How To Write An Effective Resume

What Is A Resume Objective

My objective? Well, thats easy. My objective is to get the job.

Absolutelywe couldnt agree morebut an objective on your resume is so much more than just writing Hey, hire me. Im super awesome.

So what is an objective for a resume?

A resume objective is a short, targeted statement that clearly outlines your career direction while simultaneously positioning you as someone who fits what the employer is looking for exactly. Your objective is carefully researched and tailored to fit the job youre applying for.

In other wordsits not a generic cry to hire you, its a very specific, very targeted way to point to yourself and say Hey, why waste your time with all these other resumes when what youre looking for is right here in front of you? Its a quick summary of where youve been so far in your career and also where you want to go with the company you are applying to.

Our friends over at Indeed.com take it a step further, saying:

A well-written resume objective statement can be customized for the job youre applying for and add value to your resume that sets it apart from other applicants.

Sounds pretty ingenious, right? So why dont more people have them on their resumes?

Resume objectives can be a bit controversial. Some people think they can make you look amateurishwhich if you dont do it correctly, is absolutely truebut that can be said for any section of your resume.

Before we go any further, I want to stop you right now.

Cv Versus Resume Whats The Difference

Today, a lot of employers and job candidates use the terms CV and resume interchangeably. Indeed, you may see just as many references to resume templates as you do CV templates.

Traditionally, a CV referred to a comprehensive account of your entire professional life, while a resume was a summary of your education, skills and work experience. However, in more modern times, the need for a lengthy overview of your career history has become redundant, with a hiring company instead expecting a two-page summary. At the same time, people began to use the two terms reciprocally. Now, whether you call your career overview a CV or resume, it has no bearing on your chance of reaching an interview shortlist.

Select A Professional Easy

The font used on your resume should be professional and easy to read. Generally, this means sticking to commonly used fonts like Times New Roman or Calibri.

The most important thing is that your font choice doesnt distract from the qualifications on your resume. So avoid using more eccentric fonts like Courier New or Impact .

• Trebuchet MS
• Lato

Additionally, the font size used for the body content of your resume should be between 10 and 12 points, depending on the font youre using and your space requirements. Meanwhile, your name and section headers should be larger to help break up your resume into sections.

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The Most Popular: A Reverse Chronological Resume

As previously mentioned, a reverse chronological resume is preferred by many coaches and HR experts, mainly because its super readable. When everythings in a clear order, its easy to skim and even easier to draw lines between experiences.

Who its good for: Just about everyonefrom students applying to internships all the way up to senior-level executives

Sample Email 1 Format For Sending A Resume

Recipients Email Address

Subject: Application for the Post of Customer Service Support Carol Susan

Dear Mr Ravindran,

I would like to let you know of my interest to take up the job of Customer Service Support at your firm that I came across in the newspaper, dated 18/12/21.

As a part of my graduate studies in Social Services, I have had the experience of providing support to people of different age groups and social backgrounds. I feel that I would be able to do justice to the role and perform my duties with integrity and hospitality.

I would like to meet with you in person to discuss more about this position. Looking forward to hearing from you.

I have attached my resume herewith for your kind perusal.

Sincerely,

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Choosing The Best Resume Template

Now that we know which software to use and the most common resume formats, letâs break down the actual template. This is the make-or-break deal. Picking the right resume template can be the deciding factor if a hiring manager gives you a call. Or if they skip past your resume and never bother to read it.

Our mission here at Easy Resume is to make sure that never happens to you! Weâre working hard to make sure your resume is high quality and presented in a way that will impress recruiters.

When speaking with hiring managers, we found that 78% of the time they skip your resume is because of the design. Again, we donât think thatâs fair.

Hereâs a checklist to use for your resume

We always use this checklist whenever creating any new resume template.

Use a clear heading structure

Incorrect: Donât make all headings and body copy the same size.

Correct: Do use typographic hierarchy by using varying heading sizes and font weights.

Use legible, friendly and professional font combinations

Incorrect: Donât use quirky and eccentric fonts like comic sans or papyrus.

Correct: Do use professional fonts that are easy to read and familiar. Fonts like Georgia, Helvetica, Calibri, and Cambia.

Use an ample amount of spacing

Incorrect: Donât go overboard with spacing. Using a lot of white-space might spark joy, but not when your resume becomes three pages long because of it.

Use 1 page

Use bullet points

Top 5 Resume Writing Tips

Texas Career Engagement offers tips and tricks to get your resume in tiptop shape for job and internship hunting

As summer approaches and graduation nears for the Class of 2021, students may be beginning to look for jobs and internships. In applying to these positions, you typically need a resume that summarizes your professional experiences and is usually one page in length at the start of your career.

Regardless, whether you are a soon-to-be-graduating student or seasoned professional, having an updated and tailored resume is important should opportunities arise. Here are some helpful tips from Texas Career Engagement to get your resume ready and in tiptop shape:

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Include Only Relevant Information And Put It First

While you might have extensive work or educational experience, its important to keep your resume as brief as possible without leaving out key information. Hiring managers dont spend a lot of time reading each resume. Research has shown that hiring managers tend to spend only 6 seconds per resume. If your resume includes old or irrelevant information, such as jobs held over 10 years ago or minor degrees and achievements, it may distract from key information.

Try to include only work experience, achievements, education and skills most relevant to the employer. You can find the most relevant attributes by closely reading the job posting. You should prioritize important information higher on your resume to draw attention to key skills and achievements.

Related:

Include Your Name And Contact Information

Your resume should begin with your name and contact information including your email address and phone number. You have a choice about whether or not to include your mailing address. Your name should be highly visible at the top of your resume with a bolded or larger font than the rest of the document, but no more than a 14 point size. You might also include a link to your online portfolio if you are applying to creative positions, for example.

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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:

Step : Write Your Job History In Reverse Chronological Order

Once youve got your base, get your resume into shape by filling out the meat of your resume: your employment history.

List each of your past jobs starting with your most recent position and work backward. Include the company name, job title, dates worked, and location.

To optimize what you include in your work history section, research the position offered and the general company rules and environment to better understand the characteristics and attributes that the hiring managers are looking for. Use this information to your advantage by highlighting your skills using strategic keywords taken from the job description or company branding.

Companies may employ Applicant Tracking System to review all resumes they receive. This software will sort resumes and identify the ones most relevant to company needs. This software helps businesses save time by eliminating resumes that do not meet predetermined requirements, and therefore, do not need to be reviewed by the hiring team.

Here are a few tips for writing effective resume content:

• Emphasize your industry-specific skills , but do not just copy and paste keywords from the job ad.
• Use action verbs throughout your resume. Words like reduced increased saved created and launched can help describe your past contributions.
• Use the active voice to describe job rolesand responsibilities for your current position and your introduction. Past tense should be used for previous employment entries.

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Secondly Use Relevant Keywords

Applicant tracking systems use keywords to sort through resumes and find qualified candidates, so it is important to use relevant keywords, skills, and qualifications to show you are a good fit for the job. Read through the job description and pick out specific keywords that you could include in your resume title. Also, look through similar job descriptions to find additional keywords to include. For example, if you see the keywords customer service and retail, you could write Experienced Sales Associate With Three Years of Experience Providing Excellent Customer Service in a Retail Setting. By choosing relevant keywords, you can pass through applicant tracking systems and move to the next step of the hiring process.

Include An Education Section

An education section will be especially valuable if you have limited work experience or if you are transferring to a new industry. You can include information such as:

• Relevant coursework

• Grade point average

• Participation in clubs or organizations

• Leadership positions held

• Awards, achievements or certifications

When writing your education section, you should include the name of the institution, dates of attendance and your degree or area of study. If you are applying to mid or higher-level positions, you might remove all but the name of your school and dates of attendance to make room for more relevant professional experience on your resume.

If you have certifications or licenses that are relevant to the job description, you can include them in this section as well. To save space, you can leave off any credentials that are not directly related to the requirements of this job.

Related: How to Include Relevant Coursework on a Student Resume

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How To Write Effective Resume Bullets

• Make an Appointment

Writing resume bullets is often the most challenging aspect of writing a resume. Yes, settling on the best design and format and determining the most relevant experiences to highlight on your resume can take time however, effectively describing your experience is the most important task. In many ways, this is because your bullets provide the majority of the content and context for your resume, and it is the content of a resume that will distinguish an average resume from a competitive one.

The first step to writing more effective bullet points is to recognize that your bullets can and should be more than just a list of the tasks and responsibilities you managed in a particular role. Dont just copy and paste directly from your position description. While a job description is a great place to start, simply listing your duties doesnt harness the full potential of a resume bullet. It doesnt communicate the skills that you have developed nor does it distinguish you from someone else who has been in the same role or had similar experiences. Most important, it doesnt demonstrate the impact or results of the tasks and the responsibilities you had.

Going On And On And On And On And Zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Mistake number four is being too long. This isnt a novel. Its a quick little blurb to catch their attention so they can bring you in for an interviewthen you can get into more detail!

EXAMPLE: Not going to put one here. Why? Because the example we were going to do was going to be so long and ridiculous that you and everyone else reading this post would just get bored and move onto another article. Just remember, its all about short and sweet. Anything over a sentence or two is TOO LONG. Remember that.

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See How Jobscan Can Get You The Job You Want

Jobscan is not really a resume-building site, but they have a free resume builder. Their tool does a terrific job getting your information in front of hiring managers. It will even help you with your LinkedIn profile. Its a tool that gives you tips on how to get the job you want. It will help you by optimizing your resume to get past the applicant tracking systems and highlight the skills that employers are looking for.

Dont Forget Your Education

If youre still in school or just graduated, your education can go at the top of your resume, but for pretty much everyone else, this goes near the bottom. Most people include their school, graduation year , major, and degree. Brand-new grads might also write in their GPA, honors and awards, study abroad, thesis, or other notable achievements. But keep this section super simple, as you dont want it to take up too much space over your work experience.

Its possible you have unique education experience, such as taking an online course or certification. If you did this specifically as a way to boost yourself within your industry, definitely include it. Again, list everything more or less reverse chronologicallyso a grad school degree would go above an undergrad degree, and a more recent relevant online course would go above that.

Learn more about the ins and outs of listing your education on your resume:

• How to List Online Courses on Your Resume the Right Way

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How Do I Write A Cover Letter

A cover letter is essential for any serious job application and a great opportunity for candidates to expand on their experience and achievements.

No job application will be considered complete and professional without an effective, well-written cover letter. Therefore, it is vital you spend additional time and effort to compose a cover letter that will compliment your finished resume.

Roughly 10 percent of recruiters consider missing cover letters a deal-breaking mistake. Dont ruin your chances of an interview by not creating a personalized cover letter.

A cover letter must be well written with simple, conversational language. No spelling or grammatical errors! The best cover letters are informative and offer a glimpse into your experience listed on your resume.

Its also a good idea to talk about why you want to work for that company specifically and how you think you can help them achieve greater success. Offer evidence and quantifiable examples of how your knowledge, experience, qualifications, and skill set are beneficial to the company.

TOP TIP: Think of the cover letter as an extension to the resume simply by explaining in your own words while always using formal language what has led you to believe that this role would be right for you.

Similarly to a purposeful and concise resume, a cover letter should not exceed one A4 page and should include only details that are relevant to the position on offer. Do not go off-topic!

How To Write An Effective Administrative Assistant Resume

A resume for an administrative assistant role highlights your professional qualifications, work experience, career achievements, educational background and skills. Employers can use this to evaluate your suitability for the role and gain a better understanding of your capabilities. Understanding how to write a resume for an administration role may help you get an interview. In this article, we discuss how to write an administrative assistant resume, detail the responsibilities of this role, provide you with their average salary and offer a template and example of this type of resume.

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Understanding The 3 Types Of Resume Formats

Letâs break down the different types of resumes that employers generally look for.

Tip: When in doubt, use a reverse chronological resume format. – About 95% of resumes use the reverse chronological format. Hiring managers are used to this as it lets employers see how your career has progressed.

1. Reverse Chronological Format

The most common is the Reverse Chronological format. Itâs the most used and formatted to tell the story of your work experience in a chronological way. Employers prefer this format, as it gives them a historical overview of your career. Including the different job titles and responsibilities that youâve had.

When should you use a reverse chronological resume template?

• You have had a lot of prior work experience. This means either the number of jobs or the amount of work experience youâve had.
• You want to show how your career has progressed. For example, if you started as an associate and worked your way up to a senior-level position. The reverse-chronological format is a great way of showing your progression.

What if you have gaps between your work experience?

This is a very common question that we often receive. Itâs usually in the form of:

âIâve been out of work for 6-7 years after a certain life situation . The last job I had was in 2012, but recently I’m starting to apply for jobs again in 2019. Whatâs the right resume format for someone like me?â

2. Functional Format

• Communication