Five things to remember when writing your professional resume
The job market out there is tough. Hundreds of applicants are applying to fill one position. Your job is to stand out from the crowd. How are you going to make your application look different from the hundreds of applications being considered? Here are some helpful to tips to keep in mind when writing your resume. Stuck on the job search? Make sure you’re looking at all the online job boards such as OneShift .
DON’T FORGET TO BRAG
Your resume is all about selling yourself. Talk about your accomplishments. What have you done? What are your goals? Use your resume to tell your potential employer about your past experiences and what you have been doing lately. Give details about your performance and what you brought to each role. Do not be afraid to puff yourself up, a resume is not a place to be modest.
BE SUCCINCT
Organise your resume appropriately. Employers are going to look quickly over your credentials for items that stand out. Putting your resume in an easy-to-read format will help to get most of the information off the page for the employer. Long pieces of text are tedious and information cannot be as easily gathered. Try listing information instead of using paragraph form. Use only the most important information, so that the employer is not overwhelmed with items that will not resonate.
REMEMBER THE ROLE
Take into account the job you are applying for. What duties are expected? What qualifications are they looking for in an employee? When writing your resume, cater your details to the specific role description. Does the description ask for word processing skills? Give an example from your previous positions where word processing skills were important and utilised. Give the employer what they are asking for. Show them that you are right for the job because you possess the desired qualifications.
USE POWERFUL WORDS
The language you use to present yourself is key when writing any sort of application. When it comes to your resume, use powerful, active language that stands out. Get right to the point. When detailing your previous experience, use words such as organised, planned, created, developed, and implemented. These words are active and powerful. They can help you to create a fuller and more defined picture of what you are capable of doing and bringing to the new position.
KEEP IT SIMPLE
Get your point across right away. A resume should not be long. Prospective employers do not want to read pages and pages; they want to get the idea of who you are within a few minutes. Detail your most important and most recent accomplishments to date. Give examples of education and work history. You can even give a small section about your interests. When it comes to the resume, less is more, but you need to use the space you have to get across as much as you can.
Resume writing can be tricky. There are so many guidelines out there that all contradict one another. One will tell you to add references, and another will tell you not to. The most important thing to remember is to include your highlights. What are you most proud of to this date? Just remember the tips above, and you’ll be all set.
Yes! Catering your resume to the specific job can do wonders. Interviewers want people with relative experience and if you can pick out similarities between your past job and the one you want, it can be very helpful.
I also agree with catering your resume to the job you’re applying for and bragging. You need to toot your own horn because that’s what a resume is for. Also, if you don’t, who else will?