A Simple Step by Step Guide to a Building the Perfect Resume - CareerAlley

A Simple Step by Step Guide to a Building the Perfect Resume - CareerAlley We may receive compensation when you click on links to products from our partners. Recruiters get hundreds of resumes and spend an average of 6 seconds deciding if they should read the entire resume. If your resume does not grab their attention in the first few seconds, it will be thrown in the trash heap. Finding the perfect resume Recruiters are tasked with finding the perfect resume for whatever job opportunities they are working on. Hiring managers depend on recruiters to send only the most qualified candidates. Recruiters eliminate resumes not only on content but also on how they look. If they are poorly formatted, too short or really ugly content almost doesnt matter. Likewise, any resume with spelling errors, grammatical errors or resumes that were not an exact fit will be eliminated as well. By the end of the process, recruiters wind up with only a handful of candidates. Was it possible that they missed the most qualified person because they eliminated all of the ugly resumes? Absolutely. Thats why presentation, format, and content are all equally important. Youve probably heard hundreds of times that your resume is the most important document in your job search (because it is). But if you want to stand out from the competition, you need more than a great looking resume. In the end, only qualified candidates will get called for an interview. Resume to Referral Price: Do you need a resume writing strategy that will work best for your career situation and current job search? Do you need the writing skills of a certified, published, and skilled resume writer? Look no further. Great Resumes Now We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. There are five simple steps to creating the perfect resume. Lets get started. Photo byDanielle MacInnesonUnsplash Step One: Gathering Your Information As with all successful endeavors, thoughtful planning will make for a great resume. Take the time to collect all of the content for your resume before you start writing. This includes: A Summary of Your Skills and Objective Make a list of all of your skills. This includes computer skills you have and other skills that are relative to your industry (like Accounting Pronouncements, medical procedures, etc.). Your skills list should include both your hard skills (skills you can teach) and your soft skills (interpersonal skills). List as many skills as you can think of, the list can be adjusted as/if needed when you build your resume. Where you put your skills section on your resume depends much on the format. Education You should gather the key facts about your education (especially if you have an advanced degree). You should list the name of the university/college, degree program, years attended and any honors (such as Deans List). Another key fact may be appropriate, like GPA, clubs and extracurricular activities, special courses, awards and any other important fact that will help your resume stand out. If youve not yet finished your degree, you should still put it on your resume and list how many credits have been completed to date and the expected date of graduation. Work history Your work history is the meat of your resume. You will need the company name, position(s) held and dates you worked at each job. You will also want to make a quick list of achievements and specific responsibilities. We will go deeper on this later. Achievements This is mentioned up above in the Work History section but the topic deserves some special focus. Hiring managers will not only want to know that youve got the experience for the job, they will also want to know that you can get it done. Nothing shows this better than listing your achievements. Add facts like automated X process and saved the company $100,000 to the extent possible. Extracurricular Activities and Hobbies Employers want to know what you do in your spare time. This topic spans both, what you did during your college years as well as other activities you are involved with. This includes charity work/organizations, clubs (only appropriate clubs), additional languages you may speak, sports, etc. Great Resumes Fast Price: Impress Employers with a Professionally-Written Resume. Your resume will include the right words, information, format and design employers want on your resume. Learn how to outsmart applicant tracking systems (ATS). Impress Employers We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Its All in the Format Several years ago a friend of mine was out of work due to bankruptcy. He had tons of experience and felt he would quickly land another job. One of the things that he was particularly proud of was his resume. He thought that he had the best format, amazing content, all of the hot keywordsto get the attention of the right people. You know what? He was wrong. Working with an executive recruiter who helped him redraft his resume over a very painful 4 days, my friend wound up with an amazing resume. An important lesson to be learned have an open mind and listen to the people who are out there every day. Youve collected all of the information needed to put your resume together. Nows the time to think about the format. Dont worry about structure yet, we will get to that. Lots of stuff to think about, so lets get to it. Sections Contact Information Pretty obvious Your name, address, telephone number and email address Your Headline Take a look at How to Write a Resume Headline for tips on adding a title to your resume Objective -Your career goal and what you want out of a job Tailor Your Resume Objective Skills What are you good at and why should someone hire you? You should list the skills that will help market your strengths. Top Skills You Need On Your Resume Work History / Experience This is where you will list the work history you collected from Lesson 1. Take a look at some formats Resume Experience Section Example Education How you present your education depends on how long youve been out of school. If you are a recent graduate (within the last two years), your education will be placed at the top of your resume (otherwise on the bottom). In terms of what you will list Degree (BS, BA, AA, MBA, etc.) Major (Finance, Economics, History, etc.) Year graduated (or expected graduation date) Name of the School Location GPA (depends on how well you did and when you graduated) Honors (Deans List, Honor Society, etc.) Types of formats There are tons of resume formats. Here are some of the most popular. Chronological This format is exactly what the name suggests basically listing your experience and history in reverse chronological order Sample Chronological Resume Functional This format highlights your skills and experience Sample Functional Resume Hybrid Sometimes called a combination resume, this format lists your skills and experience followed by your work history Sample Combination Resume Targeted Resume This format is generally used when you are applying for a specific job or role Targeted Resume Sample Knock em Dead Resume Templates: Plus 110 Resume Templates, the Knowledge Tools to Build a Kill Price: $15.99 Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 Styling Your Resume I remember when my son got his first really complicated Lego set. It was one of those really large boxes of Legos and Im sure it was some type of spaceship. He wanted me to help him put it together and we decided to do it in pieces. You know how it is with Legos, you have a picture of the finished product, but no real set of instructions. Many of the pieces look the same when you are looking at a picture of them and its not until you have half of the thing built that you realize the last piece that you need was used somewhere else and now you have to take the whole thing apart to get to the piece you need. Putting a resume together is much the same. You have a picture of the finished product (in the case, the format) all of the pieces, but no real step by step instructions as to how to put the whole thing together. Lesson 3 is all about putting the pieces of your resume together. Font Type You dont want to use any font or type that will make your resume look particularly unusual unless you are in advertising, marketing or applying for another creative job. Its essential that your resume makes a great first impression and using a resume font people can actually read will make it pleasurable to review your resume. Spacing Margins Generally speaking, margins of 1/2 inch to 1 inch is fine. Use single spacing with a blank line between sections. Videos Resumes versus Print Resumes Visual resumes have been around for awhile. Theyve not grown in popularity as had been expected, but they are still used and have a purpose. Typed resumes are rarely exciting so if you send in a video resume you will surely be remembered. If you take the time make a video, theres a good chance they will take time to watch it. A video resume is more interesting and unusual which will set you apart from the crowd. Ordering Sections for Your Resume Contact Information This is the easy part. And it should be easy to find. Your Contact Information always goes at the top of your resume and your name and title should be predominant on the page. Objective Your career goal and what you want out of a job This is optional, but if you want to use it would look something like this.A good objectives statementis lean and mean.None of that extra fluffy stuff like looking for a challenging position or utilizing my skills and experience to advance my career. Its crap. Be sure your objective not only focuses on what you want but also focuses on what the company is looking for. A successful objective is tailored to appeal directly to the job they are applying to. Tell them how your experience and your goals will benefit the company. Skills What are you good at and why should someone hire you? You should list the skills that will help market your strengths. Figuring out which of those skills you should include can be challenging. Start by identifying two of the biggest (and proudest) projects youve worked on in your career. Then think about the biggest challenges you faced during those projects. What did you have to do to overcome those challenges? What steps did you take to overcome those obstacles? Did you write those down? Good, because those are the skills you need to highlight. Moving on. Work History The standard method of organizing your work history on a resume is in reverse time order. Meaning, your first listing should be your current or most recent job. Then include other jobs going backward in order. Use strong verbs is the best way to bring life to your past work experience. Include metrics if you can such as sales numbers, employees managed, etc. How far back should you go?You dont need to go back in time more than 15 years. The 2 years you spent clearing tables at 20 isnt really going to help you get you land a copying writing job at 35. Put it Together Put all of your sections together and you are set to go. Its About the Content A few months ago, I was looking to fill a few junior level positions for the firm I work for. We used a few recruiters to help find and screen some candidates. Most of the resumes we received were good but not amazing. They had good formats and did a good job of explaining their work history. There were a few excellent resumes and, of course, there were a few bombs. The perfect resumes did a great job of using the right keywords, summarizing their job experience and highlighting their skills. In todays digital world of job search, content, the right content, is what will get your resume noticed and convince hiring managers to interview you. The right combination of keywords, skills and experience that demonstrates that you can do the job properly make for a killer resume. Easy to say, hard to do. Keywords Do you really need keywords? Absolutely. Keywords help demonstrate your level of experience and accomplishments. Hiring managers will recognize industry-specific keywords and this will help in getting an interview. Additionally, many hiring managers (or their recruiters) leverage keyword searches to find the best candidates for the job. The right keywords on your resume are a key part (no pun intended) of any great resume. TopResume Free Resume Review Price: TopResume writes and analyzes more resumes and LinkedIn profiles than any other service in the world. Let our resume experts provide you with objective feedback and personalized recommendations to improve your resume and land the right job sooner. Get a free, confidential resume review from TopResume Get Your Killer Resume We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Where to start? Review job listings for your title/position and make a list of keywords used Review resume samples for your industry for keywords Visit trade industry sites for your field The following links should help you find and leverage the keywords that work best for your career and resume. Relevant Skills You wont get an interview if you dont have relevant skills, even if you have relevant experience. Of course, the skills depend on your field, but its worthwhile looking at examples in your industry and other industries. Soft skills are just as important as professional skills like being able to think analytically and communicating with team members. Even if you arent applying for a leadership role, employees who can successfully interact with colleagues and collaborate with others are great to have on board. Relevant Experience This, of course, is your job experience that demonstrates that you have worked in similar roles. If, as an example, you are applying for a job as a bookkeeper, you would list out prior experience on highlight accounting and bookkeeping responsibilities in each of your jobs. The best approach is to: Create a draft document and list out your job experience by an employer Segregate relevant jobs/responsibilities from other jobs/responsibilities Create a list of responsibilities by an employer Create a list of accomplishments by an employer Take the information gathered above and create your relevant experience section. Im a big believer infollow by example, and its usually easier to follow something thats been done before in order to create your document. No Experience What we havent covered is how to construct a resume for someone without experience. Maybe youve just graduated from school or are changing industries. This is, of course, more difficult and the focus should be on entry-level jobs. There are many things you can do: Include jobs you held while in school (even if not relevant) Include volunteer work youve done Include any internships Activities while in college (sports, clubs, etc.) Special training and certification You Need More Than One ResumeSorry Have you ever had a recruiter call you for a position that would be ideal for you and, although you have the experience, your resume does not put enough emphasis on that experience? Or maybe youve worked in several different industries and want to focus on one particular industry. While one resume version, what I call general or generic resume, works well for some people, there are many people who should have multiple versions of their resume. There are many reasons why you may need (and should have) multiple resume versions. Remember, too much of a good thing might actually be too much. Balance how many resumes you need with where you will get the most value. Multiple Industries Maybe youve worked in several different industries but in similar roles. Lets say, as an example, you are an accountant and worked at an aircraft manufacturer but have also worked at an automobile manufacturer. Youve decided to find a new job, but want to focus on aircraft manufacturing. New Industry Using the example from above, perhaps you would like to work for a company that manufactures satellites. You need to re-write your resume to focus on the skills that would be relevant to your new industry. Different Roles Lets say that you have a lot of experience but have worked in different roles in your career. While you would be open to any of these roles in a new company, you may need to have resume versions that focus on one of these roles. Career Change Maybe you want to do something completely different than prior jobs. Maybe youve just graduated from school with a new (but different) degree/training. Whatever the reason, you need to have a version of your resume that focuses mostly on the skills that are required in the new career. Which Version is Best for You There are several types of versions you can have, depending on your needs and the purpose: What You Do Focusing on the type of role/position you want as your new job drives the focus of this resume. If you worked in Marketing and Sales but want to focus on the Marketing side, then your resume should be a functional design with a focus on your marketing skills. Where You Work Maybe its not about what you do, but where you do it (meaning your industry). In that case, you will want your resume to focus on industry-specific skills versus role-specific skills. This is still considered a skills-based resume (like the one above), just a different skills focus.Genius Resume Samples Examples based on industry. Keeping Track Okay, youve got these great multiple resumes, now you just need to keep track of which one youve sent to who. If you read our post on using Indeed.comyou will know that most sites allow you to upload your resume. A few will allow you to upload multiple documents and resumes. Most of these are company career sites and not search engines. There are a few platforms like Huntr or you can use the good old fashioned spreadsheet like Google Docs spreadsheet app which is free. The 2-Hour Job Search: Using Technology to Get the Right Job Faster Price: $9.69 Buy Now from Amazon We earn a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you. Last Updated: March 2, 2020 What's next? Ready to take action? Choose the right tools to help you build your career. Looking for related topics? Find out how to find the opportunities that help you grow your best career. Subscribe and make meaningful progress on your career. It’s about time you focused on your career. Get Educated Contact Us Advertise Copyright 2020 CareerAlley. All Rights Reserved. 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