The job search process can be daunting, confusing, stressful, and completely bewildering. You can send your resume to dozens of businesses without hearing a word, and other times, you get an interview on the first one.
Who reads your resume and how they determine whether to arrange an interview with you or not is completely out of your control. However, there are steps you can take to ensure you get a little more consideration when it comes to your resume, and we’re going to discuss those now.
Here are the 3 Ways to Make Your Resume Stand Out.
1. Highlight (i.e., Brag about) Relevant Skills and Experiences
A cookie-cutter approach to the resume submission process is a bad idea because it will read that way to the receiver. You should slightly personalize each resume, tailoring it to the specific role you’re applying for. In this way, you want to highlight each specific skill, experience, qualification, certification and/or opportunity you have utilized in your previous roles and illustrate how they will help bring value to the new opportunity you’re seeking. Be brief, but impactful.
2. Use Outcomes and Successes as Proof
Your resume does two things: it showcases what you know and do, and it demonstrates how good you know and do it. Your resume speaks for you prior to the interview, so it needs to tell the reader how you’ve positively impacted your prior roles and the incredible value you brought to those organizations by talking about the results. Use the outcomes and successes of your past work as proof of what you would bring to the new opportunity you’re seeking. A couple bullet points to show where and how you’ve made positive impacts truly help.
3. Proofread for Grammar and Spelling
Typos kill the mood. A brilliant resume will be disregarded as the result of spelling errors, grammatical issues, and missing punctuation. It is assumed that a resume is worked and reworked as things change, and that it’s proofread and reviewed before it’s sent out. Often, a poorly written or constructed resume will translate to an opinion about the quality of the candidate’s work. Even the simplest typo in a resume can be the determining factor to pass on an applicant, regardless of their qualifications.
These 3 ways to make your resume stand out can be the difference between getting an interview and a job and continuing the ongoing work of job searching. I review dozens of resumes each week, and I see a lot of resumes with and without these items and issues, and it truly makes a difference in the consideration factor.
Good Luck, and Happy Hunting!
Comments