Mirror The Job Description
Spend 15-20 minutes reviewing the description of the job you’re applying for and make sure you include at least five keywords or specific functions of the job included in the posting.
“You want to create a customized version of your resume that mirrors the job description so that the person reading your resume thinks, ‘Oh my God how could we not interview this person?'” Hyman explains.
For example: One of the most common job functions of a sales manager is to design a compensation plan for sales representatives, so if you’re applying for a sales manager job, Hyman says you’ll want to point out in your resume that you have successfully designed a compensation program and implemented it with a team.
If there’s no job description, read the LinkedIn profiles of people in the same, or similar, roles at the company, or postings for the same job title.
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:
Emphasize Managerial Responsibilities In Your Resume Bullet Points
If you want to call attention to something specific on your resume, you need to make sure a hiring manager isnt just going to skim past it. That means prioritizing your most relevant achievements and highlighting accomplishments in easy-to-read bullet points.
Your bullet points should always follow the structure of action verb + what you did + what the result was. Here’s an example:
- Managed mixed teams of independent contractors and full-time employees dedicated to SEO marketing, data management, and content strategy improved employee retention by 87%.
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Explain A Layoff In Your Cover Letter
If your termination was due to a layoff rather than a performance-related issue, consider mentioning it in your cover letter. You can write something like this:
As you may have read, announced a round of layoffs, and my position was eliminated. My performance has consistently been rated as outstanding, and I am looking forward to repeating my record of success for my next employer…
The Details About This Resume Sample
Betsy had never been fired before and, at first, was in a state of shock with her pride badly wounded.
Then, she realized she could turn her job termination into an opportunity to show potential employers just how much of an impact she could make as a Sales/Account Manager in a new organization.
In this sample resume, youll see how Betsy handled the youre fired issue and also highlighted her best achievements so that employers wouldnt focus on the fact that she was unemployed.
Instead, they could focus on the fact that she had achieved amazing things in her career.
Betsy got fired because she didnt see eye-to-eye with executive management, and they were looking to downsize to compensate for declining sales. There were a few new management policies she didnt feel right about, and she expressed her concerns at a team meeting.
Unfortunately, her opinion was not well received, and she got into a heated debate with the owners son. A few weeks later, Betsy got her pink slip.
After taking a few days off, Betsy did some self-assessment and found that she had a ton of marketable skills and achievements that would be well-received in the pharmaceutical sales industry.
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Tips On Word Choice In Resumes
Be specific. You do not want to appear vague in your resume. Hiring managers are tired of hearing clichéd words like team player and hard worker. Avoid these phrases at all cost. Include words and phrases that explain specifically what you accomplished in your previous jobs.
Use action words. Hiring managers also like to see action words in resumes because they demonstrate that you took a leadership role that produced results.
Include power words. Along with action words, other power words include popular skills, words specific to your industry, and keywords from both the job listing and the company website. Use these to make your resume stand out as the hiring manager skims through it.
Use values. Also, when possible, use numbers to demonstrate how your efforts benefited your employers. For example, instead of simply saying you added value to Best Practices PR by saving money, you should say that you administered a public relations budget of $500,000 and, by developing and implementing an innovative and efficient cost-saving marketing program, saved Best Practices PR over $10,000 a year for a period of three years.”
Focus on the job. By focusing on the skills, results, and accomplishments most aligned to the job you’re applying for, you’ll have a much better chance of getting called in for an interview. Again, using keywords from the job listing will help align your resume with the job. This, coupled with word choice, will get you closer to your next job.
Highlight Your Relevant Work Experience
Your work experience section is the most essential part of your resume because its the best representation of your qualifications.
If you lack formal work experience, however, dont worry. Simply title this section Relevant Experience and use it to highlight details about your volunteer work, extracurriculars, or relevant school coursework.
To create a logical and informative work experience section, list your relevant experience from most recent to least recent . For each job, list the following information:
- Your title
- Company location
- Dates of employment
If youre still currently working at a company, you can simply write , present for the employment dates.
A general rule is that each job title includes about 35 bullet points of your main duties and achievements working in that role.
3 parts of a strong bullet point:
- 1st: Action verb
- 2nd: Quantifiable point
- 3rd: Specific and relevant job duty
Example 1:
Trained5+ cashiers, managing their cash limits and guaranteeing quality customer service at all times.
Example 2:
Spearheadedthe development of the first media kit amalgamation for all company projects, increasing national sales by 8%.
One reason the above bullet points are effective is that they use action verbs to grab the attention of hiring managers. Describing your experience using strong action verbs helps illustrate to employers what youve accomplished and what kind of skills you have.
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Phrases You Should Ban From Your Resume
Whether out of a job as the result of a layoff or just wanting to make a change, everyone is taking a closer look at their resume. Does it reflect your accomplishments and show your career progressionor hide the lack thereof? If you’ve been working with an older resume, take a closer look at your language: how many clichés do you have in there?
Here are 10 phrases you should ban from your resume, and new, fresh ways to showcase your skills to put your resume at the top of the applicant pile.
How To Get Someone To Read Your Resume
Do you get the feeling that no one is reading your resume? Me, too. As Military.com’s transition master coach, I see how veterans and spouses often have a major misconception when it comes to resumes. We all think that recruiters and interviewers and hiring managers actually read our resumes.
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Does Being Fired Affect My Chances Of Getting A New Job
Having been sacked doesnt have to be a deal-breaker. Plenty of studies have shown that nowadays, organizations are much more understanding when it comes to career changes and gaps as well as dismissals.
Thats because the landscape has changed dramatically: its now known by all HR professionals that employees switch jobs every 3-4 years on average. Moreover, recruiters are well aware that having been let go doesnt necessarily make you a bad employee or underachiever. There may be many more elements at play.
The fact that your last employment was not a good fit for you isnt in itself an issue. What really matters is how you deal with it and present it.
Write A Winning Resume Introduction
Placed at the top of your resume, a well-written resume introduction briefly introduces your key qualifications and skills, and convinces employers to continue reading your application.
There are many different types of resume introductions used by job seekers today, including the:
However, the two most commonly used introduction styles are the resume objective and the resume summary.
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Add Detail When Necessary
No matter what resume type you choose, it is necessary to add additional detail to your skills list. Namely, include your level of expertise and engagement with each skill and rank skills in terms of how well you perform them. Common resume convention suggests you rank skills as either expert, moderate or average, and you can do this by writing ranking next to the skill or using icons, like stars, and a key.
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+ Resume Action Verbs In 15 Work Situations
While the English language can be wonderfully rich, the same 20-25 action verbs dominate 95% of job search applications. I wont list them here. You know the usual suspects.
So, here we offer fifteen common categories of resume actions and achievements that job seekers write about, with 20 words and an example per category. We hope they are useful.
For ease of navigation, here are the 15 category links:
- Leadership action verbs
- Project management verbs for resume
- People management action verbs
Use unique action words in the work experience section
The work experiencesection of your resume is the first place that a hiring manager would expect to read about accomplishments. Whether there are bullet points or full sentences, using thoughtful action words will add a different dimension to how your achievements come across. They dont all have to be world-beaters, as that might seem a little false, but make sure that you sprinkle in enough to stand out from the crowd.
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Second Take Classes Or Get Coaching To Refine Your Skills
You can undergo coaching in a variety of ways, from attending classes in a school to enrolling in online courses. During your classes, you should pay attention to your teachers instructions and take proper notes. Then, relate what you have learned to real-life situations. Review the lessons and practice every day.
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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Questions To Ask Before Writing Your Resume
- What is your purpose in writing a resume? Are you changing jobs in the same career area or are you changing careers? It will make a difference in how you organize your resume.
- What type of job are you seeking? It can help to have a specific objective or use the position to craft a targeted resume.
- What type of person and experience are required for the job? You can find this information through research, informational interviewing and networking.
- What skills and abilities do you have to offer an employer and what ones will you stress? Focus on those that support the experience and qualities they are seeking that is specific to the position.
Emphasize Leadership And Management Skills
One of the hardest qualities to recruit for is people who can lead and inspire others but it’s often the most valuable trait a job candidate can bring to the table, Hyman says.
“All hiring managers would love to find someone who can grow from an individual contributor into a leader/manager/boss,” he adds. “Any experience that you’ve had around leadership, people development, hiring or mentoring people is one of the most important things that recruiters and executives want to see in a resume.”
Think about times where you’ve helped recruit talent, trained new hires, led a team on a project or spoke during an onboarding session for new employees, to name a few examples, and note them in your resume.
“While hiring managers are interested in recruiting people, they’re even more interested in, and excited about, filling their pipeline with talent that will benefit the company’s future,” Hyman says.
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Customer Service And Hiring Manager
Managed 30 Customer Service Representatives with weekly one on ones, and daily check in and out procedures. Presided over daily routes, reroutes, and delivery schedules. Follow up call to customers who were serviced and customers who were not serviced. Reported daily and weekly location’s numbers and worked closely with Operations, Sales, and General Managers.
- Scheduled over 400 customers’ shredding services in Maryland, Northern Virginia, and the Washington, DC regions.
- Trained employees on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration , Equal Employment Opportunity Commission , and the National Association for Information Destruction procedures.
- Interviewed and effectively participated in the hiring and termination of employees.
- Performed monthly and annual Customer Service Representatives’ performance reviews.
Resume Examples & Samples
- Audit agencies regularly on quality of assessment and recruitment processes. Increase audits as appropriate
- The ability to produce detailed reports from large amounts of data relating to order fulfilment, attrition and people issues which would have a direct effect on future orders for the suppliers concerned
- Good IT literacy, particularly MS Excel
- Ensure agencies are compliant with EU directives in relation to Agency Workers
- Bachelor or equivalent degree
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Tips To List Hard Skills On A Resume
If you have the necessary hard skills for your desired job, you should properly list them on your resume to make a good first impression on your potential employer.
The following are useful tips for listing your hard skills on your resume:
- Look at the job description section. Find out which hard skills you should include in your resume. The company will list the required academic qualifications, certificates and technical skills in this section.
- Attach your certificates with your job application. These documents are proof you possess the hard skills you are mentioning.
- Place your most relevant skills at the top of your resume. For example, if you are applying for a highly technical job, such as computer programming or engineering, place your most relevant skills at the top.
- Highlight your hard skills in the work experience section of your resume. This will let your potential employer know how you applied them to produce positive results for your previous employers.
- Mention your hard skills several times. You can include your hard skills in the summary as well as the work experience section of your resume. Many recruiters use Applicant Tracking Software to determine which job candidates have the required hard skills for the job. This software regards hard skills as keywords and ranks applicants according to the number of keywords in their resumes.
The Function Of A Resume
Clear: Whoever reads your resume should have a clear understanding of who you are, what skills you possess, your accomplishments and the career path you have chosen up to this point.
Concise: There should be a reason why every word is on your resume. Are there redundant phrases? Review your resume and determine if all the content is indeed making you a stronger candidate.
Consistent: If your resume is in a consistent format, your readers will be focusing on what you have written, not how you have written it. Is your resume visually easy on the eyes? Make sure that you have ample white space on your resume the resume should be inviting to read.
Make it easy to find out what you are good at: For most people, this is the most challenging part of your resume. If you dont market yourself on your resume, the reader wont be able to read between the lines. Focus on your achievements, strengths and skills. The more you work on your resume, the more that you will learn and understand about your own strengths and skills. You will be more comfortable articulating those skills and experiences in an interview situation.
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Lead Veterinary Technician Training And Hiring Manager
Managed seven clinics employing ten veterinarians, twenty-five technicians, and six call center receptionists.
- Traveled to all locations, identifying problems and implementing changes in an effort to provide an excellent standard of care.
- Refocused company standards to emphasize exceptional customer service at all times.
- Attended veterinary technician and management courses at the North American Veterinary Conference in 2013 and the American Animal Hospital Association conference in 2012.
- Opened an online store through Vets First Choice where approximately 60,000 established clients could order prescription items.
- Established an online appointment request system for new and existing clients.
- Proficient in all areas of the hospital.