Personal Information Photos And Schools
Do not include any personal information beyond your address, email, and phone number. Leave out your age, date of birth, race, sex, sexual orientation, religion, political affiliation, and the names and ages of your spouse and children. While some of this;information may be required in an international CV, you should leave it out of a resume. The reason is that it’s illegal for employers to making hiring decisions based on this information.
You should also leave out important numbers that could allow someone to steal your identity, such as your;social security number, driver’s license number, and any credit card information. You may wish to;leave your address off your resume or only include part of it in some cases.
Your health is a personal issue, so there is no need to mention it on your resume. If you have health-related limitations they can be addressed during the hiring process.
If you get hired, the company will likely conduct a background check for a criminal record. However, there is no need to include this information on your resume. Also, there is no need to include personal pronouns as most employers will ask for your preferred pronouns.
Analytical & Problem Solving Skills
Even if the role youre applying for doesnt work with data, basic analysis and problem-solving skills are used in just about any profession. Recruiters want to see how you approach unexpected hurdles and solve problems before they become major issues especially if youre in a public-facing position or one which works closely with clients. For example:
- Resolved hundreds of client escalations, leading to a 40% increase in client retention.
- Developed an Excel macro and standardized reporting templates, resulting in efficient data collection and a 35% reduction in turnaround time.
Example Skills To Put On A Resume
While you can often easily determine hard skills to list based on details in the job description, selecting relevant soft skills is not always as clear. To help narrow down which soft skills to put on a resume, review the various duties of the position and determine which of your personal strengths will help you successfully complete those tasks.
Here are several examples of popular soft and hard skills employers may be seeking:
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Research The Companys Culture
Take the time to go beyond the job description and do your research on the company. Schweikert suggests simply going on the companys career website to see what their values are. In addition to including your professional experience on your resume, think about including information relevant to that companys culture.
For example, if you see that a company participates in a significant amount of charitable work and you have volunteer experience, consider adding that to your resume, Schweikert says. And even if the company doesnt mention anything about volunteering, you may want to include it anyway about 80% of hiring influencers , indicated that they believe there is a relationship between volunteering and leadership ability, according to a 2016 Deloitte survey.
Advice For Career Changers
As a career changer, most of your transferable skills are likely to be soft skills. If youre lacking hard skills in the industry youre moving into, make sure you emphasize your soft skills. For example, if youre transitioning from marketing to project management, highlight any accomplishments where youve led teams, managed campaigns, or organized events, since these all demonstrate relevant transferable skills.
If youre looking for a practical way to list soft skills on your resume, keep scrolling for examples that cover some of the most common soft skills.
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Professional Affiliations Or Other Activities Or Clubs
If you participate in professional groups or other activities that are related to the job youre applying to, you might include them on your resumeusually in a separate section. This is especially relevant for people just entering the workforce who were part of a club or activity in school. Like special projects and volunteering, you should format activities, club, and group entries the same way you would a professional experience.
What To Include In Your Resume
Now that you know what not to include in your resume, take a second look at your resume to make sure it includes all the right elements to effectively tell your story and market your qualifications. Click on the following link to learn what 11 pieces of information every professional should include in a resume.
Not sure if your resume includes any of these mistakes? Let us help! Take advantage of;TopResume’s free critique today!
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How To Write A Resume In 2021
For most job-seekers, a good resume is what stands between a dream job and Choice D. Get your resume right, and youll be getting replies from every other company you apply to.
If your resume game is weak, though, youll end up sitting around for weeks, maybe even months, before you even get a single response.
So youre probably wondering how you can write a resume that leads to HR managers inviting you to interviews daily.
Well, youve come to the right place!
In this guide, were going to teach you everything you need to know about how to make a resume:
How to Write a Resume – Step by step
So, lets dive right in!
How To Write A Resume Profile Or Summary Statement
A resume summary or career prole is a brief statement at the top of your resume. If you are a career;changer or have many years of experience, craft a powerful summary to highlight your accomplishments and skills. ;Show;the employer, at a glance, why youre qualied for the job!
Resume Prole Guidelines;
General guidelines to keep in mind:;
- Keep your prole short. Two to ve phrases written in a bulleted form or brief paragraph will do. Think of the summary as a snapshot of your skills, ;accomplishments, and knowledge.
- Label your prole professionally: Summary of Qualications, Career Prole, Career Highlights, Professional Summary, or just Summary or Prole.;
- Place your prole section at the top of your resume page, above your work history, so that the employer can see it when they rst review your resume.
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Get Started With Making Your Personal Resume Website Today
In fact, you can have your website up and running in as little as a couple of hours, thanks to WordPress and personal resume themes. Most of these themes make it easy to launch your website and personalize it to reflect your brand. They also include demo content, so all you’ve got to do is replace the information with your own.
While we highly recommend WordPress themes for your website because WordPress is user-friendly and allows you to add a blog to your site effortlessly. There are also plenty of professional;HTML templates if you dont have the time to maintain a blog though.
In the end, no matter which option you choose, take advantage of the tips mentioned above and use the example sites as inspiration for;what to include in a great personal website. Whether you decide to use a resume website WordPress theme or an HTML template, use the tips in this article to make your online resume website look great!;
Editorial Note: This post was originally published in 2017. It has been comprehensively revised to make current, accurate, and up to date by our staffwith special assistance from Brenda Barron.
How Far Back Should Your Resume Go
Whether you are well into your career, or have a gap in your employment, it can be tough to decide what to include on a resume. This is especially true when you reach a point where you question whether your work experience happened too long ago to include on your resume.
Most people are looking for a straightforward answer or rule that tells them exactly how many years is too far back to include on their resume. However, career experts and coaches say thereâs no hard-and-fast, right answer.
We spoke with Michelle Aikman, NCRW, co-founder and Director of Adventure Learning of Cerno, to discuss just how far back your resume should go.;
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Spelling Mistakes And Grammatical Errors
If you are applying for several jobs and tailoring your resume to each of them, changing the structure and adding new text can lead to typos and other errors. Ask a friend, family member or colleague to read through your resume to catch any mistakes you might have overlooked. You can also use spelling and grammar checks in your word processor or online.;
Some people find that printing their resume out makes it easier to spot errors that they may miss on the screen. Try pointing to each word with a pen when proofreading to ensure that you are considering the accuracy of each item. Reading your resume aloud is another way of encouraging yourself to focus on each word.
Putting It All Together
So there you have it.
The most important thing to remember is to select skills that are relevant to the position you are interviewing for, and more important than that, skills that your company puts a tremendous amount of value in.
Once you get your skills straightened out, you should make sure that the rest of your resume is congruent with the skills you just selected, namely, that your experience shows that you both used those skills in a work environment and developed the skill with on-the-job tasks.
The next thing you should do is download our action list below!
Good Luck!
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Outdated Or Irrelevant Social Media Profiles
Do not include on your resume social media accounts that host unprofessional content, do not support your current job goals, and are not regularly updated. If you’re going to include the URL to a social media account on your resume, make sure it reflects your personal brand and serves to demonstrate why you’re qualified for the job.
In addition, create at least one professional online profile on sites like LinkedIn or GitHub and include the link at the top of your resume. If you work in a creative field, consider creating an online portfolio or blog that has a mobile-responsive design so employers can access your site from any device.
Related:;
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.
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Should I Label It Hobbies And Interests
Here is where you may want to change it up. When you think of hobbies, you think of crafts, fishing, sports, music, etc. You may want to change the label of this section to be more professional.
You can label this section of your resume:
-
âActivities and Interestsâ
You can change the labeling a bit depending on what youâre putting in.
What To Put On A Resume If You Have No Work Experience
Now, if you just graduated and have absolutely;no work experience, heres what I recommend
However, if you have absolutely no work experience, heres what to put on your resume
Were going to follow the sections outlined above, but move #5 up to #3 so it will be right below your Summary section.
So it will look like this
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How To Discover Skills The Company Values
You need to use the job description to customize your resume skills and work history sections. But dont stop there. Research the employer to gain insight into the workplace culture and company values. You may discover additional qualities that would be prized by the employer.
If you know someone who works at the company, or has in the past, reach out to ask about the workplace culture and what the employer considers important in its workers. Also check websites such as Glassdoor and Fairygodboss for company reviews by employees and former employees.
The companys website can tell you a lot, too. Reading the About Us page is typically a good place to begin.
For instance, in a section called Living our values, IBM includes the following:
- Dedication to every clients success
- Innovation that matters for our company and for the world
- Trust and responsibility in all relationships
If you were applying for a job at IBM, you would want to consider what soft skills you possess that fit this framework customer service, attentiveness, initiative and loyalty and weave them into your resume.
Here at Robert Half, we focus on and promote our four LEAD principles. They are:
- Leadership by Example
- An Openness to New Ideas
- Dedication to Excellence
If youre applying for a job at Robert Half, you might highlight skills that speak to your leadership, drive and diligence, as well as your confidence and ability to collaborate.
What Not To Do
Dont list soft skills directly in your skills section.
That might seem counterintuitive surely listing your skills is the best way for employers to see them? The problem is, people are notoriously bad at evaluating their own soft skills. Nobody looks at a job ad asking for a hard-working, detail-oriented team player and thinks, no, thats not me. Soft skills are incredibly subjective, which means that hiring managers dont want to see people describing themselves as visionary leaders, excellent communicators, or self-starters.
If youre wondering what the harm is in listing them anyway, here are two things you should know:
- Applicant tracking systems dont screen for soft skills. Even if a job description lists leadership as a key skill, theres no point in simply listing it in your skills section it isnt a keyword the ATS is looking for.
- Buzzwords like these are red flags to most recruiters, since theyre often listed by people who dont meet other criteria of the job description. Put plainly, listing soft skills outright is more likely to get your resume thrown out than given a second look.
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What Types Of Certifications Should Be Included On A Resume
The first and most important step is to thoroughly read the job description. If you haven’t looked at any job listings yet, search for jobs in your industry to find some. Letâs go over the various types of certifications you may find in the job description before figuring out where to put them on your resume.
Create An Interests Section On Your Resume
The best place to list interests on your resume is in a dedicated section title Interests & Hobbies. This way, theyre easy to separate from the work experience on your resume.
List each interest or hobby in a bulleted list, similar to how youd format your resumes skills section. Heres an example of what that looks like:
If you lack work experience, consider making your resume interests section more detailed. For instance, you can include a brief one-line description for each interest that explains what you do or how its relevant to the role. If possible, quantify each point by adding a number, percentage, or time.
These short descriptions are a great way to make up for a lack of professional experience because they showcase some of your achievements even though they were outside an office setting.
Heres an example of a detailed resume interests section:
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Final Step To Gain An Unfair Advantage: Tailor Your Resume To The Job Description
I recommend tailoring your resume to match the job description before sending it out for each job. Look at the skills and keywords listed on the job description as youre writing your resume, and include matching information as much as possible.
Recruiters are always evaluating your resume relative to the job opening, so the more you can include skills and professional experience from their job posting, the more interviews youll get.
Customize your career summary statement, work experience, and even skill list. You can use the job posting to discover new ideas of what to include. You can also reorder your content and even remove one or two areas that arent relevant to the jobs you want next.
Heres a full article on;how to easily tailor your resume for each job.
It will take you slightly longer to customize each job application, but;youll get far more responses.
Would you rather apply for 50 jobs and hear back from one? Or apply for 25 jobs and hear back from four?
Thats the type of difference tailoring your resume can make.
Now you know what goes on a resume and how to make each section attractive to employers.
If you follow the steps above youre going to have a great resume that grabs attention and shows recruiters and hiring managers why they should interview you immediately.