How To Edit Your Resume
Youve written your resume, and read it twice, but thats not enough. A good editing job will take a little longer and some specific tactics meant to catch resume errors.
First, dont attempt to edit your resume until its done. Yes, it can be difficult to leave a glaring error while you move on to write your skills section, but force yourself to finish your resume before you edit it. Why? Youll save yourself time, and letting go of errors now could help you write a better first draft because youre focusing on the writing itself. Youll be glad you decided to go back and make all the edits at once.
Next, never try to edit your resume right after youve written it. In fact, you should give yourself a 24-hour break before editing your resume. With time away, youll see your resume with fresh eyes and for what it really isnot what you meant it to be.
When you give your resume a read, try reading your resume backward. It sounds odd and its not always easy but reading backward forces you to focus on each word, and helps you better catch both spelling and grammatical errors in the text.
Ask a friend or family member to read your resume, too. They may spot errors that you missed, or have suggestions for how to show yourself in an even better light.
And lastly, be sure to look for common resume pitfalls before you press send.
Make The Resume Summary Relevant To The Job
Your resume summary can only stand out if it includes experience, skills, and achievements that are relevant to the job opening.
Resume summaries that stand out the most are tailored to the job description. Itâs good practice to extract the top keywords from the job description and put it in your resume summary.
The more specific your summary is to the job description, the better. This also helps your resume score points for passing the screening of an Applicant Tracking System.
Thatâs why the first and most important step to write a compelling resume summary is to read the job description.
A common mistake that candidates make is writing a generic resume summary that is irrelevant to the exact job opening.
âIncorrect Example
Social media professional looking to grow an audience at a company…
Correct Example
Social media expert with experience in Facebook and LinkedIn Marketing looking to apply audience development skills…
How To Include Communication Skills On A Resume
You should include your communication skills indirectly, meaning you need to “show, don’t tell.” This is best done through explaining your achievements.
For each job application, you need to identify the key skills the employer wants. If communication skills pop up on the job description, that’s a great sign that you should pepper your skills with communicating throughout your resume. The next section of this blog post will give you several examples of how to include common communication skills on your resume.
Here are the most popular communication skills to use on your resume:
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Presenting or public speaking
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Managing groups and people management
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Types Of Professional Skills
Skills can be broken down into four main categories:
| Time Management | Positive Attitude |
Contrary to popular belief, hiring managers often care more about soft skills than hard skills, though both hard and soft skills contribute to your appeal as a candidate.
Hard skills, such as computer programming or accounting, can be taught using a combination of curriculum and hands-on practice. Whereas soft skills, such as a positive attitude or punctuality, are harder to teach.
Regardless of your background, hiring managers are usually flexible with teaching you the hard skills needed for their job, as long as you already have the right attitude along with the aptitude to learn.
Personal Project Relevant To A Job:
For example, lets say you hosted a bake sale in your neighborhood and are now applying for a job as a cashier at a grocery store. You could explain that while selling your baked goodies, you practiced your customer service, money handling, and food service safety skills.
Example of how to list a personal project in a resume:Summer Bake Sale Hosted a summer bake sale in my neighborhood every weekend from April to August 2018. Created and handed out flyers, took and fulfilled customer orders, handled cash payments, and home baked all products. Skills learned include customer service, money handling, and food service safety.
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Use Color To Show Levels Of Proficiency On Resume
A new window will prompt you to change certain elements of the selected AutoShape. Just click Color,;then pick the color similar to the already shaded circles on the template.
The selection we made in this example indicates that you’re more proficient in HTML5 compared to the other technical skills listed in your resume. You can see the results below:
Read this tutorial for more information on create a resume using MS Word:
Faqs About Skills On Resumes
What is a good list of skills that are relevant to put on a resume?
Use a combination of hard and soft skills such as:1. Communication skills like public speaking, writing, written communication, and active listening.2. Technical skills like IT skills, engineering skills, programming languages, web development, search engine optimization and industry-specific technology.3. Analytical skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and research.4. Transferable skills if youâre changing careers like leadership and time management.5. Negotiation skills related to management, compromise, and adaptability.
What is a good list of skills that are relevant to put on a resume?
Use a combination of hard and soft skills such as:1. Communication skills like public speaking, writing, written communication, and active listening.2. Technical skills like IT skills, engineering skills, programming languages, web development, search engine optimization and industry-specific technology.3. Analytical skills like critical thinking, problem solving, and research.4. Transferable skills if youâre changing careers like leadership and time management.5. Negotiation skills related to management, compromise, and adaptability.
How many skills should I put on a resume?
As many as you can!
You want to include all the skills the employer is looking forâas long as you can honestly claim to have each skill. Incorporate your skills throughout your resume, not just in a skills section.
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How To Effectively List Professional Skills On Your Resume
Bar tending, Writing, Python, Bookkeeping, Crocheting, whatdo these things have in common?
These are a list of skills, not all of which are worth listing inyour resume.
Employers call applicants for an interview only when their resume matches the specific professional skill set they need.;Padding your resume with a list of skills, as impressive as it looks, wont help your application if those skills arent related to the job.;
In this article, I explain the different types of professional skills that are relevant, and how to select which of those skills to include in your resume skills section. I also cover how to list skills on a resume so it stands out and fits the job your applying to best.;
Listing the right professional skills on your resume is important, let’s begin by looking at why that is:
Should I Put A Summary On My Resume
Summaries should be included on resumes for those who have very little job experience, or a lot of experience. Summaries can explain school schedules or a lack of work history, or they can be useful ways to summarize a lot of skills into one place. Include one if you need to do one of these things.
The word summary implies that it is a summary of your resume, but this is not always the case. A resume summary is a summary of your current situation, your skills, and your goals.;
The summary section is the only space on a resume where full sentences should be used concurrently, and this is a great place to explain anything that wouldnt otherwise it in another section.;
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Education Resume Summary Examples
- Self-motivated university graduate with a Bachelor of Arts in Secondary Education and critical experience in learning technology.
- Compassionate and organized Caregiver with 3+ years of experience in providing expert care to both English and Spanish-speaking children aged 0-5. Experienced in working with special needs children and maintaining their emotional comfort and safety.
- Imaginative, patient Special Education Teacher with 3+ years of experience focusing on meeting IEP goal requirements for students with special educational, behavioral and mental health needs.
- Dedicated Tutor with 3+ years of experience improving student grades by focusing on total comprehension with targeted lessons in a variety of subject areas. Quickly identifies individual student learning styles to tailor exercises to their needs.
- Motivated Teaching Assistant with 3+ years of experience promoting collaboration with the lead teacher to support student educational needs.
- Conscientious Counselor with 3+ years of experience staying attentive to the needs of children, students, and parents, while ensuring a welcoming, trusting environment. Enjoys creating customized plans and programs to spur educational and emotional growth.
Tailor Your Skills To The Company/position
As you may have read in our other blog articles, it is always very important to tailor your job interview to the company and position you are interviewing with/for (for a more in depth look at our Tailoring Method article. ;This includes your resume and the skills you include on your resume as well!
As we mentioned before, the company will have a specific set of skills that they will require the successful candidate to have in order to do the job to their standard.
So as you might have guessed, it is absolutely essential that these skills make an appearance on your resume.
You need to spend some more time researching the company, and this means going through all of their various web properties including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Why?
Because they will leave clues about the types of people they hire, which will give you a better idea of the skills that you need to include in your resume. This especially applies to soft skills.
Ask yourself this. ;Do I have a similar skill-set to the types of employees they hire?
If the answer is yes, great!
If the answer is no read on!
And as we said before,;REALLY dig into the job description to make sure you have a strong understanding of the skills that are required for the job, and make darn sure you put those skills in the skill section of your resume.
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What To Put On A Resume: 7 Things To Include
If youre wondering what goes on a resume, Im going to share everything you should include to get more interviews, including:
- What to put in a resume for experienced candidates
- What to put in a resume if you have no experience
- What NOT to include in your resume
- How to look at the job description for clues about what skills and experience to put on your resume to grab each employers attention. .
Heres exactly what to put on a resume,;based on my experience as a recruiter
Presenting Or Public Speaking
Did you give a presentation or speak publicly at an event? If so, this is a great way to show communication skills! Turn your skill into an accomplishment in your work experience section.
Here’s an example from our Communication Specialist resume example:
Supplied superior customer service training and presentations to external and internal stakeholders, efficiently coordinating relations efforts.
In this example, the applicant has described the nature of the presentations as well as the results: effectively coordinating relations efforts. This is a great example of describing presentation or public speaking skills.
If public speaking is a big part of the job you want to apply for, you can supplement your talents by listing your specific public speaking engagements under a professional development section. You can also mention your presentation-related hard skills, such as PowerPoint, Google Slides, or Prezi.
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Be Prepared To Answer Interview Questions About The Skills Youve Listed
If you say youre an expert in Phone Sales, Digital Marketing, Social Media Marketing, Customer Service, or any other hard skill you need to be ready to defend this in an interview.
If you say youve done a lot of time management, be prepared with examples. If you say problem solving is one of your strengths, be ready to back it up with a success story!
Theyre going to want to know where you used that skill and details about how you used it and what results you got in recent jobs. And if you say youre an expert at something, they might ask what makes you an expert.
So if youre not expert or not highly-proficient, dont say you are. You can still list the skill, but dont exaggerate and go overboard by saying expert.
I made this mistake early in my career and it cost me the job! I said the word expert when describing my Microsoft Excel skills, and they asked me about it in an interview and I completely crumbled. I wasnt an expert and I wasnt ready to defend why I had said that on my skills list.
Also, dont list skills youve never used. Even if they do hire you, you could immediately be fired if they discover you lied about your skills in your interview. Lying in your job search is usually not a good tactic.
So be honest when listing skills on your resume, and review your own resume as you prepare for the interview so youre not caught off-guard by the interview questions they ask.
Introduction To Resume Summaries
Hiring managers look at resumes for an average of 6 seconds. An average of a few seconds implies that most resumes are just being glanced at.
The top of your resume is typically the first place that resume reviewers look. And the first impression matters a lot. That’s why your resume header can have the most influence on whether your resume lasts longer than just a glance.
Resume reviewers need a strong nudge to continue looking at the rest of your resume. When written correctly, a professional resume summary is the fastest way to deliver the best pitch about your candidacy.
There are various ways to phrase your resume summary to best position yourself for the job, depending on your level of experience.
But what exactly is the best way to phrase your resume summary?
In this guide weâll cover:
- What is a resume summary and when to use one
- How to write a killer resume summary
- The difference between a resume summary and a resume objective
- Common mistakes when writing a resume summary
- 10+ Examples of resume summaries
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The Purpose Of A Resume
Your resume serves to introduce the relevancy of your skills, experience, qualifications and achievements to a recruiter and potential employer. A recruiter or employer may not spend longer than a few minutes reviewing your resume, so it should succinctly convey your most relevant achievements. If the reader thinks you are a suitable candidate for the role, your resume will have achieved its purpose an offer to attend an interview.;
Importance Of A Good Cv
Think of your CV as your own living, breathing personal pitch a pitch that succinctly answers all the questions a recruiter or hiring manager has about you. The degree to which you present the reader with the information they require to make an informed decision can determine whether you are invited to interview.
This includes why you are applying for this job, with this organisation and in this industry, what value you can bring to the organisation and whether you have what is required to be successful in the role.
To leave the reader with no doubt about your suitability, you must present a strong CV that clearly conveys this information.
To do this, below youll find our tips on how to write a resume. Alternatively, you can download our resume template.
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Top Soft Skills For Your Resume
There are tons of soft skills that you can include in your resume, but how do you know which ones to include? Here is a quick list of important soft skills you should list on your resume.
Problem Solving Skills
No matter what the job is, eventually something will go wrong and employers want to know that youre capable of coming up with a quick and effective solution. In fact, there are jobs that are essentially nothing but solving problems for the company, the clients, or both.
Critical Thinking Skills
Being able to think rationally and thoughtfully is the basis of critical thinking. Employers want workers who can think through a problem or a project and determine the best steps needed. Critical thinkers come up with new and better ways to work, making it an invaluable skill to put on a resume.
Flexibility
Many organizations and industries covet employees who are dynamic and adaptable to every situation, or who have a natural ability to use a variety of methods and approaches in different circumstances to get the best end result.
Communication Skills
Whether its written or verbal, being able to communicate with your boss, coworkers, and clients/customers in all situations is very valuable. The better you are at it, the better results you will generate.
Teamwork
Most jobs will sometimes require you to work with other people at some point, and employers want to know that you can succeed in a team environment. Some jobs will prize this skill more than others.
How To Write Soft Skills On Your Resume
Show, dont tell. Thats the important rule in making yoursoft skills believable for a recruiter.;
Use numbers, awards, and any otherquantifiable metric to make the recruiter see your claims of being a good teamplayer and communicator are real.
Let’s look at a few helpful examples of how to list skills on resume:
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