should you decide to switch companies or careers in the future.

How To List Education On Your Resume

The next section were going to cover is your Education. Lets start with the basics – how to format the education section & what to mention there. Then, well move on to tips & tricks thatll help you stand out

• Program Name. E.g.: B.A. in Business Administration
• University Name. E.g.: New York State University
• Years Attended. E.g.: 08/2008 – 06/2012
• GPA. E.g.: 3.9 GPA
• Academic achievements. Any interesting papers youve written, courses youve excelled in, etc.
• Minor. Minor in Psychology

Here’s an example:

• If you dont have any work experience, mention your education section first.
• Mention your latest educational entry on top.
• If you have a university degree, dont mention your high school at all.
• ONLY mention GPA if you had a very impressive academic career .

Don’t Miss: What’s The Difference Between A Cv And A Resume

Bring It Down A Level

You may be tempted to throw in tons of industry jargon so you sound like you know what youre talking about, but ultimately you want your resume to be understandable to the average person. Remember that the first person who sees your resume might be a recruiter, an assistant, or even a high-level executiveand you want to be sure that it is readable, relevant, and interesting to all of them.

Begin By Listing Basic Details About Your Job

Every job description should include the following information:

• dates of employment

The order in which you display this is up to you. If youd like to emphasize your position, then put your job title on top, followed by the company, location, and employment dates below.

However, suppose you worked for a prestigious company that is well known in your industry. In that case, you could first highlight the companys name, followed by your position, location, and employment dates on the following line.

Here are two examples of how to include your job title, employers name, location, and employment dates in your job description. The first example highlights the position title, while the second example highlights the companys name:

No matter how you choose to format your job description, you should be consistent throughout your resume by using the same order for all of your entries. This is because of inconsistent resume formatting:

Also Check: What Is An Ats Compliant Resume

Create An Approximate Draft

After you create the introduction, youre free to create an approximate draft of your future paper. That will help you structure general information about yourself, your education, and your working experience. Of course, were not telling you that you should submit your draft and send it to your dream company. However, its a step that can not be missed since, precisely from the current, you will start structuring and forming the final version of your resume that will include all your hard and soft skills, experience, and achievements that make you proud.

Feature Your Skills And Education

When applying for your first job, choose a resume format that puts skills and education at or near the top. One good option might be a format if you have gaps in your work experience.

To ensure relevant information is the first thing employers read, consider structuring your resume in sections as follows:

Organizing your information this way highlights key aspects of your background, allowing employers to quickly understand why youre a good fit for the job. Though you may not have professional experience, putting other important activities or coursework in a primary position on your resume gives you a better chance at moving forward in the hiring process.

Upload your document or create a resume on Indeed Resume to quickly apply for jobs. When building your Indeed resume, you can simply include the skills, strengths and experiences that make you the best fit for the job. However you choose to develop your resume, make sure it highlights your strengths as they pertain to the position.

Also Check: How To Email A Job Your Resume

Tailor Your Content To The Position

When describing your previous work experiences, its best to select the most relevant roles and describe your accomplishments based on the job description for which youre currently applying. Determining what is relevant and what is not greatly depends on what the potential employers are looking for. Use the job description to find what their needs are and what they are expecting from a future employee in this role. A well-written job description section that is also tailored for the job you are applying for has the potential of setting you apart from other applicants with similar qualifications.

A Good Resume Represents You Well Remember To Be:

• Truthful. State your skills and abilities accurately.
• Brief. Limit your resume to one page.
• Error-free. Proofread your resume and ask at least one other good speller to review it.
• Professional. Print your resume on high-quality paper using a quality printer
• Readable. Use an easy to read font, minimal boldface, avoid italics and underlining, and leave white space.
• A good match. Use keywords that match words from the job posting or description

Don’t Miss: How To Write A Proper Resume

Keep It Recent Keep It Relevant

As a rule, you should only show the most recent 10-15 years of your career history and only include the experience relevant to the positions to which you are applying. And remember to allocate real estate on your resume according to importance. If theres a choice between including one more college internship or going into more detail about your current role, always choose the latter .

Take Stock Of Your Achievements And Activities

Make a list of absolutely everything you’ve done that might be useful on a resume. From this list, you’ll then need to narrow down what to actually include on your resume. Different things might be relevant to different jobs you apply for, so keep a full list and pick the most relevant things from it to include on your resume when you send it out.

Don’t Miss: Administrative Assistant Resume Template

How To Structure A Resume

orrect and understandable structure is key to your successful hiring. And format, also called style, is an integral part of your resume that will help structure your paper according to your vision. Usually, there are three main styles: functional, chronological, and combined. So lets take a closer look at each of them and find out how to choose which one will be the most suitable for your needs.

Pay Attention To Technical Details

When editing your resume, make sure there are no punctuation, grammatical, spelling, or other errors that will make your resume look unprofessional. Then, have a friend or family member read it again to catch any mistakes you might have missed you can’t afford a typo or missing word as a candidate with no prior work experience. Also, be sure to vary your language and utilize action verbs throughout your resume to keep your reader engaged.

Related: How to Make Your Resume Stand Out With Action Verbs

You May Like: Good Example Of Resume

How To Start A Resume

The Indeed Editorial Team comprises a diverse and talented team of writers, researchers and subject matter experts equipped with Indeed’s data and insights to deliver useful tips to help guide your career journey.

Related: First Resume Tips: How to Make a Resume with No Work Experience

In this video, we share first resume tips based on the latest resume writing best practices and provide resume examples to help you brainstorm ideas.

Whether you are looking for your first job or making a career change, starting a resume is an important part of getting hired. A strong introduction followed by a consistent, detailed and concise resume can help your resume get noticed by recruiters.

In this article, well discuss how to get your resume started.

Choose A Resume Introduction

The introduction is one of the most important parts of your resume. It needs to grab the recruiters attention so they take time to review the rest of your resume. With the volume of applications a recruiter reviews, a memorable introduction can stand out and help you get an interview. The format of your introduction can vary depending on your industry, qualifications, experience and whether you are seeking a job in your current industry or a new field. Three common resume introductions are:

Career objective

type of introduction is a short paragraph, ideally three sentences, discussing the career path you are seeking and what you hope to gain from employment.

After stating your desired role, use this paragraph to quickly highlight your relevant strengths and experience. When writing your career objective, review the job description to ensure this section reflects what the company is seeking in a candidate.

Qualifications summary

introduction style should include relevant experience, qualifications, certifications and critical skills. After stating your desired role, use this paragraph to quickly highlight your relevant strengths and experience. When writing your career objective, review the job description to ensure this section reflects what the company is seeking in a candidate.

Professional profile

Recommended Reading: How Do You Upload A Resume To Linkedin

Organize Your Resume To Make It Easy To Understand

You need to organize your resume to help agencies evaluate your experience. If you dont provide the information required for the hiring agency to determine your qualifications, you might not be considered for the job.

• Use reverse chronological order to list your experiencestart with your most recent experience first and work your way back.
• Provide greater detail for experience that is relevant to the job for which you are applying.
• Show all experiences and accomplishments under the job in which you earned it. This helps agencies determine the amount of experience you have with that particular skill.
• Use either bullet or paragraph format to describe your experiences and accomplishments.
• Use plain languageavoid using acronyms and terms that are not easily understood.

Use Keywords To Help You Break Through

You can’t learn how to build a resume without keywords. When recruiters post jobs, they typically dont read every resume that comes intheyll often start by having their applicant tracking system filter out resumes based on keywords. Those keywords are terms or phrases the hiring manager has deemed to be valuable to the job.

So youll want to pack your resume with keywords but you also need to be careful not to go overboard, since a human will hopefully read your resume eventually.

Thus, sprinkle those keywords throughout and provide a little bit of context with each. For example, a social media savvy job seeker might include the names of key platforms with some explanation such as, Leveraged Instagram to showcase happy customers, increasing followers by 10,000.

Need help coming up with keywords? Take words and phrases directly from the job descriptionmirroring the ad in order of mention as the hiring manager will typically put the most coveted skill sets at the top.

Don’t Miss: How To Put Customer Service On Resume

Why Bother Writing It

Its super important. We hate to use the word important, but

Your work experience section is the most important part of your resume. In fact, when you think resume, the work experience section is probably the first thing that comes to your mind. And youre not alone. Based on this section employers determine whether or not you have what it takes for the job.

It provides an overview of your past experience. A well-written work experience section is a crucial element because it shows that you have the necessary qualifications.

Add In Your Work Experience

This section will most likely be the bulk of your resume. Even if youre changing careers, employers still want to see where youve worked, what youve done, and the impact of that work to get a sense of your background and expertise.

Your Work Experience might be one entire category, or you might choose to break it up into Relevant Experience and Additional Experience to highlight the jobs that are most important for hiring managers to focus on. Either way, youll almost always want to have your most recent experience at the top and your older experience down below.

Within your work experience, youll want to include each official job title, the company , and the years you worked there. Below that, youll add in two to four bullet points explaining what you did in that job, the skills you built and exercised, the tools you used, and the results of what you did. If you accomplished a lot during your time there, focus on the responsibilities that made the most impact or youre the most proud of, as well as the ones that best align you with the job youre applying for . Its key here to list, if relevant, quantitative as well as qualitative accomplishments.

For example, you might write:

Associate Accountant, Finances and Co., Ann Arbor, MI

If you have a ton of experience and this category is starting to run long , consider kicking out your oldest jobs unless theyre super relevant to the job youre applying for, or extra impressive for your field.

Recommended Reading: Is Your Cv Your Resume

Why Do I Need A Different Resume For Every Job Application

No two jobs are exactly alike. Even if you apply for two positions with the exact same title, its extremely likely that each company highlights different skills and traits in the job description. Remember, the responsibilities of a Sales Associate at one store may look very different at another. Thats why we recommend that before you send out an application, you tailor your resume to address the specific requirements in the job description. Usually this can cause job seekers a lot of headaches, but our resume creator allows you to build dozens of fully-customized resumes in a fraction of the time.

What If I Need A Cover Letter For My Resume

If you need a matching cover letter for your resume, then youve come to right place. Along with our resume generator, we also offer a state-of-the-art cover letter builder. The best part is that if you sign up for an RG account, you get unlimited access to both! In under ten minutes you can have a compatible resume and cover letter, and be ready to apply to the job of your dreams.

You May Like: What To Write For About Me On Resume

Resume Contact Information Tips:

• Include a personal phone number, never a work number.
• You dont need to include your full address but do add your city, state, and zip code. Recruiters often search for local candidates first.
• Use a professional sounding email address. Consider creating a free Gmail account for your job search if you currently use a more outdated email service like Hotmail or AOL.
• Create a strong LinkedIn profile and be sure to include the URL on your resume.

How To List Skills In Your Resume

When mentioning skills in your resume, there are 3 essential steps to follow:

Step #1 – List Hard Skills with Experience Levels. For each hard skill you list, you want to mention your proficiency level:

As a rule of thumb, you can divide them by:

Beginner – You have some experience with the skill, whether its from some entry-level practice or classroom education.

Intermediate – Youve used the skill in a work environment with a good level of understanding.

Advanced – Youre the go-to person for the skill in your office. You can coach other employees, and understand the skill on a high level.

Expert – Youve applied this skill in more than a handful of different projects & organizations. Youre the go-to person for advice about the skill, not just in your office, but even amongst some of the best professionals in your field.

Make sure to NEVER lie about your skill levels. Otherwise, its going to be pretty awkward both for you and your employer.

Imagine your first task at work as an Illustrator – to create a graphic vector to go nicely with an article. If you end up delivering a hastily drawn stick figure colored with a paint bucket tool in Microsoft Paint, youll be out of the job before your probation period ends.

Step #2 – Tailor Your Skills to the Job. You might have some super rare, awesome skills, but theyre not always going to be useful. For example, its awesome that you know accounting, but would you really need it at your new job as a line cook? Exactly!

Recommended Reading: How To Write Resume For Federal Government Jobs