The Most Popular: A Reverse Chronological Resume
As previously mentioned, a reverse chronological resume is preferred by many coaches and HR experts, mainly because its super readable. When everythings in a clear order, its easy to skim and even easier to draw lines between experiences.
Who its good for: Just about everyonefrom students applying to internships all the way up to senior-level executives
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Add Your Linkedin Profile
In its place, add a link to your LinkedIn profile, as well as any other relevant social media handles . Caveat: Never include Facebook, no matter how clean you keep it.
Dont want to drop your whole ugly LinkedIn URL onto your resume? Create a custom URL to your public profile using simply /yourname . .
Quantify As Much As Possible
Anyone can say that he or she excelled at his or her last job. So, you need to prove to the hiring manager that you truly did. Numbers, percentages, and supporting facts go a long way in showing that you have a track record of success. For example, rather than saying successfully hit sales quotas as a bullet point in your resume you should say successfully hit sales quotas 100% of the time and exceeded goals by 25% in the last 5 months. You can even do this if your position doesnt involve using numbers.
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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.
And Lets Wrap It All Up
If youve followed all of our advice until now, congrats! Youre probably an expert on how to make a resume.
To wrap it all up, lets brush up on some of the most important lessons weve learned so far
- Use the rightresume builder. You dont want to mess around with formatting for hours before even starting to work on your resume!
- Focus on achievements. Mention your achievements instead of responsibilities, so that you stand out from all the other applicants.
- Include the must-have sections. That is, resume summary, work experience, education, and skills.
- Tailor for the job. Everything listed on your resume should be relevant for the job youre applying for.
- Perfect your cover letter. Its as important as your resume, so make sure you pay as much attention to it!;
At Novorésumé, were committed to helping you get the job you deserve, every step of the way! Follow our career blog to stay up to date with industry-leading advice. Or, check out some of our top guides:
Andrei Kurtuy
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Simple Resume Writing Tips To Help You Stand Out
Your resume is the most important document you’ll submit in your job search. It’s your front-line fighter, so to speak, as it’s your first opportunity to present yourself to a potential employer.;
A strong resume can help you stand out from the crowd, but a weak resume can remove you from the running, so you want to do all you can to make sure your resume is the best it can be.
It can be difficult to succinctly present all of your experiences and qualifications, but there are many ways to spruce up your resume without going overboard. To help you land an interview, Business News Daily rounded up some of the experts’ best resume writing tips.
What Are The Expectations For Rsum
Readers have expectations about how a résumé should look. For instance, your name typically appears at the top of the résumé and is usually the largest item. In addition, headers usually categorize the various sections of the text. Also, readers expect the information in your résumé to be accurate and correct. Finally, your résumé should be free of grammatical and spelling errors. Know that your résumé should be easy to read quickly and contain all necessary and pertinent information. The persuasive quality of your résumé depends on its usability.
Job seekers at Purdue University may find value in the Purdue career Wiki here.
Go to the OWL homepage and select Professional, Technical, and Job Search Writing to find other cover letter and résumé resources.
For more information about how to develop a résumé, visit these OWL resources:
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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 inyour 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.
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Always Provide Quantifiable Achievements
One of the most common pieces of advice we hear from recruiters is provide results, not responsibilities.
Well, yeah, its great advice. But we can do even better than that.
- Baseline: when describing your experience, demonstrate the impact of your work and contribution to the bottom-line of a company
- Stand out: Add quantifiable achievements to other sections of your resume, creating a cohesive rainmaker narrative.
Compare these two Experience sections from our job-winning Tech resume guide.
The first example may seem clean and concise, but in reality, its generic and doesnt bring impact.
When you provide quantifiable achievements in your resume, its not about bragging with numbers.
It gives recruiters the impression that the person knows the impact of their work and their value to the company. And knowing your impact makes you more effective and loyal, a recruiters dream.
Heres a formula we are using to describe our experience in an engaging and impactful manner:
Accomplished as measured in by doing
Just remember that quantifiable achievements dont necessarily mean numeric achievements. Simply adding numbers to something doesnt make it impactful.
As long as what you did makes an impact and benefits the company, it will resonate with recruiters.
The best part is that you can demonstrate impact throughout other sections of your resume, instantly making them more engaging and effective: Summary, Projects, even your headline.
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Eight Tips To Keep Your Resume Concise
1. Avoid repeating information: Did you perform the same or similar job tasks for more than one employer? Instead of repeating job duties, focus on your accomplishments in each position.
2. Eliminate old experience: Employers are most interested in what you did recently. If you have a long career history, focus on the last 10 to 15 years. If your early career is important to your current goal, briefly mention the experience without including details. For example: Early Career: ABC Company — City, State — Assistant Store Manager and Clerk, 1980-1985.
3. Don’t include irrelevant information: Avoid listing hobbies and personal information such as date of birth or marital status. Also, eliminate outdated technical or business skills.
4. Cut down on job duties: Many job seekers can trim the fat off their resumes simply by removing long descriptions of job duties or responsibilities. Instead, create a paragraph that briefly highlights the scope of your responsibility and then provide a list of your most impressive accomplishments.
5. Remove the “references available upon request” line:;Many job seekers waste the valuable last line of the resume on an obvious statement. Delete it.
6. Use a telegraphic writing style: Eliminate personal pronouns and minimize the use of articles when preparing your resume.
What Should It Look Like
A general résumé should be a brief summary of your experience, so it should be as concise as possibleno shorter than one full page and no more than three pages . Résumés differ from letters and papers, and they are written in a concise style using bullet lists rather than long sentences and paragraphs. A résumé is designed to be skimmed quickly. You should look at as many résumé examples as possible before writing your own. You can check our samples to see several different formats.
Though you may maintain a general résumé, you should tailor your résumés to fit the needs and expectations of each company and job position. To help tailor your résumé, collect as much information as possible on the organization and its mission/goals. Then collect information on the people who may read your résumé: human resources, decision makers, potential boss, etc. Finally, collect information on the job position and its requirements. When you know about the company, the audience, and the position, you can match your training and experience to their needs and expectations. Please see the Audience Analysis page for details on collecting information on readers.
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Add A Resume Summary Or Objective
After your contact information, you have the option to include either a resume summary or objective statement. An objective statement quickly explains your career goals and is a good choice for those with limited professional experience, such as recent college or high school graduates. A resume summary is a short statement that uses active language to describe your relevant work experience and skills.
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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How Do I Tailor My Resume For A Career Change
A career change is one of the moments where it’s clear to most job seekers that the same old resume just won’t cut it. When it’s time to make a pivot, a tailored resume shows an employer that you are invested in their business and ready to learn any skills you lack. Here are some simple tips to help you stand out when it’s time to try something new.
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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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.
How To Ace Your Next Interview
Youve perfected both your resume & cover letter. Now, its time for the next step – the dreaded job interview.
Whether youre an extrovert or an introvert, you probably hate the interviewing process. After all,;sitting there while someones prodding into your past experiences and judging the hell out of you isnt the most fun experience.
Did you know, though, that most interviewers ask the same questions? Yep – all you have to do is learn how to answer some of the most common interview questions, and youll be an interview away from landing your dream job!
Want to learn more? Check out our complete guide to Job Interview Questions and Answers.
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Use A Professional Font
Because employers have only a short time to review your resume, it should be as clear and as easy to read as possible. You should use a basic, clean font like Arial or Times New Roman. Keep your font size between 10 and 12 points. Selecting a clear, readable font will help make your resume appear more professional.
You should also make sure to reduce or eliminate any extraneous whitespace. Too much blank space might make your resume seem sparse, distracting the audience and possibly raising a red flag. By reducing extra white space, you make it easier for the resume reader to focus only on the content of your resume instead of the white spaces. You can reduce white space by increasing your font size to 12 points and possibly adding an additional, optional section like Skills or Awards and Achievements.
Related: Best Font for a Resume: How to Choose Type and Size
What Is An Applicant Tracking System
An Applicant Tracking System is a type of software companies use to quickly determine if an applicant is qualified for a job opening.
ATS software automatically scans and processes each job application sent to a company, and then disqualifies applications that dont meet the requirements the company set. Such requirements usually include things like job-related technical skills, certifications, and work experience.
If your resume doesnt get past the ATS, your application will likely be rejected before it ever reaches the hiring manager.
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What Is The Best Resume Layout
The first thing a job recruiter notices about any resume is the layout.;
Does it look organized or cluttered? Is it too short or too long? Is it boring and easy to ignore, or does it scream out Read me!?
Here are some of the best practices when it comes to your resume layout:
Resume Layout Must-Haves
1. One page in length. You should only go for 2 pages if you really, really believe that itll add significant value. HR managers in big firms get around 1,000+ resumes per month. Theyre not going to spend their valuable time reading your life story!
2. Clear section headings. Pick a heading and use it for all the section headers.
3. Ample white-space, especially around the margins.
4. Easy-to-read font. Wed recommend sticking to what stands out, but not too much. Do: Ubuntu, Roboto, Overpass, etc. Dont : Comic Sans
5. Pick the right font size. As a rule of thumb, go for 11 – 12 pt for normal text, and 14 – 16 pt for section titles.
6. As a rule of thumb, save your resume as PDF. Word is a popular alternative, but it has a good chance of messing up your resume formatting.
One more thing you need to consider in terms of resume layout is whether youre going for a traditional-looking free resume template or something a bit more modern:
If youre pursuing a career in a more traditional industry – legal, banking, finance, etc. – you might want to stick to the first.;