A hiring manager or a recruiter receives hundreds of resumes in a day. Although the recruiter won’t look at each and every resume, some do stand out due to their quality, or lack of it. Your resume is the very first impression that you can make on a prospective employer. A resume is your opportunity to advertise your skills to an organization, where you are interested in working.
You will probably have the perfect qualifications and experience for the job and the resume template that you use might be quite sophisticated. However, there are certain thing that can go wrong and land your resume straight in the trash. There are certain common mistakes that recruiters watch out for weed out good resumes from the average ones. These mistakes, or gaffes that you make in your resume can be easily avoided, if you are mindful of how you are putting in all the information. To get you started, here we have a list of 5 common mistakes people tend to make in their resumes.
A resume is used as the first step in the application of a job. It is the first impression that you make on the employer. Most people think of a resume as a way to merely list qualifications and past job experiences, but that is not enough.
Employers are inundated with several applications and resumes at a time. And it is very easy that a not so attractive resume can be dumped or get lost in the shuffle. If your resume does not stand out of the crowd, it is possible that no one is going to pay heed to it. If you think that your resume is one that is no different from that of other people you know, it will pay well to bring in a little change.
Here are a few tips that might help you if you are looking to apply for a new job or trying to make your resume more solid.
Use industry keywords
Try and incorporate a maximum of industry keywords in your resume. All the kinds of roles and tools used in the industry should be included in the description. Many employers pick resumes by keywords, and this will help your resume stand out from the lot.
Use an attractive format
Nobody likes to glance at an uninteresting and boring piece of paper. Make your resume more visually appealing so that the employer feels interested in going through it. However, you should also focus on the content.
Do not make it too long
Most people believe that a resume that is long is paid more attention to. However, employers do not have the time and do not glance at a resume for more than a few seconds. Put in all the most important things that you think are essential. Also, important points should be included in the first page.
Keep it professional
A resume should be extremely professional and should not include any extra information that does not fit. Also, one should stick to the facts and never lie.
While you can always take reference from the top 10 resume samples on the internet, it gets a little confusing when the references are from experienced resume samples and you are a fresher or hold very little experience, or probably only of some months as an intern. If it gets challenging, you don’t have to worry because if a company is looking for freshers, they cannot expect a resume full of experiences.
Even though you are a fresher and a beginner, your resume can look professional. This does not mean you will have to fake your experiences and skill. This means that the way you put information about you on the resume can be professional. It is all about how you build the resume from start to end, the language you use and the way you give away information.
When you have made a draft resume using the samples you find online, you must know there has to be something on your resume that makes it stand out among all other resumes. Even if you are a fresher, you can make that happen. Let’s start with what you already know and do. Put this information very tactfully. For example, if in college you have organized an event or a play, you can mention the skills as you definitely had them when you organized. These skills are not just handling the whole event, but also right from choosing people who were to organize the event with you, to those who performed and micro management. You may use professional words like ‘managed a group of’ or ‘lead a team of’.
Avoid mentioning your age, desired salary, your marital status and your religious affiliation in your resume. The company will not gain anything from that information and it will not help them know you any better. However, you can mention your date of birth but don’t write down your age.
More than the resume, you may focus on the cover letter if you are a fresher. Most companies and jobs today, along with the resume ask for a cover letter. As almost all resumes look the same, it gets difficult for the companies to figure out if a certain candidate right to call or an interview or not based on his or her resume. In these cases, they ask for a cover letter. The cover letter is your golden chance to prove yourself worthy of the job if you are a fresher. A cover letter usually asks for the reasons why you think you are fit for a certain job. If you want the job, and you know you have what it takes to do that job, then you can write a letter to the company where you can tell them why you are the right fit.
We all focus on the resume more first before we go give an interview. You might be the best candidate for a job but if your resume doesn’t support who you are, then there is a good chance you will not even make the initial screening. The talent acquisition team of any company first screens a resume and only then it gets passed on until you get an interview call. The resume is the only thing they see of you before they actually meet you in person. That is what makes your resume so important to be perfect. Let’s talk about some tips and take examples from top 10 resume samples to understand what makes a good resume great.
It gets difficult to figure out where to start the resume from. If you are making a resume for the first time, our suggestion would be that you first make a resume using the samples you find on the internet and put everything up there which you feel is essential. Once done, you can check the top tips below:
Be as relevant as possible
You might be a fresher and open to many fields or even an experienced person but want to change the field and want to try out new possibilities. For this reason, you might feel confused as to what skill you should show up and end up putting in everything that you know, done and accomplished. Well, you don’t have to. Make a generic resume and then as per the job you are applying for, tweak the information accordingly. For example, your photo-shop certification is irrelevant for your content writing job.
Highlight your best work, skills, accomplishments
If it makes sense for the new job, then keep the best work, skill, interest, and accomplishments on the top or the initial part of the resume where they can see it clearly and not miss out of any of those best things.
Don’t go mainstream with objective
Every resume that you read will have a ‘career objective/objective’ section on the top with the most clichd line that has been used by a lot of people. You can totally go ahead and ditch this section as many hiring teams do not even bother to read that. However, if you do have a serious objective you really believe in, then mention it but make sure you do not sound mainstream and it looks original and genuine.
There is a lot more to tips on resumes than these three pointers, which you can apply on your resume. You can research and take as many references you like to come up with a resume that speaks for itself and sells itself.
Finding your dream job may not be as challenging as you initially thought it would be. More and more online portals are offering a variety of services, some even free of cost! Of course, the free plan may not offer all perks compared to the premium one but here are a few things you can do to make your profile stand out.
Write your resume in plain simple English language, avoid unnecessary use of words which will have the recruiter reaching out for a dictionary or thesaurus. Boasting a superior vocabulary may not necessarily help your cause. Recruiters hardly spend a minute or two looking over your resume, making it plain and to the point is the only way to ensure quality.
Format your resume properly, highlight the titles with bold or underlined which will get the recruiters attention first. Use a legible font, avoid using fonts such as Comic Sans MS, etc. The text size should also be appropriate and should not be used as a mere excuse to fill up pages. The page count is irrelevant if the information mentioned in the resume is precise.
Every heading, should have proper subheading. For example, list out your education details in descending order starting with the most recently acquired. The same is applicable when it comes to work experience, list of achievements, projects and voluntary work undertaken. Recruits like candidates who take part and contribute for social causes, missions since it shows initiative your part towards corporate social responsibility.
Skills should be listed out taking into consideration the position you are applying for and the company you are going to be a part of. Job winning resumes are the ones which are tailored to suit the company or industry requirements.
Adding appropriate links to your resume will also enhance its quality and appearance. Links will provide the additional info which cannot be accommodated in your resume. Links will also enable recruiters to see more content including graphic, images etc.
Be very true to yourself and the company you are applying to, never lie or misrepresent any information in your resume. A statement at the end saying ‘I hereby declare all information is true to my knowledge’ should also be supported by the fact. Recruiters can differentiate between good resumes and too good to be true resumes.
These are just some of the tips which will help you to draft the best possible resume and make it stand out.
Writing a resume can be tedious and at the same time, a very challenging process. Knowing what to keep and what to eliminate is a gruesome task. How to make your resume stand out for the recruiters is the big question. But now with professional resume writers who dedicate their time to make sure your profile stands out, applying for jobs just got a lot easier.
Here are a few reasons why you should hire a professional resume writer or service to benefit from.
The first question that comes to your mind is, whether the investment is necessary? Professionals charge for their services and you would think will spending all that money will make a difference? The answer is simple, they know and can do a certain task better than you which is why you need their help in the first place. They can write the resume better than you and spending those few extra bucks will benefit in the long run, when recruiters start calling!
Sometimes you may know and possess certain technical skills but don’t know exactly how to express them, relevantly and to the point. Recruiters are not interested in reading a lengthy description, they hardly spend more than a minute on your resume. Professional resume writers can help you summarize your skills and express it in a better and concise way.
Using a fancy font and a superior vocabulary will just ruin your chances. Professional resumes must be formatted in a particular way and should be up to date keeping in mind the generally accepted norms. Keeping track of so many changes will be a difficult task so better leave it to the professionals. Points may come down to the nitty gritty in the type of paper used, quality of the print etc. Professional writers will format and draft your resume from the recruiter point of view, what he or she would like to see in your resume.
You may be the best at what you do, yet struggle to find a decent job interview. The reason is very simple, you are unable to express your profile and experience the way the recruiters want to read. They interview people judging them on specific parameters and if something does not meet the criteria, applications are usually rejected. Professional writers will tailor the resume to suit industry specific requirements and norms in general, to make it stand out and shine!