It seems that resumes are out, people assume that it’s a waste of time investing your efforts in reshaping the Curriculum Vitae document. And let’s be honest, you are called to rewrite your resume in times of a change, when you’re looking for a job, or when you’re thinking it’s time to get your new promotion. And as a matter of fact, writing an outstanding resume can put you on the top level list of professional candidates. It’s not just what you did (your experience, your education and knowledge), it’s also how you present it (design, choosing the right words, adding and deleting information). And by writing a great resume, you increase your chances to get an interview and eventually get more job offers. Here are 4 tips for creating a professional resume:
#1 Past Vs. Future Many people make a huge mistake of presenting their professional career “as is”, meaning presenting their career experience and background as they are, regardless of the job they are applying for and without examining the requirements of the new position. This is a mistake Instead: write your resume while testing the job requirements of the new position you are applying for. When describing your current job and your previous jobs, you should highlight characteristics related to the next position you want to do.
Tip: Look for words in the job description and use them wisely as part of your resume.
#2 Your Best Offer It’s challenging to present all you have in one (preferable) or two pages, and you never really made up your mind if adding everything you know to your resume is a good or bad decision. Well, let me help you with this. Your resume is designed to take you to the next step: an appointment, or at least a phone call. The content in your resume is supposed to sell you to the specific person that now makes a very quick decision (up to 30 seconds): if you move to the side of Yes or to the side of No. To be on the “Yes” side, your resume should be very accurate and include only the information that promotes your candidacy for the job you applied for. That’s why everything that’s less relevant is coming out. Therefore, sometimes running a small coffee house during the course of your studies will remain on your resume, because this is your only proven management experience (for a position that requires managerial experience), but will be omitted from your resume if you apply for a development engineer (without managerial requirements).
Tip: Put yourself in the recruiter’s place and think if what’s on the resume really appeals to you to call and set up a meeting. If it seems too boring, or repetitive, it is worth rewriting your resume.
#3 Evidences, Proofs, Examples In every field there is an ability to bring proofs and examples that represent your professional experience. Even if you think you do not have statistics in your area, it is relatively easy to assess work volumes and your immediate contribution to success in the job. For example, the Operations Manager will show the ability to lower operating expenses by 30% for two years. Or customer success manager that increases the amount of activity with existing customers by 20%. Even an administrative manager can provide data such as areas of activity and scope of activity in each field.
Tip: If you cannot display real numbers, describe the percentages. It is recommended to present this in Bold, at the beginning or end of the paragraph.
#4 Skills and Areas of Expertise One of the most important sections that should be added to the resume at the top of the page is a paragraph that describes your abilities and specializations, especially in clear-cut professional terms. Here is the place to be precise and write the professional skills as they appear in the job requirements. Here you write: computer skills, operating systems, programming languages, work platforms, programming tools. You also add exceptional knowledge in tools or languages. All this to appear at the top of your resume, right after the summary.
Tip: Write only contemporary professional tools. You don’t have to write the entire list, if no one is using any of these programming tools anymore. On the other hand, even if you think everyone knows Excel and you don’t need to mention it, you’ll be surprised how much Excel professional tools are important today in a wide range of fields of business. For more information about career branding and crafting your outstanding resume, contact me:
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