Should My Resume Example And My Cover Letter Match
Yes, your resume and your cover letter should match, both in content and appearance. Matching content means that your resume should list your skills and job history, while your cover letter should explain how your employer will benefit from hiring you. Matching appearance means that your resume and cover letter templates should look alike and are tailored to that specific job application. Check out professional cover letter templates here.
Technical Or Hard Skills
The technical skills you should include depends largely on the field youre planning to enter. Refer to the job description for clues on what the employer requires. Technical skills could include anything from knowledge of specific programming languages or software, or speaking a foreign language.
When listing technical skills, be as specific as possible. If an employer lists certain technical skills as desired, place them in a prominent position on your resume and include your level of proficiency. For example, if you have extensive experience using spreadsheets, you might write Advanced in MS Excel, including pivot tables and vlookup. If youre just beginning to learn a new hard skill, you can indicate that as well. For example, if youre learning to use a CRM system you could write, Familiar with Salesforce CRM.
Tailor Your Resume And Optimize For Applicant Tracking Systems
Its very easy these days to fire off your resume to dozens of jobs, but if youve tried this method, you may have been disappointed by your success rate. Thats because you didnt take the time to customize your resume for each individual roleand recruiters can tell.
The most impactful thing you can do to improve your chances of getting interviews is tailor your resume to each and every job. Customized resumes that align with job requirements and include keywords from the job description will stand out to recruiters who often receive hundreds of resumes for each role.
When you tailor your resume to the job, youre also optimizing for applicant tracking systems., because many ATS allow recruiters to filter and search by keyword. Want to see if your resume is well-tailored? Use Jobscan to see your match score and discover missing keywords.
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Ditch The Objective Statement
According to Zhang, the only occasion when an objective section makes sense is when youre making a huge career change and need to explain from the get-go why your experience doesnt match up with the position youre applying to. In every other case? Consider whether a summary statement would be right for youor just nix it altogether to save space and focus on making the rest of your resume stellar.
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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Do You Also Have Cover Letter Examples
Apart from sample resumes, at Zety you will find hundreds of free cover letter examples for all jobs and industries. Just like with our resumes, you can easily copy and adjust the cover letter samples to your needs. Covering letters significantly boost your chances of getting hired, and are always a great sign of your motivation for hiring managers . Check out the best cover letter format, as the rules are different from the resume formats.
Whats A Resume Summary & When To Use It
A resume summary is a 2-3 sentence summary of your career. You should use a resume summary in basically any situation, unless youre a recent university graduate or switching careers .
In your resume summary, you need to mention:
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Make It Easily Readable
The main two ways of showcasing your work responsibilities and achievements are either through the use of bullet points or by using a narrative style. The former can potentially minimize the importance of your accomplishments, and the latter can be hard to read, so the best approach is usually a mix of the two. A brief paragraph in which you describe your responsibilities, followed by a few bullet points outlining your achievements, is often an effective approach.
Craft A Career Snapshot
More recently, career experts have urged job seekers to do away with the old objective statement and instead consider including a brief summary, called a career snapshot, at the top of their resume.
With the career snapshot, you present a branding statement that briefly explains your unique value as well as your skills and qualifications, said Tomer Sade, CEO of Book a Space. This would then be followed by a few bullet points that highlight your experience and your accomplishments. Whatever you list here should be relevant to the position youre applying to.
The top third of your resume is prime resume real estate, added Lisa Rangel, an executive resume writer and CEO of Chameleon Resumes. Create a robust summary to capture the hiring managers eye.
Think of your career snapshot as an answer to the question How would you describe your work experience in one sentence? The summary is an opportunity to sum up your most relevant and important skills, experience, or assets right off the bat.
Also Check: How Much Job History Should Be On A Resume
Include A Professional Summary
Since employers may only spend a short time reviewing your resume, you want to display your positive qualities clearly and concisely. These statements should illustrate the qualities that make you an attractive candidate while also describing the engaging yet professional personality you bring to work.
Your summary statement should include a concise overview of your work experience. Try to focus on your experience as it relates to the role you are seeking to stand out to hiring managers.
If you have less experience , you can provide a resume objective, which is a brief display of your skills and qualifications as they relate to the specific position youre seeking. As with anything on your resume, these skills and qualities should be concrete and, where possible, quantifiable.
Related: Writing a Resume With No Experience
How To Write Resume Job Descriptions
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: Resume Tips: How To Write a Resume That Stands Out
Abbey provides tips on how to quickly communicate why you are uniquely qualified for the position based on your skills and experiences.
A well-written resume job description can offer hiring managers important indications regarding the type of employee you are and the potential value you can bring to an organization. Regardless of your qualifications, showing that you have a history of using your knowledge and skills for other companies should increase your odds of being considered for the position. Your previous achievements can be adequately described by following some simple guidelines.
In this article, we review the necessary steps in writing resume job descriptions.
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Write A Standout Resume Headline
A resume headline is a concise, one-line description of who you are as a candidate. A well-written headline can grab a recruiters attention and encourage them to take a more detailed look at your qualifications.
Your headline is a short but powerful addition to your resume, often the first thing a recruiter reads. Take advantage of the opportunity to make a strong first impression. Its also another opportunity to include a specific job title or keyword that might be used to sort your resume in the ATS.
Include Dates Hours Level Of Experience And Examples For Each Work Experience
For each work experience you list, make sure you include:
- Start and end dates .
- The number of hours you worked per week.
- The level and amount of experiencefor instance, whether you served as a project manager or a team member helps to illustrate your level of experience.
- Examples of relevant experiences and accomplishments that prove you can perform the tasks at the level required for the job as stated in the job announcement. Your experience needs to address every required qualification.
Example
- Experience/Accomplishment
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Add A Resume Summary Or Objective
After your contact information, you have the option to include either a or objective statement. An objective statement quickly explains your career goals and is a good choice for those with limited professional experience, such as recent college or high school graduates. A resume summary is a short statement that uses active language to describe your relevant work experience and skills.
Read more:
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, a first impression that will live long in the hiring manager’s memory.
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 will infer a number of positive traits about your personality.
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.
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Are These Resume Examples Free
All our resume examples are free to use, copy, and paste. You can check as many samples as you need to end up with a perfect resume for yourself. If you’re building your resume inside our online app, you can create as many resumes for free as you want, and pay to download them only when you’re satisfied with the result.
Other Important Resume Sections
The sections weve covered so far are must-haves for any resume. Theyre the bread-and-butter for any job application, and if you get them right, youll land any job you apply to.
The following sections, though, can really give you a boost here and there.
Languages
Are you bi-lingual? Or better, multi-lingual? You should ALWAYS mention that on your resume!
Even if the position doesnt require you to know the specific language, it can still come in handy at some point. At the end of the day, its always better to know more languages than less.
To list languages in your resume, simply write them down and assign them the appropriate level:
As a given, you should never lie about your language skills. You never know, your interviewer might turn out to be fluent in the language, or even be a native speaker!
Hobbies & Interests
Want to add some spice to your resume? The hobbies and interests section, while not a game-changer, can help show who YOU are as an individual. Who knows, maybe you and your interviewee have some hobbies in common?
If you end up with some extra space in your resume, dont hesitate to show off your personality with a hobbies/interests section.
Volunteering Experience
If youre the type of person to use your free time helping others, while expecting nothing in return, chances are that youre the type of employee whos in it for more than just the money. It leaves the impression that youre a devoted, loyal employee.
Certifications & Awards
Publications
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Show A Progression Of Roles And Responsibilities If You Haven’t Been Promoted
If youve held multiple jobs at one employer without a formal promotion, try listing more impressive and in-depth accomplishments for later roles and fewer or simpler accomplishments for earlier ones. If youve only ever held the one position, include accomplishments that speak to career growth, like explicitly mentioning times youve taken on additional responsibilities or been entrusted with higher-level tasks.
Show career growth in the same role by focusing on a progression of duties in your accomplishments
Here are some bullet point examples you can use:
- Oversaw the development of more robust reporting for the customer support team, which improved customer NPS by 15% year over year
- Grew to lead and onboard a team of 4 operations analysts
To ensure your resume’s bullet points are effective, make sure you take advantage of free tools like Score My Resume they’ll scan your resume’s bullet points and tell you if they’re effective from the point of view of hiring managers.
Read more about listing multiple jobs at the same company on your resume.
Let’s Start By Looking At An Example
First, lets take a look at what your resume could look like with only one job on it.
Doesnt look so bad, does it? In fact, at first glance, its hard to even tell that youve only held one job and thats the point. Not to hide the truth, of course, but to show real progression regardless of how many companies youve worked for.
Theres one simple rule when it comes to writing a single-job resume:
Show career progression.
Here are some quick ways to show career progression on a resume:
- Highlight promotions
- Show a progression of roles and responsibilities
- Demonstrate a wide range of skill sets
- Highlighting transferable skills
- Use numbers to show impact
- Get more experience
Id recommend uploading your resume to the tool below itll let you know if your resume shows enough progression, soft and transferable skills and impact.
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Include Your Name And Contact Information
Your resume should begin with your name and contact information, including your email address and phone number. You have a choice about whether or not to include your mailing address. Your name should be highly visible at the top of your resume with a bolded or larger font than the rest of the document, but no more than a 14 point size. You might also include a link to your online portfolio if you are applying to creative positions, for example.
Tips For Writing A Resume That Will Help You Get Hired
Brianna Gilmartin / The Balance
A resume is more than just a list of job roles, qualifications, and skills. Its a sales document, highlighting your achievements in a way that recruiters, hiring managers, and future mentors can appreciate. Its also a tool for getting past the applicant tracking systems, the software programs that 99% of the biggest companies use to evaluate resumes.
Whether youre writing your first resume or polishing your mid-career one, these tips will help you create a document that persuades employers to get to know you better.
Heres how to create a resume that will help you land an interview.
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Can I Use A Resume Example In The Zety Resume Builder
You can use our examples directly in our resume builder by selecting a resume template, and filling in all the required sections in the online app. Our wizard will guide you through all the steps of the resume creation process. Inside the Zety resume app, you will find expert tips and ready-made content tailored to the job title and industry you’ve selected. Once you’re done, you will be able to download your resume in PDF or Word. If you’re in doubt as to which file type to use, read our guide on the PDF VS Word resume format.
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. You can use them to craft your initial thoughts if you feel comfortable with them, but MS Word, Excel and similar programs have a host of potential problems that may hinder you.
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.
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