5 Tips To Make Your Resume Shine

When applying for a job, the first impression you give your potential employer is your resume. Having a decent work history is essential on a resume, but there are other aspects of a resume that can help make your resume shine past all other candidates.

List Achievements

One often forgotten part of a great resume is the achievements section. If you made any lasting impressions at your previous workplaces, this is a great place to highlight them and show that you’re not the average worker. For example, if you developed a new way of tracking productivity via a spreadsheet, or if you came up with a better organization method for your team’s area, these are great achievements to show off on your resume.

Only Use Relevant Work Experience

You might have a great variety of work experience, but employers often only care about work experience that applies to the job you’re after. If you can twist the experience to make it make sense with your new desired job, feel free, but be ready to defend your claim if asked about it during the interview.

Keywords for Skills

Having appropriate keywords is essential to the success of your resume. Workplaces will often do an initial search for candidates by searching for specific keywords in skills and filtering applicants based on the amount of matching keywords. One trick for making your resume shine here is adjusting your resume to match the skills requested on the job listing for each individual application. Ensure those keywords apply to your skillset, of course.

Keep It on One Page

Unless you have and need a masterful level of qualifications for the job you’re applying for, a resume should almost always be just one page long. If you’re suffering from too much information to sort through, you can trim down your resume in a few ways. One option is to remove all unrelated work experience. This work experience won’t help you get the job, and if it leaves unexplained gaps in employment on your resume, you can explain this during the interview. Another section you can cut out if needed is the references. Just list “references available upon request” at the bottom of your resume and have a separate sheet with references prepared in case your interviewer requests them.

Have Someone Else Proofread

Having someone else proofread might be the most important tip on this list. When working on your resume, you’re likely spending hours staring at the same page, which makes you more likely to miss obvious errors. Having a friend or even a professional proofread and make suggestions is essential to ensuring your resume is error-free and formatted well.

Again, your resume is your first impression to your potential employer. Ensuring that it is informative, concise, and otherwise perfect is essential to having a great first impression. Having a good resume dedicated to relevant achievements and skills will also help prepare you for having an interview that is guided in the correct direction based on your skillset and what your potential employer is looking for.