How To Write A Killer Resume Objective
Resumes.
We all know what they are.We all know how important having a good one isand how much a bad one can hurt your ability to get your dream job.
We also know we arent the only ones out there turning in well crafted, carefully targeted resumes to hiring managers
Unfortunately for you, for every available job out there in the real world, there are hundreds, if not thousands of very qualified people applyingand odds are, there are more than a few really knock-dead resumes in that pile.
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Of course, there are also a mountain of bad ones that wont even make the first cut. But of those that dohow do you make sure yours stands out?
You could always go for the Elle Woods approach. Remember in the movie Legally Blonde when our spunky and upbeat heroine hands her resume off to her professor in the hopes of securing that killer summer internship?
Professor Callahan: Its pink
Elle: Oh! And its scented! I think it gives it a little something extradont you think?
We have to admit, that is one way to make an impression with a hiring managerhowever, outside Hollywood fantasies where the hero always gets their way , odds are your pink scented resume is going to end up either in the trash or on the bulletin board Wall of Shame as an example of what NOT to send in to a hiring manager.
And I promise you, no pink paper.
Take Stock Of Your Achievements And Activities
Make a list of absolutely everything you’ve done that might be useful on a resume. From this list, you’ll then need to narrow down what to actually include on your resume. Different things might be relevant to different jobs you apply for, so keep a full list and pick the most relevant things from it to include on your resume when you send it out.
Polish Up Your Grammar And Formatting
Resume writing is a unique style. It can be tricky to remember which tense to use or when to omit pronouns. How can you use language to tell a more compelling story? Which fonts and formats are ATS-friendly? Lets take a look.
Resume Fonts
Its important to use a font that is easy to read on screen, ATS-compatible, and commonly available. A few traditional resume fonts to consider include Helvetica, Garamond, or Georgia. Avoid using script fonts or custom fonts unless you are a designer. Dont use a font size below 10.
Tense and Pronouns
Use past tense when talking about jobs in the past, and present tense when describing the work you are currently doing. Traditional resume writing leaves out personal pronouns and gets right to the action. Ex. Spearheaded a new email marketing initiative that increased revenue by 10 percent.
Resume Action Words
Action verbs help liven up your writing, making your resume more readable for recruiters and hiring managers. Consider beginning each bullet point on your resume with an action verb and replacing generic verbs like managed or led with more engaging words like mentored or accelerated.
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What Are The Most Popular Resume Formats
The three most common resume formats are chronological, functional and combination. When deciding which resume format you should use, consider your professional history and the role youre applying for. For example, if you have limited work experience, you might instead focus on academic work, volunteer positions or apprenticeships with a functional resume instead of a chronological resume, which prioritizes job history.In the next sections, well explore each resume format type in detail, including which is best based on common job search situations.
Start With A Resume Summary
While researching how to write a resume, you probably read about the benefits of including a resume summary.
Your resume summary is an introduction to employers that highlights your qualifications and relevant background for a specific job. Thankfully, even without experience, you can still write one.
If you picked up relevant skills during school or studied something related to the job, for instance, you can include it in your summary. Heres an example of a computer science majors resume summary note how they only include skills honed in school, and dont mention work experience:
Resume Summary Example
Computer Science major seeking to leverage my experience in robotics, Javascript, C+, and C into a role as an Engineering Intern at Popov Technology. A highly motivated worker who is passionate about the future of computer technology and engineering.
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What Is A Resume
A resume is a summary of your career, whether yours is just getting started or has been going on for years. Coming in at around one page in length , it showcases the jobs youve held and currently hold, the responsibilities youve taken on, the skills youve developed, and the qualities you bring to the table as an employee. Together, those things make it super easy for any hiring manager to see your qualifications and fit for a role.
For all the work you may put into writing one, hiring managers actually spend very little timemere seconds in many caseslooking at your resume. But despite this sad fact, its safe to say that creating a great resume still matters.
If you miss the mark, your resume may never be read. Even worse, you might be removed from the applicant pool by a computer before a human even knows you exist, says Muse career coach Heather Yurovsky, founder of Shatter & Shine. So you want to get it right because, as she explains, isnt the goal to spend less time looking for a job and more time in a role you love?
And although LinkedIn has plenty of benefits, a resume has one clear advantage: While your LinkedIn is usually a broader picture of your career trajectory, your resume gives you the opportunity to tailor your career story to a specific role or company .
Oh, and youve probably heard of something called a CV? Its slightly different from a resume, and usually more common with academics and job seekers outside the U.S.
Project Management Executive Professional Summary Example:
15+ years of initiating and delivering sustained results and effective change for Fortune 500 firms across a wide range of industries including enterprise software, digital marketing, advertising technology, e-commerce and government. Major experience lies in strategizing and leading cross-functional teams to bring about fundamental change and improvement in strategy, process, and profitability both as a leader and expert consultant.
Why this resume summary is good:
Project Manager is one of those job titles thats REALLY broad. You can find project managers earning $50K, and others earning $250K. The client I wrote this for was at the Director level, and had worked for some of the biggest and best tech companies in her city. So this resume profile section shows her level and experience, and the wide array of areas she has responsibility for in her current work. You can borrow or use some of the phrasing here to show that youve been responsible for many important areas in your past work.
By: Biron Clark, Founder;of;CareerSidekick.com.
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Talk To Professionals In The Field
If youre having a difficult time determining what skills an employer may want to see, consider contacting a professional already working in the industry or position similar to the one youre applying for. Find out what skills they consider most important, and identify which align with your own.
When creating a list of skills for your resume, only include those you know to be your strengths. If theres something youre still learning, dont feel pressured to include it because it appears in the job posting. If the employer mentions a skill you didnt include during the interview process, you can discuss how youre working to learn or improve for the role.
Top It Off With Some Skills And Interests
The skills section of a resume gets a bad rap, but its just as important as the rest of the stuff you include. Its a quick list a recruiter can scan to see if your skill set aligns with what theyre hiring for. And its super ATS-friendly because it allows you to add in keywords the machine is scanning for.
Usually this section goes at the bottom of your resume, but in special casessuch as a skills-based resume or when someones switching fieldsyou may place it further up.
What exactly do you throw in here? Youll want to list any hard skills and applications youre familiar with , and, if relevant, your level of expertise. Avoid including soft skills here, like time management or public speakingsave those for your bullet points instead.
Be strategic when filling in your skills. Dont list things you actually couldnt do at a high competence level , and maybe nix skills that are completely irrelevant to the job you want. For example, you may not even need to include Excel if youre applying for say, a design position, unless its listed as a job requirement.
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Writing The Work Experience Section
Writing the resume work experience section is one of the most influential and often trickiest resume sections to get right.
The work experience/job history on a resume is where past job descriptions and professional experiences give credibility to an application or interview. All the other information and sections on a resume, from hobbiesto the personal statement, frame the list of relevant work experience over the last 10 – 15 years. So, how do I describe my work experience on a resume?
This guide will show you everything you need to know about including work experience on a resume, including:
- How to list your current job and previous positions
The five-word rule. Think about five words that would be sum up your career. How would you describe your experience? Those five words should then come across incredibly strongly in the work experience on a resume. A hiring manager is not going to remember the sentences that you write, but if they stop reading with those five words in their minds, your resume will have done its job.
Tips For Writing An Effective Resume For A Manager
Explore different resume formats and templates. When it comes to formatting resumes, one size does not fit all. The format that will be most effective for you depends upon your level of management experience, your work history, and your industry .
Here are the most common resume formats, along with templates you can download to create your own resume.
- Combination Resume;- A mix of a chronological and functional resume.;
- Chronological Resume;- This type of resume lists experience in order from most recent to oldest.;
- Functional Resume;- In this resume variant, the focus is on relevant skills and experience, rather than a chronological listing of positions held.;
- Targeted Resume;- The focus here is on matching your skills and experience to the job listing.;
- Resume with Accomplishments Section;- Think of this section as a place to show off your greatest hits in the workplace.;
- Resume with Skills Section;- You can include both;hard;and;soft skills;in this section.;
- Resume with Summary of Qualifications;- Use this section to give potential employers an at-a-glance view into why you are a strong, qualified applicant.;
Proofread your resume carefully. Resumes that are carelessly written, with spelling and grammatical errors, suggest to employers that your work might be sloppy as well. Take the time to edit and correct your resume and cover letter, following these proofreading steps.
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Understand Your Customer Needs
Explanations:;
Your main goal is not to praise yourself, but to understand the needs of your potential clients and offer them a perfect solution.
The customer must find answers to his questions like the following:
- What is your business and why can I trust you?
- How can you help me to solve my problem?
- What successful experience have you had?
- How will I get the result? Will I get a guarantee?
The Unorthodox Route: A Functional Or Skills
Rather than listing out your experience in reverse chronological order, a functional or skills-based resume has bullet points that reflect how each of your skills is demonstrated by the work youve done over the course of your career. At the bottom, youll include everything else, such as your education, job history, professional achievements, community involvement, and other technical skills. This is a good option if you have a somewhat all-over-the-place work history and want to tie everything together neatly.
Who its good for: Career changers whose work experiences may not appear to be relevant and people with an abundance of temporary jobs or gaps in their work histories.
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What To Include In Your Customer Service Resume
Include the right information. The most important elements to include in your resume are your contact information, education, and experience. Another optional way to highlight your customer service abilities is to list them in a skills section.
Include optional sections, if you wish. These include a resume objective or resume profile. Use the objective or profile to specify what role you are looking for, along with the talents and abilities you’d bring to the position.
Emphasize your experience. You should be sure to list any previous customer service positions you’ve held.
Use the appropriate keywords. In addition to highlighting strong soft skills, you may also want to include customer service keywords throughout your resume.
Make a match. Match your qualifications to the job listing to be sure your resume accurately reflects your ability to do this particular job.
How Long Should My Profile Statement Be
There are no set rules about the length of a personal profile, however, it is highly recommended to keep it ideally within the 50/80-words boundary . The reason for this is because employers, in the first instance, tend to scan CVs rather than extensively read it. Keeping it short and to the point increases the chances that they will actually read it.
Furthermore, as the total length of a CV is only 2 A4 pages long, having a short statement frees us valuable space for other key sections of your CV such as the work experience, education and skills sections.
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Examples Of Personal Sentences For Your Personal Profile
If your not sure what to say, or how to start then consider selecting a combination of up to 5 sentences from the list below to create your own personal profile.
Also consider adding information relevant to the job description or duties that you may be expected to undertake this makes it personal!
When To Use A Functional Resume
If you have one long gap or multiple employment gaps in your resume in the past five years, are a first-time worker or are drastically changing career paths, then consider a functional resume. By highlighting skills that transfer across industries and your most relevant accomplishments, you can emphasize the right qualifications for the position you want. This also prioritizes the information thats most important to a recruiter rather than focusing on a work history that doesnt align with the job.
In some cases, a functional resume might be too limiting. If you have some experience and few or no gaps in your employment history, a combination resume might be the right choice.
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Define Your Unique Value Proposition
You have a unique blend of skills, characteristics, and experiences that make you different from every marketer. To create a truly effective resume, you need to define exactly what this unique blend is — we’ll call this your value proposition.
To develop your own value proposition, think about what separates you from other marketers. Is it your in-depth knowledge of marketing analytics? Your ability to write irresistible headlines? Perhaps it’s your talent for creating compelling videos? Or maybe you have an impressive record of using social media to drive sales growth? Whatever it is, you can use it to set your resume apart from the crowd.
To a large extent, your value proposition depends on the type of positions and companies you’re targeting. Large and small companies often look for completely different skill sets, as do companies in different industries. So as you think about what makes you uniquely valuable, and how that aligns with the jobs you’re applying to.