How To Write A Simple Resume

List Your Experiences Or Skills

For Chronological/Combination Résumés, List Your Experiences

Starting with your most recent or current job, list your previous work experiences.

• This section shows where you have worked and when. It also states specific accomplishments for each position or job.
• This is where content can make your résumé run over a page, so be selective about what you include.
• Pick experiences that seem most relevant to the position you seek. For inspiration, think of your full-time or part-time work, summer jobs, occasional jobs, internships, fieldwork and special projects.
• Don’t worry whether your experiences are “good enough.” Employers admire people who have worked hard in a variety of positions.
• Always start each achievement with an accomplishment verb, like accelerated, achieved, expanded, influenced, solved, maintained, generated, effected, advised, controlled, trained or utilized.
• Don’t worry if there are gaps in the timeline, but keep everything in chronological order, with most recent jobs at the top.

Examples:

Southwestern Writing Center, Peer Writing Tutor, Yuma, AZ

Camp Granite Falls, Area Director, Mountainville, TNJune 2013September 2017- Directed staff of four while supervising 20 campers.- Taught crafts, sports and cooking.

For Functional/Combination Résumés, List Your Skills

Examples:

Self-Motivated: Proactively organized volunteers to assist with distribution at the community food bank.

Slip Past The Software Bots

Some tips get you further than others. Resumes these days are often read by a machine before a human sees them. These quick and easy-to-do tips can help get your resume past the screening systems. A few simple tweaks can make the difference between getting deleted or getting read.

Research websites in your industry, they will most likely be optimized for software crawling. Recent example resumes of upper-management will have been optimized as well, and are a good resource overall on which to model your own resume.

What Is The Best Resume Layout

The first thing a job recruiter notices about any resume is the layout.

Does it look organized or cluttered? Is it too short or too long? Is it boring and easy to ignore, or does it scream out Read me!?

Here are some of the best practices when it comes to your resume layout:

Resume Layout Must-Haves

1. One page in length. You should only go for 2 pages if you really, really believe that itll add significant value. HR managers in big firms get around 1,000+ resumes per month. Theyre not going to spend their valuable time reading your life story!

2. Clear section headings. Pick a heading and use it for all the section headers.

3. Ample white-space, especially around the margins.

4. Easy-to-read font. Wed recommend sticking to what stands out, but not too much. Do: Ubuntu, Roboto, Overpass, etc. Dont : Comic Sans

5. Pick the right font size. As a rule of thumb, go for 11 – 12 pt for normal text, and 14 – 16 pt for section titles.

6. As a rule of thumb, save your resume as PDF. Word is a popular alternative, but it has a good chance of messing up your resume formatting.

One more thing you need to consider in terms of resume layout is whether youre going for a traditional-looking free resume template or something a bit more modern:

If youre pursuing a career in a more traditional industry – legal, banking, finance, etc. – you might want to stick to the first.

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Whys It Called Milano

Milano is how Italians refer to their beloved 2nd largest city, Milan. Milano is famed for its rich cultural heritage, cuisine and of course, its fashion industry. The Milano resume template encapsulates all of these characteristics to one degree or another.

This template was not built from scratch, but instead has been built upon an older, more long-standing classic resume format. Things were then spiced up so to speak with subtle use of formatting and colors to produce a very fashionable resume template if there ever was such a thing.

Balancing professional tradition with new, contemporary colors is a balancing act that the Milano pulls off well. Similar to how a cup of coffee with just the right amount of cream is not too rich but not to bitter is perfectly balances, so is this resume template.

Who Should Download It

Those of you who would prefer a resume thats less blocky, solid, and rigidly organized should download this template.

Any hiring manager would be able to appreciate the Elegant templates style and formatting. Its easy to read, clear, and makes great use of white space.

If youre applying for more formal positions, in fields such as accounting or logistics, you may want to consider a more tightly organized resume template like the White House.

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Resume Summary Or Objective

Its not a secret for anyone that first impressions matter, whether theyre in your personal life, or your career.

If you leave a bad first impression, chances are, its there to stay. After all, its very hard to change someones opinion of you.

The same applies to your job search – the HR manager spends around 6 seconds scanning each resume. Yep, your carefully-worded, hand-crafted resume only gets 6 seconds of attention. Unless, of course, you manage to leave an amazing first impression.

The way you accomplish this is through either a good resume summary or objective. Both are placed at the top of your resume, right around the contact information section:

So, heres what you need to know about the two:

What Is A Resume

You should also familiarize yourself with the difference between a resume and a cover letter:

• A resume is typically sent with a cover letter, which is a document that provides additional information on your skills and experience in letter form.
• A resume is a concise, often bulleted summary, while a cover letter highlights and expands on certain traits or accomplishments that would be unique or ideal assets for the particular job.

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Design Your Objective Around Each Job Description

A strong objective reflects the content of the advertised position. For each role you apply for, it’s usually important to pay attention to the qualifications, personal qualities and professional skills described in the job listing. If any match your strengths and experiences, you can mention them to present yourself as the strongest candidate for the role. It often helps to identify how your skills and expertise can add value to the specific company or organisation. For example, you may write, looking to apply my skills in formwork labouring to help construct quality large-scale buildings.

Important Parts Of A Simple Resume Format

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Whys It Called The Chicago

Chicago is well known among architecture nerds for its interesting Prairie School style of architecture, which uses a lot of horizontal lines to better integrate its and mesh its buildings with the flat mid-western landscape.

Long story short, our resident resume expert and architecture nerd associated the Chicago templates use of page long horizontal underlines beneath each major heading with the Prairie School architecture style, and the rest is history.

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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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.

Why Do You Need A Good Resume

Your resume is a way for you to market yourself and promote your career experience. Creating a resume lets hiring managers see how you’ll bring value to their company.

It’s important to know that your resume doesn’t need to present all there is to know about you. It should summarize the most important aspects of your professional experience. As well as your education, interests and activities – when applicable. We recommend you tailor your resume to the position you’re seeking. This means highlighting specific accomplishments and skills to the job you’re applying for.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the following sections to help you craft the perfect resume:

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Choose The Best Resume Format

The resume format refers to the design and layout you use for your resume , and the order in which you present information to potential employers.

As a general principle, you should use easy-to-read fonts such as Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman and Calibri, and avoid any convoluted or cursive font that may be confusing.

Here are some resume formatting tips to keep in mind:

• Keep your font size between 10 to 12 points
• Use page margins between 1 to 1.5
• Stick to single or 1.5 line spacing
• Use bold or slightly larger font in headers
• Use bullet points when listing relevant information skills, achievements, etc.

Types of resume format

When it comes to resume structure, there are three standard formats you can use depending on your situation: chronological, functional or a combination resume.

Many sites and resume builders online offer free resume templates you can download and customize, but its important to know which format would fit your work experience and academic credentials best.

Chronological resume

A chronological resume is a great choice if you have a long employment history. This format lists job experience first, in reverse chronological order that is, the most recent position followed by previous jobs.

Chronological resumes help highlight career growth and experience. However, it may also show gaps in employment or frequent job changes more prominently. If thats your case, a hybrid resume format might work better.

• Name and contact information
• Education

How To Write A Construction Worker Resume Objective

Including a resume objective can be an effective way to show potential employers why you’re a suitable candidate for the position. When starting your career as a construction worker, you may seek to impress recruiters with a well-written application. Learning more about resume objectives may help you create an effective one, which can show hiring teams that you have the skills and experience to benefit their company. In this article, we describe what a construction worker resume objective is, provide you with steps to write one and share some examples to serve as a guide.

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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.

Arrange Your Contact Information

Now that you know the format youre going to use, its time to start your resume. First things first, employers need to know who you are and how to contact you.

List the following contact details in your resume header at the top of the page:

• Name
• Telephone number
• Email address
• Link to online portfolio
• LinkedIn profile

Traditionally, you would also include your mailing address on your resume. However, this is no longer mandatory because most job applications are sent via email.

Here are two examples of how you can format your contact information section:

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Mention One Specific Achievement

If one or more of your highlights is a quantified achievement from your work history, you can repeat it in your summary to make the description that much more compelling and specific to you. Say one of your chosen highlights is Surpassed quota by 10% in 2013, 18% in 2014, 20% in 2015, and 22% in 2016 and 2017. Consider adapting it to your summary with a slightly less detailed phrase, like Achievements include surpassing quota by 18%+ on average for five consecutive years.

Putting together the steps so far, we have the basis for a strong summary already:

Resourceful Sales Professional with 10+ years of experience. Collaborate with clients to find win-win product solutions, driving consistent revenue and profit growth. Achievements include surpassing quota by 18%+ on average for 5 consecutive years.

Mention Your Education Qualifications

Start the education section with your highest and most recent degree. Then, you can include other credentials in reverse-chronological order. You might choose to omit your high school diploma if you have a college or university degree. You can write your education section after the resume summary or objective if you lack job experience. If your GPA is 3.7 or higher, you can also list this detail to show your academic abilities.

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Understand The Basic Principles Of Resume Writing

A resume is a summary of your professional experience that describes your achievements, skills and qualifications. Its purpose is to showcase your strengths, create a good first impression and convince hiring managers to offer you an interview.

However, really noteworthy resumes are much more than just a list of your previous jobs and where you went to school. A great resume should be carefully tailored to the employer youre applying to, including the skills and information that are most relevant to them.

To do that, its important to understand the three most important principles of resume writing.

Research the company and its culture

Researching the company you’re applying to gives you useful information about its culture, values, goals, positioning in the industry and even new workplace trends that might impact their operations. This will, in turn, help you determine which achievements and skills to showcase in your resume.

You can start by carefully reading the companys website and any recent press releases they have posted. You can also check out both the companys and some of its employees LinkedIn pages to get an idea of what they generally look for and what they might need.

You can also check out some of the best job search sites, like Glassdoor, Indeed and ZipRecruiter, which sometimes include reviews of former employees experience with the company.

Tailor your resume

Keep it simple

Why Its Called The Empire State

The Empire State building and its namesake resume template both use a spire concept, which adds style and attracts attention. The spires on this simple resume template naturally bring the reader to the different sections of the resume, and pull the hiring manager deeper into the content of your application.

The compact bullet points and headers create additional depth, and make the template further resemble the 103-floor building.

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