Take It One Step Further
People hire performers, so you want to show that you didnt just do stuff, but that you got stuff done! As you look at your bullet points, think about how you can take each statement one step further and add in what the benefit was to your boss or your company. By doing this, you clearly communicate not only what youre capable of, but also the direct benefit the employer will receive by hiring you. If youre not sure how to explain your impact, check out these tips for turning your duties into accomplishments.
From Your Career Summary And Work History To Your Education And Skills Learn How To Make Each Section Of Your Resume The Best It Can Be
This is how to write a resume.
Need some basic information about how to write a resume that stands out from the competition? Or maybe youre looking for advice on how to fine-tune your career summary, craft your work history section, and show off your education and skills? Well, youve come to the right place.
Check out the following resume writing tips to learn how to make your own, optimizing each section for maximum success.
Write A Winning Resume Introduction
Placed at the top of your resume, a well-written resume introduction briefly introduces your key qualifications and skills, and convinces employers to continue reading your application.
There are many different types of resume introductions used by job seekers today, including the:
However, the two most commonly used introduction styles are the resume objective and the resume summary.
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What Not To Include On A Resume: Mistakes To Avoid
Now weve looked at what should be included in a resume and how to write those sections to grab attention.
Were not done yet though there are a few things that you should leave off of your resume if you want to get interviews and you may not have been warned about these. So lets cover that next
How To Put Self
Putting freelance projects on your resume that you do outside your full-time role is simple. When you format your resume, list two positions and make it clear from the dates that both roles continue to the present. Heres an example:
Work Experience
Kenting Software, Kenosha, WI / July 2019present
- Create 5+ blog posts per week on software updates
- Manage 7-person team
- Increased CTR by 47% in 12-month period by implementing new marketing strategies
- Use 5+ SEO tools, including Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Analytics, to analyze user needs
Content CreatorSelf-Employed, Kenosha, WI / December 2017present
- Write an average of 10 blog articles per month on travel for Wandering Around the Midwest, Roaming Alone, and Travel with Pets Unleashed
- Produce 1,500+ word articles with turnaround time as tight as 3 days
- Earned average of 20% in bonuses in 2021 due to travelers mentioning my articles at travel destinations for discounts
- Increased output by 27% from 2019 to 2021 despite negative impact of COVID-19 on travel and tourism industry
Because both of these positions are roles the applicant currently holds, theyd list whichever job is more relevant to the opening theyre applying for. For example, if this hypothetical applicant was applying to a software company, theyd list the Digital Marketing Specialist role first.
However, if they were applying for a full-time travel blogging role, theyd instead list the Content Creator role first.
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Get Help With Your Cv
If you’re a student or recent graduate and you’d like help creating a CV then you can get professional advice from your university careers service.
During COVID-19 many university careers services have moved their programme of activities and events online to support students and graduates during the pandemic.
The Best Things To List On Your Resume If You Have No Experience
No professional experience on your resume? No problem as long as you read this guide on how to write a resume when you have no work experience.
There are plenty of reasons why you may not have any previous work experience to list on your resume. There are many other things you can add to your resume to show employers that you are the perfect candidate for their open job post.
When you dont have work experience, its important to highlight past activities, skills and other experiences youve had to show you have unique skills, professionalism and competency. When managers are hiring entry-level employees, the top two characteristics they are looking for in your resume are attitude and aptitude.
That is:
Keep these two traits in mind while writing your resume and add any relevant experiences that show that you have the attitude and aptitude for the job.
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Highlight Your Relevant Job Skills
Hiring managers are on the lookout for candidates who have relevant, job-specific skills. While listing a heap of skills on your resume doesnt actually prove youre skilled, incorporating your various skills into different sections will catch the eye of whoever is vetting your application.
For instance, you can showcase your hard and soft skills in your introduction and work experience section. And of course, you should also list your most valuable abilities in your resumes skills section.
Look For Target Keywords
If youre still not sure if any of these skills are right for your situation, one quick way to check which skills the employer is seeking is to check the job description.
Read through it a few times and youll likely spot three or four key skills mentioned several times throughout the document. If thats the case, you should do your best to focus on those skills in your resume, too.
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How To Add Github To Resume
Where to put GitHub link on resume?
Now that you are familiar with where to list your GitHub details, let us check out how to link to GitHub on resume with perfection.
It should be strategically placed in your resume so that it does not affect the rest of the layout of your resume while it is easily noticed by recruiters.
Spelling Or Grammar Mistakes
Proofread and spellcheck everything.
You are very unlikely to get called for an interview if you have a spelling or grammar mistake on your resume and nobodys going to tell you either.
So you need to find it yourself, or have a friend proofread it carefully for you!
Heres a little trick if you proofread it yourself: temporarily change your resume to an unusual font before proofreading. It will help you spot errors .
Now youve hopefully gotten answers to your questions about what should a resume include, and youve seen the top things to leave off as well.
Theres one final step, though, thats going to get you far more interviews from all of this
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Personal Or Academic Projects Relevant To The Job
You can also list personal or academic projects relevant to the job you are applying for, such as a group project at school or a neighborhood summer bake sale. You just need to relate your projects with how you are a good fit for a companys position. Before writing a project down, think about how you will explain its relevance during an interview.
Education And Academic Achievements
After your key skills, create a resume section for your education. List any degrees you have obtained or any degrees you are currently pursuing. If you stopped going to school before obtaining a degree, you can list the credits or hours you have completed.
For each degree, list the school, the location, your degree, your field of study and the dates you attended. You should also include academic honors and awards, such as graduating Cum Laude.
Example of how to list education in a resume #1:Coral Springs University, Coral Springs, Florida Bachelor of Science in Biology Minor in PsychologyGraduated Magna Cum Laude
Example of how to list education in a resume #2:Coral Springs University, Coral Springs, Florida In ProgressAssociate of Arts
Example of how to list education in a resume #3:Coral Springs University, Coral Springs, Florida Bachelor of Arts in Art History 200 Credit Hours Obtained
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Skills To Put On Resume 2021
If you’re seeking for a course that fits your current skill level, Skills To Put On Resume 2021 is just what you’re looking for. These are the most popular online courses and classes that will undoubtedly benefit your learning process. With these tips, you will be able to study and build personal talents in order to attain the goals you set for yourself during the learning process.
Here Is A Good Sample For Someone Who Is In The Middle Of A Career Change:
This is a good example because it hits on everything we discussed above. Its specific. We know exactly who this person is , what company theyre applying to , both how they benefit the company and what value they bring and best of all, its short and to the point.
In just a few words this individual has taken what might seem like a totally unrelated field and shown how the skills and experiences they have directly translate to the job theyre applying for. Brilliant!
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Include Them In Your Resume Skills Section
Your resumes skills section is the main place to list your skills and the easiest place because you only need to list the relevant skill and dont need to provide any context.
Depending on your skill-set, you should add an additional skills section or a technical skills section.
When to use an additional skills section
If you have several job-relevant hard and soft skills but dont have a highly developed technical skillset, then an additional skills section is the ideal way to highlight skills on your resume.
Just make sure the skills you choose to include in your additional skills section are related to the specific job youre applying for.
Heres what an additional skills section looks like:
When to use a technical skills section
You should use a technical skills section when you have a wide range of hard skills that are highly important to the job youre applying for. This format is especially useful in tech, where candidates are judged on their mastery of job-specific technical skills.
If you think this is the case for you, a dedicated technical skills section is the best way to feature your skills and abilities prominently on your resume.
Heres an example of a technical skills section on a resume:
Because software development work demands a special skillset, this Java developer resume begins with a technical skills section.
Some industries where a technical skills section works well are:
- Information technology
- Executive level positions, like CEO
Showdont Tellyour Soft Skills
Describing soft skills on a resume often starts to sound like a list of meaningless buzzwords, fast. But being a strong leader or an effective communicator are important characteristics you want to get across. Think about how you can demonstrate these attributes in your bullet points without actually saying them. Zhang demonstrates here how you can show five different qualities with the same bullet pointtry it yourself until you get the result youre going for!
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Put The Best Stuff Above The Fold
In marketing speak, above the fold refers to what you see on the front half of a folded newspaper , but basically its your first impression of a document. In resume speak, it means you should make sure your best experiences and accomplishments are visible on the top third of your resume. This top section is what the hiring manager is going to see firstand what will serve as a hook for someone to keep on reading. So focus on putting your best, most relevant experiences firstand then check out these five other marketing tricks to get your resume noticed.
Soft Skills Vs Hard Skills
âSoftâ skills are those that are not quantifiable, such as leadership. These skills also cannot be learned, but are rather a facet of your personality. Nevertheless, soft skills are still critical to have, for they demonstrate that you are personable and competent.
âTip: Use some of the soft skills as adjectives when writing your profile summary. For example, try âenthusiastic entrepreneur,â âempathic childcare worker,â âorganized nursesâ aid,â âsupportive administration assistantâ or âdetail-oriented sales associate.â
The resume below is for a Childcare Worker and includes many soft skills that companies look for, including Creativity and Organizational skills.
In contrast, âHardâ skills are those that are learned — either in school or through a certification program. These skills are quantifiable and can be continuously expanded upon through further education. Today, most hard skills have to do with computer technology, such as SEO, CSS/HTML, or Microsoft Suite. Even if you arenât tech-savvy, chances are you still have a few hard skills.
Tip: Be specific about your hard skills. Instead of listing âProgramming Languages,â specify which ones you know — Python, Java, C, etc. Same with photo editing software and any other platforms you are familiar with.
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Use Your Cover Letter To Showcase Your Skills Juggling Both Jobs
When you write a cover letter to go along with your resume, use it to describe how you balanced working a full-time job and a side hustle and succeeded in both.
For example, you can showcase how your ability to meet deadlines for freelance projects in your spare time highlights your effective time management skills.
You can also note how managing the responsibilities of two roles means you can handle a greater workload than other applicants.
Use this opportunity to reassure the hiring manager that if youre planning to continue with your freelance work, it wont affect your ability to handle a full-time job.
Additional Sections To Include
If you do not have enough work experience or skills to fill an entire resume, you may need to add in some extra sections.
Additional sections that are good to consider adding include:
A) Resume Objective or Summary
â1-3 sentences that outline the job title you are seeking and your career goals. Place this below your personal header. Read our guide on adding your resume summary.
B) Achievements and Awards
Listing key achievements on your resume can be a great way to signify your effectiveness as a teammate. You can do this by showcasing academic or work-related accomplishments. Examples include awards such as Employee-of-the-Month or inclusion on a Deanâs List.
C) Certificationsâ
It can be helpful to include relevant certifications you earned through supplemental training. Some jobs may even require specific certifications for applicants to qualify for the position.
D) Unpaid Experience
âUnpaid experiences can include volunteer work, community service, and internships. These are great to include when you lack more professional work experience.â
E) Hobbiesâ
Adding hobbies and interests on your resume can help to humanize you more to employers. They also can give hiring managers more to ask you about during an interview to get a sense of your personality.
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How To Create A Resume Skills Section
When youwrite a resume, its important to organize the content so its succinct and easy to read. A three-column, three-row highlights section near the top of your resume, just above your professional experience, is a helpful way to list the nine soft and technical skills that speak directly to the postings required qualifications. Its also a good place to add keywords youve identified.
You dont need more than a couple words here to show what you bring to the table. This should be a bulleted list a reader can quickly scan. Complete sentences will come in your work history.
Here are some examples of what professionals from different industries could list in this section:
Making It All About You
This is a trap that many job seekers fall into, as they cant resist to use the objective to list off all of the things that they want to get out of the position.
EXAMPLE: Hi, Im Joe Jobseeker and I really want a job in a company where I make a ton of money doing as little as possible. Oh, and a corner office. A company car would be nice too. While were at it, lets talk benefits, retirementand the company vacation policy.
Yes, were being over the top with this one, but we need you to look at this and laughbecause even a slightly toned down one where you list only what YOU want is going to come off just as ridiculous to the hiring manager as the one weve blown out of proportion.
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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.