When was the last time you updated your resume? Do you even have a copy of your resume on hand? In this candidate-driven market, it’s important to have a recent copy of your resume available. You never know what opportunities might come up!
Here are five tips to write a rockstar resume that gets you a callback.
Contact information
This is often overlooked when writing your resume. Your contact information must be prominently placed on your resume. We always recommend placing it at the very top of the page. Your name should obviously be the first and largest part of your contact information. Directly after that, you should list your email address, phone number, and in some cases your address.
Remove the resume objective
Let’s face it: resume summaries and objectives are outdated. They are unnecessary and often redundant to your cover letter. As a candidate, your objective is (obviously) that you are looking for a new job opportunity. Since you should be explaining in your cover letter why you are interested in the position/industry/company that you are applying to, you don’t need to repeat yourself in your resume.
Your resume is about your work experience, accomplishments, and unique skill set, so get right to the point and start listing off your qualifications.
Edit it down
Go through your resume carefully and analyze what you’ve included. Now depending on what stage you are in your career, you do not need to list every single job you’ve ever had. If you are 20+ years in your career, you don’t have to list that part-time job you had in school on your resume.
Weed out unnecessary working experience or other qualifications that are not fitting for this position. If you are unsure whether you should include something, ask a mentor or friend for their input.
Formatting
Have you heard the expression “keep it simple, stupid?” You’ve probably seen elaborate resume templates online that are full of fancy fonts and formatting. However, unless you are applying for a creative or artsy field, it’s best to keep formatting simplistic.
Use bullet points and headings to break up your resume into sections. Make different sections of your work experience and education easy to find. The simpler the formatting of your resume is, the easier it is for Application Tracking Systems ATS) to analyze your resume. If they struggle to scan your resume, it will likely never reach the desk of the hiring manager.
Also, make sure you submit your resume as a PDF! Formatting for PDFs often gets screwed up on other computers like a Word document or other programs. Plus, PDFs are easier for ATS to read, giving you a better chance of landing an interview.
Keywords and phrases
This is extremely important. You must tailor your resume for every single job you are applying for. The more specific your resume is, the better the odds your resume gets passed the ATS.
Mirror the job description. Use the same language and keywords that are used in the job description. Yes, this means you must customize your resume for every application. But trust me, customizing your job application can be a pain in the neck, but if you want to make it through those pesky application tracking systems, it’s well worth your time!
