One of the most common questions job seekers ask our recruiters is how to optimise their resume. It can often be daunting summarising years, or even decades, of experience in one document, or finding ways to make yourself stand out. Our advice is to keep it simple, concise and relevant, enabling the reader to quickly locate information which demonstrates your suitability for the role. Here are five of our key resume tips:
Define what sets you apart
Think to yourself, ‘if I were comparing my resume to that of someone with similar experience, what would set me apart?’ Determine your most unique/valuable ‘selling’ points and champion them throughout your resume. This can be done using a professional summary (like an elevator pitch) at the beginning of your resume, by including a key skills and attributes list, or within the responsibilities and achievements listed for each of your roles.
Highlight your achievements
Anyone can say that they’re good at something, but including achievements within your resume quantifies your capabilities. Include a short list of ‘key achievements’ for each of your roles, demonstrating what you have done, and its impact. This provides deeper insight into your skills, experience and motivation.
Speak to the advertised role
When presenting your resume for an advertised vacancy, ensure that the skills and experience demonstrated align with the key requirements of the position being advertised. Whilst a cookie cutter approach can work at times, it is best to manipulate your resume to suit each application, ensuring the skills, experience and achievements relevant to what the advertiser is asking for are front and centre.
Don’t overdo it
Your resume is a valuable tool for demonstrating your suitability for a job and making a great first impression. The last thing a recruiter or hiring manager wants to do is read through pages and pages of content looking for the information they need. Limit your resume to a maximum of three to four pages, ensuring that the skills and experience they will be looking for are front and centre, and articulated clearly and concisely.
Use simple formatting
With advances in recruitment technology, many organisations and recruitment agencies are now using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to analyse and shortlist resumes. At times, ATS does not recognise coloured font or font within text boxes, and complex formatting can scramble the system. Keep your resume clean and streamlined by ensuring each section has an appropriate heading (e.g. Qualifications, Employment History etc.), while using simple formatting to ensure dates of employment, job titles, qualification names and so on are easy for the ATS to find.
If you’re actively looking for work, or considering making a career move, contact Recruitflex today to find out more about the exciting opportunities we have available.