Choose The Right Resume Format
Once you know what the company and job entails and youve identified your strengths and weaknesses, you should be ready to pick the right resume format.
Are you a seasoned professional? Then you should pick a resume format that emphasizes your experience.
A fresh graduate? Then your resume should emphasize any transferable skills youve acquired during your studies.
Or perhaps youre changing careers. Then a combination of the two will produce the best results.
There are three dominant resume formats in use today:
- Chronological resume format. Probably the best choice for experienced professionals. Lists the candidates jobs and accomplishments in a chronological order. Main resume section: Work Experience.
- Functional resume format. Great for fresh graduates, IT professionals, or other skill-based professions. Emphasizes skills instead of experience. Main resume section: Skills.
- Combined resume format. A combination of the previous two. Requires a good understanding of what you want to achieve with your resume.
Keep The Layout And Design Simple
Most employers use an applicant tracking system to scan resumes and check whether those resumes meet their needs.
If your resume cant pass the ATS, the software will automatically reject it before the hiring manager sees it.
Resume layouts with graphics or excessive design elements are too confusing for the software to process, so keep your resume simple.
These elements make for a less ATS-friendly resume:
Avoid these elements:
- Infographics: An ATS cant read images, only words.
- Uncommonfonts: The best fonts for your resume are easy to read and professional, like Calibri, Cambria, and Times New Roman. The ATS might not understand uncommon fonts.
- Graphics/tables: Just like infographics, most ATS software cant read graphics and tables.
- Unclear section titles: If the ATS is looking for your education section, it wont recognize that a section titled Stuff Ive Learned is the same thing.
- Uncommon file types: Most types of ATS software are programmed to read PDFs and DOCXs, but will reject an OTT file.
What Are Employers Looking For In A Resume
Building a resume can often be a challenging task as employers expect to see a resume that is both unique to the position and simple to understand. As you decide what a resume should look like, review the job posting of the specific position you’re interested in. Employers want to see a resume that features the specific skills and qualifications they’re searching for. Review the job posting and pick which of those preferred skills you have and clearly list them in your resume.
Hiring managers are also looking for resumes that are simple to read. They may receive several resumes at once, which can cause them to quickly scan your resume, rather than reading it carefully. This is whyyou should keep your resume clean with fonts that are simple and consistent throughout the entire resume. Feature enough white space that your content looks well-spaced and clean. You should also try to only include information relevant to the position and keep your resume one to two pages long.
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Add Your Professional Resume Summary Statement
A resume summary statement is a short paragraph or section of bullet points at the beginning of a resume that highlights your professional skills and experience. Your summary should expand on your headline and communicate to recruiters and hiring managers why you are a good fit for the job.
Summary statements are not ideal for all job seekers. If you dont have much job experience or are changing careers, you might use the space to expand on your work history section, skills section, or write a strong resume objective statement instead.
Note: Career experts rarely recommend including a resume objective statement, but these summary alternatives can work in special circumstances such as in the case of career changes.
Make Your Resume Stand Out
If youre applying for an investment banking job, a hot-pink resume probably wont do you any favors. But subtle pops of color, like the orange used here, will work for just about everyone.
Its very minimal, and gives a bit of a design element, Leavy-Detrick says.
If you do use color, Use it sparingly, she warns. Stick to one color, and one color thats going to print well.
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Focus On Your Achievements
While its important to describe your job history, you should present it from the perspective of your achievements rather than what your job required you to do. For example, explain how you used your creativity to find a unique solution to a problem. Think of such specific, quantifiable results you achieved, and include them in this section.
Use the same approach to describe your skills. Instead of a simple list of skills, employers are more interested in knowing how you have successfully applied those skills in a practical situation. There is no need to have a separate section of skills unless you are applying for a position that requires certain hard skills . Instead, consider including the skills within the descriptions of your work experience.
It Brags About The Basics
If you highlight skills and accomplishments that are now considered givens, it may signal to hirers that you havent made an effort to learn new things.
For example, listing Microsoft Office may imply that youre not familiar with Google Docs, says Steve Gibson, founder of Vyteo, a marketing firm based in San Francisco. Another example might be listing the number of words you type per minutethats necessary only for professions where typing documents is literally all you do, he says.
Take a look at the job ad itself and see what types of skills are mentioned. Use that to inform you of the top skills hiring managers want to see on your resume for this particular position.
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Choose The Right Formatting
There are three major formats to write a resume: chronological, functional and combination. Although most resumes follow a chronological format, the correct format may depend on the industry, your job title and personal preferences.
Restrict the length of your resume to a page or two. Depending on your work history, it may benefit you to focus on the most recent position you held and the most important educational qualifications you hold. Keep the descriptions about older jobs and less relevant qualifications as short as possible.
Related: Resume Format Guide
Professional With Cover Letter Resume Template
The template is definitely a little stand out from the others, and maybe this is what will help you get a new job. This two-page resume template includes fully customizable colors, fonts, and resume layouts. And it is also compatible with Mac & PC with MS Word. The cool, stylish design and clear presentation of information in this template provide excellent readability.
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Include Any Awards You’ve Won Associations You’re A Part Of Or Certifications You’ve Earned
Hiring managers may search for candidates who show their commitment to the position by gaining additional skills and education. If you have won any awards related to the position, list these in a separate section to impress hiring managers. It may also interest them to find memberships to associations that demonstrate your commitment to networking and learning more about the industry.
You can list certifications in their own section as well to prove your dedication to gaining new skills and improving your current skills.
Stick With Two Fonts At Most
What should a resume look like so that you are memorable in a good way and not because you embarrassed yourself? Stick with simplicity. It’s tempting to use all of the typefaces at your disposal, but having more than two fonts in any document only lessens its readability. One font is all you really need. If you use two, make sure they complement each other. For example, use one font for the headings and the second font for the body text.
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Tweak Keywords To Build The Best Resume For Each Job
Dont make the mistake of answering each job posting with the same generic resume. Instead, take a few extra minutes to mirror it to the keywords and phrases within the job ad. Youll be much more likely to make it to the next round of hiring, especially if an applicant tracking system has anything to do with it.
Get as close as you can to the language of the job description, or at least look for common denominators, Leavy-Detrick advises.
If youre planning to cast a wide net by uploading a general resume to your LinkedIn or Indeed profile, make sure its tailored to the primary job you want then update your keywords when applying to positions that deviate from the norm.
To Have Or Not To Have A Skills Section On A Resume
We typically tell candidates that special certificates and training can be mentioned in the Skills section. If thats not you, better just leave it off and use the space for something more useful.
That being said, a Skills section can be really important for technical resumes to show the languages and programs you know and can also be useful if youre concerned about being picked up by ATS .
The main idea here is that you want to include programs/products/skills that are unique and make you stand out versus simply saying you know how to use Microsoft Office.
These are most of the biggies but, of course, if you have other questions we at Scouted offer personalized resume advice! But for starters, try using our preferred resume template and go from there!
Wed love to hear your thoughts and questions in the comments below and well do our best to respond to each!
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What To Leave Off A Resume
Be discerning with the contentdont list salary requirements, use tables or columns, or tick off every job youve ever had. The same goes for social media profiles. Unless your Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook feeds are relevant to the job youre applying for, its probably best to leave those off your resume.
Only include them if they add value in some way, Leavy-Detrick says. If you have zero followers, you may not want to advertise that.
Your Resume Can Benefit From A Chart
If youve never used a visual element in your resume, youre not alone. However, now is the perfect time to upgrade your resume presentation!
A chart is one of the best ways to show your achievements,particularly if you led a long-term growth trend or saved costs at work.
As an example, this Business Development resume employs a growth performance chart to show multi-category revenue wins, allowing the reader to quickly skim for more detail. This tutorial on charts in Microsoft Word can give you a quick-start lesson.
NOTE: Youll want to put the chart in front of text that conveys the same data, enabling ATS systems to pick it up.
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Write A Work History Section With Numbers And Action Verbs
Use numbers when listing your accomplishments on your resume. Theyre eye-catching and show you have a history of delivering results.
Even if you didnt work in a data-driven field, you can still find numbers in:
- how many customers you served
- what percentage increase in sales or efficiency you achieved
- how much money you saved your company
Heres how that should look on a resume:
Customer Service Representative
Acme Inc., Hilo, HI / July 2016April 2020
- Provided basic technical support for clients on a wide range of company products, resolving issues at a 90% rate
- Received an average 85% customer satisfaction rating to date, 15% higher than company average
- Handle 90+ calls daily, with duties including signing up new customers, retrieving customer data, presenting relevant product information, and canceling services
- Suggested a new tactic to persuade canceling customers to stay with the company, resulting in a 5% decrease in cancellations
Also, focus on achievements rather than responsibilities. Bullet points that begin responsible for dont tell the hiring manager much about what you achieved for your previous employer.
Instead, use powerful action verbs that describe why you excelled in the position. Heres an example of work experience with the actions verbs :
Administrative Assistant
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How To List Education On Your Resume
The next section were going to cover is your Education. Lets start with the basics – how to format the education section & what to mention there. Then, well move on to tips & tricks thatll help you stand out
- Program Name. E.g.: B.A. in Business Administration
- University Name. E.g.: New York State University
- Years Attended. E.g.: 08/2008 – 06/2012
- GPA. E.g.: 3.9 GPA
- Academic achievements. Any interesting papers youve written, courses youve excelled in, etc.
- Minor. Minor in Psychology
Here’s an example:
- If you dont have any work experience, mention your education section first.
- Mention your latest educational entry on top.
- If you have a university degree, dont mention your high school at all.
- ONLY mention GPA if you had a very impressive academic career .
List Relevant Skills And Keywords
Resume keywords are important terms of interest that recruiters look for whether skimming a resume or searching within an applicant tracking system . The more role-specific keywordsoften hard skillsyour resume contains, the better optimized your resume is.
99 percent of Fortune 500 companies use applicant tracking systems to sort, filter, and search applicants. Some ATS, like Taleo, can automatically rank your resumes content against the job description, allowing recruiters to focus only on the best applicants. Recruiters often also search their applicant pool for important resume keywords, like customer service, accounts receivable, or Adobe Photoshop.
Where on your resume should you include important skills?
Its crucial to incorporate important skills throughout your entire resume, beginning with your headline which should, when possible, include the most relevant keyword: the job title. You can also list skills in a dedicated skills section of your resume if using the hybrid resume format.
How do you find keywords to include in your resume?
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Demonstrate Results With Numbers And Metrics
When you write about your previous work experience, it is always a good idea to quantify your successes with numbers. Using metrics can highlight your achievements and give the hiring manager or recruiter a clear sense of how you impacted your previous place of employment. For example, someone who previously worked as a sales representative might say that they executed more than 50 cold calls daily, with an average 5% conversion rate.
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Use The Right Language To Stand Out
Trite, lackluster descriptions of your job duties and accomplishments wont do you any favors. Make sure youre using strong action words, such as achieved, designed, improved and established, to describe your roles and projects, said Sade. This will make you sound confident while imparting vital information. But be cautious about depending on action verbs make sure to include details about how you improved a process or achieved a goal.
Words such as professional, results-driven and detail-oriented provide very little helpful information, Sade said. Its better to use actual job titles than these words.
Did you know? You can use a combination of action words to highlight your experience and make your resume easier to read.
Diya Obeid, founder and CEO of ATS company JobDiva, said that you should remove words like go-getter, team player and go-to person from your resume. These come off as fluff and take up precious space on your resume.
Use A Simple And Readable Design
To keep your resume readable for an employer, include some design elements in your resume that make it simple and easy to scan. You can easily achieve this by clearly marking the headings, using bullet points, keeping the paragraphs short and highlighting certain words by bolding or italicizing them.
Use a clean, professional font. For example, fonts like Times New Roman, Georgia and Tahoma are usually easy for most people to read. Make sure the font you choose has consistent spacing and looks good both on-screen and printed. Keep the font size between 9 and 12 points in order to maintain readability and presentation.
Use color strategically to make your resume visually appealing. For example, you might use a different color for headings and monogram the rest of the resume. You can also use color to draw in the reader to a certain important point. However, use additional colors sparingly. Selecting one color to use with a primarily black and white resume should be enough.
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