Writing a good resume takes effort and a certain amount of reflection in how you will present your career history. Over the years, resumes have developed into new formats with different strategies to highlight your accomplishments and experience yet one thing is for certain: A poorly written resume will fail to grab the attention your background deserves.
While there is no shortage of opinions in what constitutes a good resume there are however some basic elements that all good resumes have in common. If your resume could talk, here are some things it might tell you:
• Your resume will be used in multiple platforms such as; mobile documents, social media profiles, employment proposals and last but not least a paper version for interviews and networking.
• That length does matter. Too many pages and you will lose the reader, too few and your value will get lost. Keeping your resume to one-two pages is a good approach.
• Your current employer as well as those in the last 10 years will be the most significant area to potential employers. This is where your accomplishments and value must shine in order to attract interviews.
• Listing job duties only will give the impression you are clueless about your skills and lack self-awareness. In today’s job market you have to know specifically what you do that matters and increases value to an employer.
• Your summary and personal branding statement can be used in different ways. For example, instead of a traditional summary paragraph you might substitute your branding statement if space is an issue.
• Write your accomplishments without the fear of bragging, instead choose words that convey your strengths. Results support your accomplishments, use quantifying or qualifying measures to back-up your skills.
• Key words are absolutely necessary and without them your resume could circulate endlessly leading you to a case of self-doubt. Applicant tracking software is becoming more sophisticated and is built for keyword usage.
• That you shouldn’t discount the importance of having a resume while you may have landed jobs without them: The process of writing one can be priceless when having to recall accomplishments during an interview.
• Your resume is not a “one-size-fits-all” document; instead see it as a fluid version changing to meet your career needs ahead.
• You own your resume and it needs to reflect who you are as a professional as well as your skills. Review your LinkedIn recommendations for how others perceived your value, their comments can be really helpful in pointing out what you are known for in your field.
• Consider whether you should use a job objective that more or less tells the employer what you want from them. A summary gives you a different opportunity to tell the employer what you can do for them.
Your resume plays a part in your job search and career, however knowing what type of content to include is vital in using your resume wisely. If your resume could talk, it would tell you to leave out information that does not support your candidacy for a specific job and that makes you sound like everyone else. It would also tell you that just because a one-page resume worked for your colleague doesn’t mean it will work for you. Resumes change and so do your objectives throughout your career.
How has your resume changed over time, and what did you do that made it more effective in your job search?
