Resume Tips

7 Useful Resume Tips

In today's competitive employment market, standing out from the crowd is no mean feat. The chances of being selected for an interview is very slim when a hiring manager is flooded with dozens of resumes. Below are seven helpful tips on how to improve your resume so it grabs attention and gets you the interview:

Targeting the resume to the job you seek is key to getting the interview. Tailor your resume to portray the specific skills and experiences you possess that explicitly qualifies you for the job. You should go through each requirement to ensure that you have included all the necessary items on your resume.

The Summary of Qualifications is a useful tool that will draw immediate attention to your resume. The Summary of Qualifications illustrates your top skills in an efficient manner, allowing the hiring manager to quickly review your skill set. A good Summary of Qualifications is tailored to contain the key words that you know the employer is searching for.

A hiring manager will want to see how you can contribute to their organization. By stressing previous experiences and doing a follow up of the results of actions taken, you will demonstrate how your skills have lead to accomplishments that have benefited other employers.

A resume that is poorly formatted is hard to read making it likely for the person reviewing it to toss it aside without a second thought. When working on your resume, consider using boldface, italics, bulleting and indentation to emphasize important points. Restrain from the use of capitals and underlining, as these increase the difficulty of reading the text.

Employers often scan resumes in less than a minute, so clear and concise resumes are the best choice. Plentiful work experience is always great to include, however, deleting portions of the resume that are not relevant for the position creates a stronger impact for employers.

Using action verbs to create powerful sentences will give your resume a stronger voice. Use action verbs such as: launched, developed, initiated, etc. to leave a lasting impression on employers.

A cover-letter provides the opportunity of an extra touch-point between you and the hiring manager. A good cover-letter explains details such as how you heard about the position, outlines the position-specific qualities that distinguish you from other candidates, and gives the employer a sense of your personality, communication skills, and compatibility with the company.