How To Make Your Resume Stand Out

Tailor Your Resume To The Job You’re Applying For

The truth is, a generic resume that you send to every employer isn’t going to catch the eye of the recruiter who receives it. What they’re really hoping to see is a resume that has been tailored to the job at hand. They want to know that you’ve read their job listing and that you know exactly what they want in a potential employee. And you should tailor your resume to show off the skills and experience they’re looking for.

While it may be time-consuming, it’s worthwhile to make a few tweaks to your resume before sending it off. Review the job listing for the position you’re applying to and figure out what the company is looking for in an employee. Determine what it is they value for members of their team. Make sure your resume shows that you have those skills so they’ll see that you’re a perfect fit. This is a key way to make your resume stand out since many applicants won’t be bothered to do this.

Be Creative But Make It In Keeping With Your Career Field:

To some extent thinking out of the box is very important when it comes to making a resume or applying for any job, yet at the same times you should ensure that you do not let you mind get out of control and come up with outlandish ideas such that your resume seizes to have any of the conventional features of a resume and therefore seizes to qualify as a résumé at all!

So creativity is important however when you are being creative ensure that you are doing so within limits.

Make It Visually Appealing

While recruiters will appreciate a well-designed resume, make sure your creativity is professional. Here are a few things to consider when designing a modern resume:

• Font style: Make sure the font you use is legible. Use a professional font like Georgia, Times New Roman, Calibri or Helvetica.

• Font size: Choosing an appropriately-sized font will ensure a recruiters ability to read the content of your resume. Size 12 font should suffice.

• Template: Keep your designs minimal and aesthetically appealing. If youre using a template, make sure the visual elements dont distract from the content of your resume.

• Color choices: Use an attractive color scheme when designing your resume. Opt for black, white and a third color like blue or green. White is a great background color, black is best for text and your third color can highlight important details on your resume.

If youre applying for a creative job, your resume is the first sample of your design work that recruiters will see. Make sure you display your unique style. Having a clean and legible resume will ensure their ability to read it thoroughly without confusion or distraction.

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Target Your Resume To The Industry And Position You Want

One of the best ways to make your resume immediately stand out to employers is by customizing it for the specific position you want.

Hiring managers write job descriptions with certain skills and experience in mind, and no two job descriptions are exactly alike .

So to make your resume stand out, scan through the job description and look for specific skills or traits that the hiring manager is seeking in new hires. Then, mirror this language in your resumes experience section and skills section to show them that you have all the expertise needed to excel in the job.

While targeting your resume this way for each job you apply to can be time-consuming, its one of the most effective ways to pique the interest of employers and convince them youre worth inviting in for an interview.

Top 8 Effective Tips For How To Make Your Resume Stand Out

In many ways, a resume is the first step toward your future career, as its usually the first thing a hiring manager sees. Its important to make a good impression by presenting a clean and concise resume that details your qualifications for the open role. In this article, we define what a resume is and provide tips for creating one that will leave a lasting impression.

If you’re interested in professional and personalized resume feedback, learn more about Indeed’s free and paid resume review services at indeed.com/resumehelp.

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Fantastic Ways To Make Your Resume Stand Out

The job market is competitive right now — here’s how to maximize your chances of success.

Entrepreneur

Job hunting can be an exciting yet overwhelming experience. I get it no one likes to get the dreaded rejection email, and nothing is more frustrating or discouraging than sending off 20 or more applications and getting zero responses. You may have the exact experience a hiring manager is looking for, but maybe youre just not telling your story right. Or its possible your resume isnt getting past strict algorithms that scan resumes for keywords.

If youre wondering what you can do to set yourself apart from other candidates, youre in the right place. From choosing the right keywords to designing the ideal layout, creating a stellar resume is no easy feat. But youre fully capable of getting the job done no pun intended.

Tips To Make Your Resum Stand Out

Recruiters spend only six seconds reviewing a resumé before deciding whether to contact a candidate. This means your resumés layout is critical, keywords are crucial, and typos are an absolute deal-breaker. If you want your resumé to make its way to the top of the pile, keep this advice top of mind.

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Know What To Leave Off Your Resume

Millions of workers lost their jobs as a result of the pandemic, and many are still trying to find gainful employment today.

The silver lining, Leavy-Detrick says, is that employers have had to relax some outdated hiring practices as a result. Most noteworthy? Job seekers with a large employment gap on their resumeonce seen as a major red flagare getting a pass.

If your job was a casualty of COVID layoffs, its worth showing how youve stayed active and kept your skills fresh in the interim by getting a professional certification, attending virtual webinars, or otherwise.

Be discerning with the rest of the content: Dont add salary requirements, infographics or photographs. You can also leave off your home address, especially if youre applying for a remote role, or are hoping to convince a hiring manager to consider a remote candidate.

Lastly, avoid the temptation to tick off every job youve ever had.

The resume is a high-level snapshot of your skills, experience, and accomplishments, Leavy-Detrick says. If a hiring manager has to scan through a really bulky one, theyre more likely to miss key responsibilities.

Anything beyond that is best left for the cover letter.

Don’t Forget A Cover Letter

When TopResume asked hiring managers if they are more likely to read cover letters now than before the pandemic, 48% said yes.

“It won’t hurt your application if you include it, but you could be hurting your chances of a call back if you don’t,” Augustine said.

Don’t make it generic. Instead customize it by including what you’ve learned about the company and what they are looking for in a candidate for the role you are applying for.

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How To Pick The Right Resume Format

There are three types of resume formats: reverse chronological, functional or skills-based, and a combination of the two. The choice depends on the type of job you are applying for and your level of experience.

The 3 resume formats are:

1) Reverse chronological resume format – This is the most popular resume format and is ideal for people with plenty of work experience that is relevant to the position theyre interested in.

2) Functional/skills-based resume format If you lack relevant work experience because you are a student/recent graduate, or you are looking to make a career change, the skills-based format is a better choice.

3) Combination resume format The combination resume is a great choice for job-seekers with a very diverse skill-set. Its useful if youre applying for a role that requires expertise in 3-4 different fields, and you want to show all that in your resume. Say, for example, youre applying for a senior management role, and the requirements are expertise in Management, Sales, and Software Development.

So, which one do you go for?

In 90%+ cases, youd want to stick to the reverse-chronological resume format. This is the most common one, and most HR managers are used to this. Hence, in this guide, were going to focus on this specific format.

If youre a recent graduate, or possess a diverse set of skills & work experience, you might want to pick one of the other 2 formats. Check out our guide to resume formats to learn how to write either.

Present A Compelling Narrative

Your resume should tell a clear story as to why your experience and skills qualify you for the position you are applying for, Augustine said.

Therefore, TopResume recommends a hybrid-resume format that is not fully chronological. Instead, the top third of the resume should give employers a quick glance at why it makes sense to talk to you, she explained. It should include your contact information, professional title, professional summary and areas of expertise.

Then, dive into your work experience.

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Start Each Bullet Point With A Strong Verb

Most job-seekers talk about their previous jobs using passive language like responsible for or tasked with. These kinds of phrases dont highlight what you achieved at work, and often dont leave employers with a lasting impression of you as a candidate.

To make your resume stand out, start each bullet point in your experience section off with a strong action verb that illustrates something you accomplished.

For example, heres a bullet point that doesnt use action verbs:

Tasked with completing a full update of the website homepage

Now, heres that same bullet point but featuring strong action verbs:

Spearheaded a full update of the website homepage, boosting overall impressions by 35%

Unlike tasked with, spearheaded communicates exactly what the candidate did, and indicates that they succeeded in completing their task.

Including such words in your resume is a great way to make yourself look more proactive, and show employers exactly what youre capable of achieving in a professional environment.

Verbs arent the only way to improve your resume either. You should also include descriptive adjectives in your resume to help catch the attention of employers.

Dont Go Wild With Fonts And Colors

Look, even if youre a creative and want to showcase your talents, your resume really isnt the best place to do so. Your portfolio can be stocked with relevant work, but your resume should still be easy to read and formatted to look both modern and professional.

You can add a border to your resume or use some color in a tasteful way, but sticking to a clean and simple resume ensures it will be legible across all platforms. Readability is huge when it comes to creating an effective resume, so make sure any colors you use are easy on the eyes.

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Fourth Tailor Your Objective Statement To The Company And Position You Are Interested In

Another way you can use your objective statement is by tailoring it specifically to how you and your qualifications can help improve the company to which you are applying. By directly addressing the company, you can make a positive impression on employers and help increase your chances of gaining an interview opportunity.

Example: Determined and hard-working individual with over five years of experience as a marketing professional. Looking to apply knowledge of marketing principles and design programs to the brand efforts of Wilmington PR.

How To Choose The Best Format To Create A Data Scientist Resume

If you are a data scientist looking for a tech job, particularly at a FAANG+ company, you must include relevant information in your resume. A recruiter will be impressed if you include information about your previous projects, team collaborations, difficult tasks, and conceptual knowledge. It is essential that you present this information in an appropriate format that catches the recruiter’s attention. There are three basic formats for data scientist resumes:

• Traditional/Chronological Resume format highlights work experience in a reverse-chronological format, ideal for experience holders.
• Functional Resume Format emphasizes skills, while work experience comes later. It is not usually ATS compatible, and often recruiters don’t find them impressive.
• The Combination Resume format worked well with both freshers and experienced software engineers.

It is essential to choose the right resume format as per your experience level and the industry you are applying to. For example, for an entry-level data scientist resume, a combination resume format highlights the key skills and experiences. On the contrary, for an experienced data scientist’s resume, the chronological format is a better choice.

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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
• Honors. E.g.: Cum Laude, Magna Cum Laude, Summa Cum Laude.
• Academic achievements. Any interesting papers youve written, courses youve excelled in, etc.
• Minor. Minor in Psychology

Here’s an example:

Tips on perfecting your education section:

• 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 .

Make Your Resume Keyword

Recruiters and company resume databases search for resumes using keywords. Think of it as similar to the way youd search for a restaurant on Google you enter your key criteria for a place to eat, right? If your resume doesnt have those keywords embedded, it wont be included in the results. Its crucial to identify the right terminology in the industry youre applying for. Take time to research the company, look at the job requirements, and highlight all the keywords and key phrases. Dont get too crazy with the keywords, though. Just put enough to help employers find you faster. Remember this equation: Excellent Resume + Keywords = Job Opportunities.

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Include A Cover Letter

If you are worried about showing too much personality in a resume, including a cover letter can be a great way to show who you are, without taking away from the professional work experience and valuable skills in your resume. It is also nice to address some of the reasons why you think you would be great for the job and why you want to work with the person or company in question. But, like your resume, keep it short, sharp and to the point!

Make The Most Of Keywords

OK, so were not saying you should include one in every sentence but we are saying that you should bear them in mind while writing your CV.

This is because many employers use keywords to search for candidates, often basing them around the job title theyre hiring for, along with the requirements and duties involved with it. And if the recruiter uses an ATS, utilising keywords is even more important.

So to ensure youre ticking all the boxes, always check the job description and company website for specific words and phrases the employer might be looking for.

This could range from making the most of synonyms so you can cover a range of different job titles , to being industry specific with your terminology and expanding on any qualifications you may have.

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Your Online Profile May Matter Most

If you play your cards right, recruiters will come to you. To make that happen, almost more important than a resume is a solid LinkedIn or online profile. Be sure your profile tell a story about what youve done in your career, why youve done it, and the results you achieved. Use clear and simple language, and carefully sprinkle in keywords that are important for the role you desire and field youre pursuing.

Tailor The Resume To Target Roles

You must align your resume to each of the roles that you apply for.

The sharper the resumes alignment, the more it will stand out to recruiters and hiring managers.

First, align the Title and Key Skills section of your resume. Applying for a role as an Operations Manager? Make sure that the title of your resume is, indeed, Operations Manager.

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Shows The Benefits You Provide To Employers

It’s important for a resume to communicate to employers what you can offer to the business. For example, if you’re leaving a sales position, rather than just stating that you’re a “top performer,” state that you “achieved $300,000 in new media sales in 6 months.” This enables companies to quantify the value you can contribute to their organization. Try to include three or four measurable accomplishments for each relevant experience on your resume.

Create A Cover Letter That Tells Your Story

While your resume should convey your professional story in the most concise and effective way, your cover letter can really show the hiring manager your professional experiences, accomplishments and how youve grown over the years.

The top three things that must be included in a cover letter are how your work experience meets job requirements, how your skills meet job requirements and the reasons why you want to work at the organization.

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Your cover letter needs to show the reader that you are just the right person for the job. You dont need to include any hobbies just stick to showcasing your skillset and how its relevant to the job.

Keep in mind that hiring managers often see the same phrases and claims over and over again. You can consider using a template and refer to Glassdoors blog on writing a solid cover letter to make sure your cover letter doesnt sound like everyone elses.

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