How To Write A Resume And Get Noticed
This will be the first in a series of how-tos that we gather and share with evryone. As we all know, it’s hard to find a job nowadays. There’s a lot of unemployment and even a lot of recent college grads that are still searching for jobs. This is meant to be a guide on how to write a resume and what you should look to do in order to make yourself stand out from the crowd.
What’s the real purpose of a resume?
When you write your first resume, it might seem kind of daunting and you most likely won’t know what to do. Let’s start out with what the purpose of a resume is. This is a document that outlines your experiences, skills and accomplishments that is meant to showcase why you are qualified for a job you are going after. Keep a mindset that this is the document that gets your foot in the door. You want to make sure that you target your resume to be relevant and distinguish yourself from the crowd.
How do you get your resume noticed?
As a recruiter for The Nielsen Company I’ve had experience in seeing a lot of resumes. The ones that are noticed the most are ones that look the most professional. Some of the first resumes that get passed on are ones that have a lot of misspelled words or does not look professional in design.
Sometimes having a unique design or way you classify your information also leads to a recruiter noticing your skills more as well. Later in this section I’ll outline how to do a few things to your design to make it stand out more.
Another way to make your resume get noticed is to make it targeted towards the job you are aiming for. For a recruiter, it’s a bit annoying to get a resume that is obviously a general resume. We like to see an objective and a focus of why you are going for this specific job and a list of experiences that line up with the job. The easier you make it for us to pinpoint your strengths and why you should get this specific job, the better chance you have at getting an interview.
What should be on a resume?
Typical resumes follow a well established pattern of things that should be included. They can be any of the following:
- Name, current and permanent contact information – This is important so they can get a hold of you
- Objective - This is a short blurb about the position you are going after. Typical examples include some of the skills you possess and concisely saying that you want to apply those skills and better yourself in the position you are looking into obtaining
- Education - If you’ve graduated college, typical information that goes here is your undergrad school and then any post graduate degrees that you have earned. You should mention the school, the degree type and the major that you focued on.
- Work Experience – The bulk of your resume will come from this section. This outlines all of the major work experiences you’ve had. For most resumes, you want to make sure you target your work experiences towards favorable skills of the position you are applying to. Another strategy is to put a broad amount of experience to show how diverse you are. More details on this section is below.
- Community Service Work – It’s important for employers to see that you’ve done more than just your job description. A good indicator of this is any community service or extracurricular things you do outside your main line of work. It shows a compassionate and caring side in you as giving back to the community is a very rewarding thing for not only yourself but the drive of your future employer
- Technical Skills – Many individuals choose to put any other potential skills that are sought after in the position they are applying to. For example, you might see some computer programming skills if you are going for a Technical Lead position. These do not have to be limited to technical skills but can be again tailored to what you are going for.
What not to include in a resume:
There are a few things that everyone should avoid putting in a resume. These items either take up a lot of space or just don’t make much of a difference to a recruiter or a future employer.
- Personal hobbies and activities – If you put these, it sometimes sends a message that the person is trying to cover up deficiencies in their skill levels. It is best to keep personal hobbies and interests for the interview
- Embellishments of your accomplishments – Be careful when putting down your acheivements. Many times, employers know when a candidate is not telling the truth or is embellishing his/her story a bit. Be prepared to answer any questions about accomplishment bullet points put on the resume.
- References – This could be a matter of personal opinion but I think that a list of references should be its own separate document. It saves you a lot of space if you don’t actually have to go and fill those in. If the employer asks to see a list, be prepared with another sheet for them to keep.
Elements of the Resume
Objective:
This is usually a one or two line brief summary of your skills and what you are looking for in the job you are applying for. Make sure to be focused on the job that you are aiming for.
Examples of objectives:
- Obtain a position at XYZ Company where I can maximize my management skills, quality assurance, program development, and training experience.
- Marketing position that utilizes my writing skills and enables me to make a positive contribution to the organization.
- Experienced HR Coordinator who enjoys challenge seeking opportunity to learn and improve skills.
Education:
The education portion is pretty straightforward. In this section, you would want to note the undergraduate degree that you got as well as any masters degrees or other distinguishing degrees you got. Be sure to include the years you went to school and the name of the school.
If you are just starting out and getting an entry level job or it’s your first major job out of college, you might want to also jot down your GPA for undergraduate work. Most jobs like to see GPA’s that are higher than 3.0 so it is up to your discretion whether you want to display it or not.
If you haven’t been to college, you should put your last educational experience on there whether it be a high school degree or a GED. Follow the same guidelines in putting the date and any focus you might have had during that time.
Work Experience:
This portion of the resume will probably take up the most room. This is where you outline all of your previous jobs. It’s a bit tricky in this section because your first inclination is to put everything you have in excruciating detail. I would advice the opposite. Here are some tips for how to cover the work experience section:
- Limit your jobs to a one page description. Unless you’ve had years and years of experience and are already at a VP level for a department, you should focus on the most relevant skills for the job at hand. You can always talk about more of your experiences during the interview phase.
- Limit your bullet points for each job to about 3-4 bullets. I tend to stick more with the rule of 3 since it seems to work the best. Pick the best and strongest skills you’ve used from these jobs.
- When putting your bullet points down, try to stick to one tense for your verbs. Either stay in the present tense or past tense. It makes your bullet points look more crisp and will display more professionalism
- Think about the verbs you use for the section. The stronger the verbs, the better. Make everything actionable to demonstrate your value.
Community Service Work:
This section should outline some of the extracurricular activities you may have outside of work. It can even outline some of the activities you’ve organized for work as well. Companies like to see a candidate with more than just the skills for the job. If you can show that you have a well balanced lifestyle and give back to the community, that would go a long way. If you don’t currently have items to put for this section, you should consider finding a few activities to help out charities or other organizations. Not only will it be good for you, but it will be good for others as well!
Technical Skills
This section doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be all technical. They can be focused towards the job at hand. It can be a simple list of software that you have used and what your proficiency level is. The main aim of the section is to provide the employer a sample of all the experience you’ve had that isn’t necessarily covered in the work experience. You can showcase your breadth of experience here and show other side hobbies and proficiencies.
Want more help making your resume stand out?
Motivate2Inspire’s staff has had experience in both recruiting and tooling resumes for specific situations. Whether it’s to obtain a job at a University, your first job out of college, or an internship, our staff has the necessary know how in order to make your resume as strong as it can be. Consider asking us to critique your resume and give it a little bit of a design flare to help you out.
Please go to this page to learn more about our critiquing service!
I hope everyone found this article to be useful. I can elaborate more and help out with each section if there is enough interest. I know how hard it is to organize a resume and a lot of information out there. If you keep it simple, professional and clean looking, you will definitely stand above the crowd!
Really i can maximize my management skills, quality assurance, program development, and training experience. Thanks mate.