How To Make A Good Resume

July 2, 2022

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How To Write A Resume With Little Or Irrelevant Experience

How to Write a Good Resume

When it comes down to it, the resume is your greatest marketing toolit highlights your skills and expertise and shows potential employers why youre the best fit for their organization. So, needless to say, writing the perfect resume can be a challenge.

But, what if youre just starting out and have very little experience under your belt? Or, what if youre making a career transition and think you dont have relevant job experience to share? This makes crafting the perfect resume that much more challenging .

But theres no need to panic. Here are five tips to write a powerful resumehow to highlight your best attributes and clinch that prized interview even if you have very little or completely irrelevant job experience.

Use Plenty Of White Space To Draw The Readers Eye To Specific Items

Don’t include so much information that it gets distracting.

“Make it pleasing to the eye, and balanced with bullets, italics and bold font,” Roxanne Peplow, career advisor at Computer Systems Institute, tells us. “Have your name stand out in bigger and bold letters … bullet point your accomplishments. Too many words on a page are exhausting to read.”

What Is The Best Format For A Cv

There are many ways to format your CV and organize your sections. Each format is focused on highlighting specific details about you to make your resume more appealing.

The most popular CV formats are:

Reverse-chronological CV format

So whats the best format for your CV?

The Reverse-Chronological CV Format

The reverse-chronological format focuses on job expertise, so its your best bet if youre applying for a position that requires a lot of experience. Its called reverse-chronological because it highlights your work history starting from your latest job and going backwards.

The Functional CV Format

The functional CV format showcases the most relevant skills and in-demand talents. So that makes it the ideal format for inexperienced job seekers and entry-level candidates who need a chance to prove their worth.

The Combination CV Format

As its name suggests, the combination format is a hybrid of the reverse-chronological and the functional CV format. Its the best fit for candidates looking to make a serious forward step in their careers as it features their vast job experience and top skills.

Tips For Writing A Cv With No Experience

Companies rely on experience as a shortcut to avoid any problems during the hiring process. That’s because experienced applicants often require less training and are more likely to do a better job after successful onboarding.

However:

There is no shortage of qualified job seekers with long years of experience who fail at new jobs. Consequently, headhunters are more open to hiring inexperienced candidates as long as their profile is promising.

So how do you make your CV attractive despite your inexperience?

The following tips work for entry-level applicants and recent graduates. But they’re also good advice for anyone in the middle of a career transition.

You can make up for your lack of experience by emphasising:

Unique soft and core skills
Awards and honours
Successful projects
Extracurricular Activities

Another crucial thing you must do is explain how you might be able to help the hiring company thrive. Draw attention to the overlap between your current experience and how your character traits will allow you to excel at the position.

You may also briefly illustrate your vision for the future in your personal statement. Describe what you wish to achieve and how you can contribute once you’re hired.

Adding Experience To Your Cv: Dos And Donts

How do you make headhunters fall in love with you?

Create a compelling experience section.

Experience is where you spotlight your strongest selling points and help

hiring companies see your true worth. You’ll feature your greatest accomplishments and skills to give recruiters all the answers they’re looking for.

For each job you include, you have to add a:

Professional job title
Employment duration
3 to 5 Bullet points to list your achievements

Usually, this is the section that affects your CV length the most. We’ve already detailed the most popular formats for your CV and explained why keeping it one page long is a must.

Now…

Let’s get to the nitty-gritty of crafting an experience section that makes you the centre of attention.

Here’s how to portray your professional expertise the right way:

Prioritize relevant career accomplishments and results
Include concrete metrics and results to outshine other applicants
Use action verbs and remove all personal pronouns
Research and add keywords from the job offer to improve your keyword score and beat ATS

Have you ever been promoted to a higher position in the past? Be sure to emphasize that here because promotions prove that you had the grit and skills to thrive in the job.

Let’s take a look at some unique CV experience examples:

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Keep Information About Your Education As Short As Possible

Include only relevant education information: the name of your college, your degree, and the year you graduated.

Susan Adams writes in Forbes that experienced workers should include their education at the end of their resumes. If you’re a new graduate, you should consider including a list of course work that’s relevant to the position you’re applying for.

And don’t even think about listing your high school education and activities unless you’re under 20 and “have no education or training beyond high school,” according to Tracy Burns-Martin’s book “Before and After Resumes.”

Only Include Relevant Work Experience

Eve Tahmincioglu at MSNBC writes:

“In this economy, theres a good chance a long-term job seeker has a part-time job under his or her belt just to make ends meet. But that doesnt mean you should include every burger flipping, or retail-selling job youve had. Putting too many of those jobs on your resume, especially if they have nothing to do with the job you want, can hurt your chances of landing a new position.”

Resumes are a summary of the most important data, Debra Feldman, a job search expert, tells Tahmincioglu. In my opinion, a part-time job just to pay the bills would not fall into that category.”

Peplow tells us that even if you have minimal work experience, this doesnt mean that you have nothing to offer. Highlight your transferable skills, which are the ones that you can use from one job to the next regardless of the position.

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What Are The Most Essential Skills To Add To Your Cv

Skills are a vital part of your CV because they help recruiters see your worth clearly. Knowing which talents to feature is one of the best ways to beat ATS and shine over other candidates.

Now:

The most two important types of skills to put on a CV are soft skills and hard skills. You need to include both in your resume to spotlight your vast experience and get hired.

What exactly do we mean by soft and hard skills?

A soft skill is any transferable talent that helps you thrive in the workplace. That includes interpersonal qualities such as leadership, teamwork, and communication as well as any other personality traits.

A hard skill, however, refers to any learned skill or acquired knowledge that is specific to your job. For example, the technical abilities or the business acumen you develop after training can be considered a hard skill.

So how do you actually choose strong skills to put in your CV?

Two things: importance and relevance.

Before you add any skills to this section, you need to make sure that it’s both relevant and important to the recruiter. This will help you avoid focusing on generic skills that everyone is listing in their CVs.

Here’s what you should do:

Go through the job ad again and take a look at the requirements section. Which job duties does the hiring company need help with? What character traits are they looking for in their ideal candidate?

GPA

You may now be wondering:

Where should I place Education on my resume?

Add Your Name And Contact Information

How to Write a Good Resume

The top of your resume should include the following information:

Name
Location
Email Address
LinkedIn profile URL

It might seem obvious, but job seekers sometimes forget a key piece of contact information in this section. Double check and make it as easy as possible for recruiters to contact you for a job interview.

Read Also: How To Insert Resume Lines In Word

Write An Impactful Summary

If youre anything like me, the About page on websites and blogs is one of your favorites. Its great to learn a little bit more about a particular person in their own words. Think of the summary at the top of your resume in the same way: Its your opportunity to step away from short, bulleted fragments and share a little bit about yourself.

Some resume writers disagree, but the standard objective statement is a thing of the past. Instead, begin your resume with a powerful professional summary. This short paragraph introduces you as a candidate and expands on your resumes details in order to show why youre a perfect fit for the open position.

It goes without saying that you should use this section as your opportunity to shine. Instead of simply rewording and reiterating everything already listed on your resume, use this space to expand on all of those skills that make you a fit for the position. The summary is one of the first things a hiring manager will read, so make sure its top-notch and targeted! Injecting a little personality never hurts.

Use Two Font Styles Or Fewer

Ideally, only one font is acceptable, but you can use two font styles to create a complementary resume. Ensure that you use one or two fonts in your resume so that it looks well organized. When you use these font styles uniformly, it can appear more legible, and hiring managers can quickly locate important details.

How Many Pages Should A Resume Be

The short answer is that one page is the ideal resume length for most candidates. However, if you have a lot of relevant work experience, it can be two or even three pages.

Just note that unless youre applying for an upper-management position or an academic post, one page will be enough for hiring managers. Even Elon Musks resume could be tightened into one page.

If youre applying for an academic position, youll need to send a CV instead of a resume. Keep in mind that CV templates are often several pages long, and contain more information to show the progression of your academic career.

Additional Sections For Your Cv: Awards Courses And Certifications

So far:

We’ve covered the fundamental parts you must have in your CV to land the job of your dreams. An HR robot would hire you at a drop of a hat if you use your CV as it is now.

However…

HR specialists are human beings with unpredictable thoughts and desires. You never know what could inspire a recruiter to give you a chance instead of others. That’s why you must go beyond the ordinary and create additional sections that will bring life to your CV.

Before we add more parts that will make your resume shine, you must first understand why you should do that. After all, isn’t a shorter CV better for pleasing recruiters?

Basically:

Additional sections are a brilliant way to build rapport with headhunters before you even meet them. They help you express your personality and show your true self beyond the standard job requirements.

On top of that:

Adding sections like certifications and awards is a sure way of getting yourself shortlisted for an interview. Because these are the details recruiters look for when they can’t decide between the last few finalists.

So what are the best additional CV sections to put in your CV?

Courses

Read Also: Posting My Resume On Indeed

Making Your Content Shine

1Lead with groups of skills for a functional resume. A functional resume puts emphasis on what you can do, rather than on what you’ve done. Brainstorm a list of 4 to 5 categories of skills that you have experience or education in. Then include a brief description of the skill and bullet points with specific examples of when you put that skill to use.XResearch source

For example, if you’re creating a resume for an online writing job, you might include “editing” as one of your skills. One of your bullet points might state the number of articles you’ve edited on wikiHow and any accolades you were given for that work. Even if it’s volunteer work, it’s still experience as an editor.

You can also include relatively soft skills. For example, you might list “team leader” as one of your skills. You could then include bullet points detailing your work in student government, organizing a rally for a nonprofit organization, or working as a camp counselor.

2List work experience, including relevant volunteer work. For a chronological resume, add specific jobs and other work experience in reverse-chronological order, starting with the most recent job you’ve had. Use specific, descriptive job titles that tell potential employers exactly what you did through that experience.XResearch source

Generally, you should include the month and year you started and ended the job in a chronological resume. However, if you worked there for several years, just the years are typically fine.

Use These Resume Tips To Dodge Common Blunders That Can Sabotage Your Job Search

Common resume mistakes are deceptively easy to make.

Youve been applying to jobs like crazy, but it seems as though all of your applications have disappeared into the black hole of the Internet. Wondering why your resume isnt getting you any interviews? Were willing to bet its not because youre unqualified or just not good enough . Its likely because resume mistakes are causing one or more fatal errors.

Job seekers, beware! All it takes is just one to strike your job search dead in its tracks. Definitely something entry-level workers need to be on the lookout for when writing your first resume.

Think your resume is perfect and bulletproof? Even the most experienced professionals still find themselves guilty of making resume mistakes. Plural.

With only a mere six seconds to wow a recruiter, having any kind of mistake on your resume is not a risk even the most daring of job seekers should take. After all, your resume is the first point of contact you make with a potential employer, so you want that first impression to be a strong, clear demonstration of just how awesome you are at what you do. Thats how you get an interviewand then once you rock that, a job.

As you write your resumeor give your resume its six-month updatemake sure it doesnt include any of these common resume mistakes listed below.

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Including A Cover Letter

If youre wondering whether you should add a cover letter or not, heres why you should.

Including a cover letter is the key to making your application seem personalized. Youre speaking directly to the hiring manager. It would showcase your sincere intent to apply and be part of the company.

A cover letter contains what you can offer to the company. It should be written in a business letter format, specifically for the hospital receptionist position youre applying for.

It should begin by stating the intent to apply for the vacant role, how you heard about this vacancy, and your current position. Then, it should be followed by your relevant skills and work history that proves youre qualified for the job. And it should be concluded by stating how they should contact you.

A cover letter is not always necessary. If the job posting doesnt explicitly say whether its required or not, always assume that it is and include it with your resume. On the flip side, if it does say not to submit one, follow the instructions. Sometimes, hiring managers do this to see if job seekers follow the rule.

If youre planning to add one, you can see examples of our cover letter ideas here.

Put A Number To Your Accomplishments

First Resume Tips: How to Make a Resume with No Work Experience | Indeed Career Tips

Your resume is for experience and accomplishments only. It’s not the place for subjective traits, like “great leadership skills” or “creative innovator, says Alison Green in U.S.News & World Report.

You should always try to quantify your accomplishments.

Suzanne Lucas at CBS Moneywatch writes:

“Some departments have 1 person, and some have 350. Quantify yours. “Managed a department of 12 analysts” is a lot stronger than “Managed a department.” Did you have budget responsibilities? “Managed a $2.3 Million budget” is very different from “Managed a $75,000 budget.” How many clients did you juggle? 1, 2, 25? Quantify.”

If you can’t put a number on what you’ve done, try linking the impact of your projects to the company’s “point of sales.”

For example, if you were in charge of creating a marketing campaign on , show that you were able to reach the company’s target market without having to spend the money that is usually spent on advertising.

“Basically, if you can’t prove that you have sales, you can prove that you saved the company money by reducing marketing expenses,” Roderick Lewis, international relations director, ISCTE Business School, University Institute of Lisbon, tells us.

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Write A Matching Cover Letter

Now that you know how to write your dream resume, you might be wondering: is a cover letter necessary? The answer is yes, always include a cover letter if you have the option.

Knowing how to write a good cover letter helps you round out every application you ever send out, and boosts your chances of landing an interview.

Cover letters are a valuable tool in your job-hunting arsenal because they give you an opportunity to provide context to your resume, show off your personality, and express enthusiasm for the job youre applying for.

Heres an example of what a resume paired with a matching cover letter might look like :

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