What’s In A Resume

February 12, 2022

5

Create A Clear Education Section

Resume vs CV vs Portfolio: What are the Differences?

Having a clear education section is essential for your resume, especially if youre a recent college graduate or have minimal work experience.

If you lack professional experience but have a good track record in school , your education section should be highly detailed to highlight all of your education-related accomplishments.

On the other hand, if you possess more than a few years of professional experience, then its appropriate to keep your education section short and sweet.

Additionally, if youre a student or recent graduate, list your education section above the experience section of your resume. This way, you emphasize your most marketable qualifications at the top of the page.

Here are the main points to include in a standard education section:

The names of your university, community college, or technical school
Location of the schools
Date of graduation
Degree
GPA

Additionally, include relevant coursework on your resume if youre a recent graduate and dont have much work experience yet.

Here are two examples demonstrating how to format your education section:

Professional Summary Example For Student

Self-driven and knowledgeable computer science student with demonstrated experience in developing user-friendly software applications, coding and testing features, and providing engineering support. Oracle Certified Professional with extensive knowledge of multiple programming languages and software development tools, excellent problem-solving skills, and ability to perform well in a team.

What To Include In Your Curriculum Vitae

Your curriculum vitae should include your name, contact information, education, skills, and experience.

In addition to the basics, a CV includes research and teaching experience, publications, grants and fellowships, professional associations and licenses, awards, and other information relevant to the position you are applying for.

Start by making a list of all your background information, and then organize it into categories.

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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

Resume Headline And Title Examples By Industry

7 Remarkable Difference between CV and Resume

In summation: your resume title is super important. When it comes to formatting, the career experts at ZipJob highly suggest using something similar to our example above. But, what about the wording?

A good resume title often includes your target job title, your key skills, your qualifications, and/or your years of experience. You can also include your awards, industry, or specializations.

Here are a bunch of resume headline examples from our professional resume writers, organized by industry:

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What Contact Information Should Your Resume Have

A great resume would contain the following contact information in the right order:

Full Name – The generally preferred format is Name, Last Name

Right under the name, you should include your:

Professional Title – this should always mirror the job position you are applying for.

Lets say you are applying for a front-end web development position but your professional title says Junior Data Scientist.

Whoever picks up your resume will most likely discard it thinking that you are either overqualified for the position or your resume is in the wrong pile.

Professional Email Address

Your email should be professional and not something you created back in primary school.

Check out our guide on how to email your resume to an employer for more tips!

Phone Number – If you are applying for a job outside your country, make sure to include your country code as well. If you have a US phone number, for example, youd add in front of the number 555 555 5555.

Heres an example of how this would look exactly.

So far so good. However, you can notice how there is a lot of valuable empty space for you to add more eye-catching information.

Aside from the basic contact information, you should also put on your resume links to your social media handles and/or personal websites.

When To Include A Resume Objective

A resume objective statement is a great way to help your resume stand out no matter your professional level or background. However, there are a few cases when including an objective is particularly helpful:

If you are new to the job market. If youre a new graduate with little to no previous experience or entering the job market for the first time, including an objective helps the hiring manager understand how your career plans align with their job opening.

What Is An Applicant Tracking System

An applicant tracking system or ATS, for short is a type of software used by recruiters and employers during the hiring process to collect, sort, scan, and rank the job applications they receive for their open positions.

The applicant tracking system was initially created for large companies that are accustomed to dealing with several thousand inbound job applications on a weekly basis. Today, approximately 99 percent of Fortune 500 companies rely on ATS software to help streamline their recruitment process. However, what began as a recruitment solution for large employers has turned into a commonplace tool for companies of all shapes and sizes.

Good Skills To Put On A Resume

How to Write The BEST Resume in 2022 – NEW Template and Examples INCLUDED

When somebody says the word skills to you, what immediately comes to mind?

For most people, the answer is things I am good at.

Typing. Woodworking. Public speaking Cartwheels.

Yes, all of the things listed above can be considered skills, but when it comes to the job hunt, you have to be selective as to which of these to include on your resume. Why?

Because the company you are interviewing with AND the job you are interviewing for both require a very specific set of skills in order for you to get the job done effectively.

Filling up the skills section of your resume with a bunch of skills that have absolutely nothing to do with the job you are applying for is basically just a waste of space.

This is why it is important that you understand how to choose the correct skills to include in your resume for 2021.

Optimize Your Resume With Keywords

One of the best ways to ensure your resume is compatible with an ATS is to optimize your resume with the right keywords . Unlike a buzzword, which is typically considered to be a fluffy marketing term such as proactive or self-starter, keywords represent the soft skills and hard skills you possess and the expertise you’ve acquired over the years that qualify you for your target job.

If you’re unsure which resume keywords should be used, start by collecting three to five job descriptions that represent the type of position you’re pursuing. Then, copy and paste the job description into a free word and phrase frequency tool like Online-Utility.org’s Text Analyzer, to identify the terms that are regularly used throughout your desired positions. If you possess these skills or qualifications, incorporate these terms into your resume.

When it comes to creating an ATS-optimized resume, you need to think about the frequency, as well as the placement of these keywords throughout your resume. Some applicant tracking systems will determine the strength of your skills based on the number of times a term shows up in your resume , whereas others assign an estimated amount of experience for a particular skill based on its placement within the resume. To make your resume truly compatible with any ATS, you’ll want to optimize your resume with both systems in mind.

Detail Your Work Experience

The work experience section is the heart of your resume. Employers look at this section closely to determine whether your job history and prior accomplishments make you a promising candidate.

Thats why its important to detail not only your job responsibilities but also your competence in prior roles. The work experience section is your chance to show recruiters and hiring managers how you have added unique value to other companies.

The first things a recruiter looks for on your resume are the job titles youve held and the caliber of companies youve worked with. Make this information easy to find by sticking to a familiar format.

List each job in reverse-chronological order. Each job should have its own subheading that includes the following information:

Company

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Why You Need A Resume

In todays job market, the resume has become the number one requirement potential employers request. Before an employer will take valuable time to interview you, he or she wants to meet you on paper. How you impress that employer with your resume can, and will, make all the difference.

Without a resume, you cant even begin to compete, and an inferior resume will quickly eliminate you before you even have a fighting chance. That is why it is imperative to have a superior resume, one that effectively lets employers know what you can do for them.

A Resume is a Summary of Your Qualifications

The term resume comes from the French and means a “summary.” Thats exactly what your resume is: A summary of your qualifications, skills, and achievements. It shows a future employer what you have done in the past. It details your skills and training, work experience, and education, and, most importantly, the accomplishments you have made with past employers.

It should also inform the employer of your career objective and communicate in a concise manner the benefits you will bring to the job if hired.

Skills Versus Employer Benefits

The Purpose of the Resume is to Get You an Interview

How often have you thought, “If only I had met with the employer in person, I could have convinced him that I was the right person for the job!” Your only chance is to compose an impressive resume, one that will get noticed and get you in the door so you can meet the employer in person and get the job.

The Unorthodox Route: A Functional Or Skills

Rather than listing out your experience in reverse chronological order, a functional or skills-based resume has bullet points that reflect how each of your skills is demonstrated by the work youve done over the course of your career. At the bottom, youll include everything else, such as your education, job history, professional achievements, community involvement, and other technical skills. This is a good option if you have a somewhat all-over-the-place work history and want to tie everything together neatly.

Who its good for: Career changers whose work experiences may not appear to be relevant and people with an abundance of temporary jobs or gaps in their work histories.

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Arrange Your Contact Information

Now that you know the format youre going to use, its time to start your resume. First things first, employers need to know who you are and how to contact you.

List the following contact details in your resume header at the top of the page:

Name
Telephone number
Email address
Link to online portfolio
LinkedIn profile

Traditionally, you would also include your mailing address on your resume. However, this is no longer mandatory because most job applications are sent via email.

Here are two examples of how you can format your contact information section:

Why Resumes Are Important For Job Seekers

Your resume, along with a cover letter, is an essential part of the hiring process, and is a base requirement to be considered for a position.

A good resume is the first part of your application any hiring manager will see, so its important that it conveys your qualifications accurately and convincingly.

Your resume should offer employers a digestible overview of your relevant skills, employment history, education background, and accomplishments. Based on this information, they can make an informed decision about whether or not they want to interview or hire you.

But writing a resume from scratch can be time-consuming. To simplify the process, try using our online resume builder. Just type in your information and our software will help you assemble a perfectly formatted resume that is sure to impress any hiring manager.

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Request A Free Ats Scan For Your Resume

Here at TopResume, we offer a free ATS resume scan as part of our free resume review. When you request a free resume review from TopResume, you’ll receive feedback on your resume’s content, as well as its ATS compatibility.

The first half of the review offers an objective look at what your resume is doing well and where it is falling short, from both an information and design perspective. The second half of the free resume review shows you exactly what information an ATS will pull from your resume, what information it will be unable to identify and retrieve , and for what top skills and keywords your resume currently ranks. If the ATS is unable to identify this important information or thinks you’re a fit for a job when you’re not, then your resume will need to be further optimized before it passes the ATS-compatibility test.

Click on the following link to watch our latest #OfficeHours video on how to write an ATS resume to beat the bots.

Don’t let the bots stop you from landing your dream job. Get an ATS-proof resume today.

Add Your Name And Contact Information

Resume Tips: 3 Steps to a Perfect Resume

The top of your resume should include the following information:

Name
Location
Email Address
LinkedIn profile URL

It might seem obvious, but job seekers sometimes forget a key piece of contact information in this section. Double check and make it as easy as possible for recruiters to contact you for a job interview.

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Professional Summary Example For Project Manager

Logistics & Planning PMO for Anheuser-Busch InBev with +7 years of experience in Supply Chain Operations & Project Management. Lived and worked for ABI in 6 cities in past years, managed +300 direct & indirect employees and +0.5 billion BRL over the years. At ABI experienced the routines in breweries operations & urban distribution. As Project Manager build the Zone Logistics Project area for ABI LAN, being responsible for 4.0 Supply Chain, integrating the technologies WMS, YMS, TMS and Tracking.

Avoid Images Charts And Other Graphics

While these may look nice to the human eye, resumes with embedded images become a garbled mess, or get completely omitted from your application, after it passes through the applicant tracking system. For instance, if you insert an image or chart to showcase your key skills, the ATS will be unable to read it. If you use a cool graphic to brand your name on your resume, this piece of information will be lost on the applicant tracking system .

What Are Employers Looking For In A Resume

Hiring managers look for three things on your resume, What did you do? Why did you do it? And what was the result? says Muse career coach , owner of Career Therapy. If you can answer all three of these questions in…your resume bullet points, youre going to be on the right track.

Clear, easy-to-understand language is key. The truth is that most resumes make no sense. They are stuffed with jargon, they are too technical, and they are filled with redundancies. Try to read a resume that isnt yours and you will quickly realize that it feels like an alien wrote it, McGovern adds. Put yourself in the shoes of a recruiter who has no idea how your role workshow can you make your resume accessible to them?

The hiring manager also cares about more than just you and you alonethey care about you in relation to them. Hiring managers want to see if a candidate matches the requirements of the role theyre hiring for, Yurovsky explains. Your resume should paint this picture so the hiring manager not only knows what day-to-day responsibilities you can handle, but why you, above other, bring value to their organization.

Formatting Your Margins And Spacing

When you format your resume you want to make sure that your leave enough margin space to allow for printing. If you try to adjust your margins and make them too narrow in order to fit more into your page, you run the risk of critical information being cut off if an employer prints it out.

Inversely, making your margins too large will leave your resume looking boxed in and squished. The general rule is to set your margins at one inch on all sides.

Think of your resume as a piece of fine artwork. Your margins should create a beautiful frame around it. If youre truly desperate for space, you can slightly adjust your top and bottom margins but try to avoid adjusting your side margins.

In terms of the spacing, keep your resume to single-spaced with a blank line between each section of your content.

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