Creating a resume is an important thing to find the job of your dreams. It might be very challenging for many people, so we collected some tips from the HR managers of top international companies. They will help you create a better resume and impress the employer. It is also very useful to use resume writing services to create a great resume.
1. Think about how to sell your resume
The resume should look great, so that the recruiter wants to “buy” it. Why a recruiter? Because in 90% of cases, the recruiter will get it first. For a recruiter, a resume is one of the main tools of his work, which can be compared with the program interface. If the layout of your resume is poor, the recruiter’s desire to work with your resume is lower.
2. Adjust your resume for a specific job application
There are no universal resumes for all professions. Different types of resumes are suitable for different professions. The task of each type of resume is to show what is most important for a particular job.
3. Show the recruiter your success
A resume is not just information about work, education, and training. An ideal resume is built into a success story. What is a success story? This is when it is clear how your education, career path, all kinds of training and certificates, personal qualities, and the position you are looking for are connected.
4. Take an example from landing pages
You have probably met cool landing pages of websites on the Internet. Your resume should be no worse. A good resume is interesting to read, a recruiter wants to read to the end. Every phrase in the resume reinforces the desire to buy it. Its navigation (sections) is very simple and intuitive. The resume must comply with generally accepted norms. Therefore, if you are not a designer and not a representative of the creative profession, no background drawings are in the resume.
5. Follow the ideal structure
There are many types of resume structures and information presentation sequences. In my opinion, the ideal sequence of information arrangement in the resume is as follows:
- Surname and first name
- Photo
- Contact details (only phone and city, do not specify the home address, the recruiter will not go home to check who lives there).
- Core competencies are a part of experienced professionals. The recruiter may not want to read all the resumes, but he will look at the key competencies. Here you need to specify professional knowledge and achievements, as well as specify several personal qualities.
- Education.
- Training.
- Work experience (at the top — the most recent place of work, below — older ones).
Additional information (languages, knowledge of software programs, availability of rights).
6. Format: Calibri or Arial font, size 10 or 12, without tables, single spacing
A resume should have a standard font, that is familiar to everyone. Previously, Microsoft Word offered a serif font by default — Times New Roman. But then the fashion changed, and sans-serif fonts – Calibri and Arial became popular. Therefore, I recommend making a resume in these fonts.
No tables in the resume. Very often, a resume goes through different recruiting programs that recognize resume elements and save them in their format. In these situations the tables move out, the resume looks extremely unpresentable.
7. Share your achievements
If you remember only one sentence from my article, let it be about achievements. This immediately adds 50% of the value to your resume. The recruiter is simply not able to talk to everyone who has sent a resume. Therefore, the one who indicated his achievements and was able to interest the recruiter will always win.
Achievements are your measurable successes, which are expressed in numbers, deadlines, or significant qualitative changes in the company.
Example of achievements:
In three months, he increased TV sales by 30% (store director).
Brought a new product to the market in four months, which helped to earn 800 thousand dollars in six months (marketing director).
I negotiated with suppliers and increased the deferral on payments for 30 days, saving the company on loans — 100 thousand dollars monthly (buyer).
Reduced staff turnover from 25% to 18% through employee Engagement (HR).
8. Tell us about your personal qualities
More and more attention is paid to the personal qualities of the employee when selecting candidates. If we analyze what exactly will be evaluated at the interview, then most likely it will be like this:
40% — professional knowledge;
40% — personal qualities;
20% — motivation (the desire to do exactly this job in this company).
Personal qualities, especially if they correspond to those required in the vacancy’s requirements, are extremely important. Several years ago it was enough just to list them, now you need to confirm their presence. I recommend writing them like this:
Initiative: developed and implemented a strategy to get the department out of the crisis when the head left.
Stress tolerance: conducted successful negotiations with a client who refused seven managers, and concluded a contract with him.
Leadership: conducted five management training and raised 10 managers from line employees.
Here it is important to add representative examples. That is, examples are more important than quantity here.
9. Previous job responsibilities
I always recommend writing exactly the responsibilities, not the areas of responsibility, and describing them in the form of actions that you performed. This is about the same as with achievements, but numbers are not required here, responsibilities may not be so impressive, and, of course, these are not one-time actions.
Mention the responsibilities in order of their importance: in the first place the most significant (strategy development, budget planning, launching new products to the market), and in the last place the least (preparation of reports). If you are still struggling with
10. Present your past experience well
Job titles and a list of companies are exactly what a recruiter is looking for in a resume in the first place. It’s like a customer glancing at a shelf in a store in search of brands familiar to him. It is on these lines that the recruiter forms the initial value of the resume in his head and only then begins to look for details.
If you were a manager, be sure to write in parentheses how many subordinates you had. Mentioning subordinates and their number always makes a RESUME more interesting. If the company is not well-known, but works with well-known brands, be sure to indicate this. For example, “Auto leasing JBM” (leasing partner of BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Honda). The name of famous brands near an unknown company will significantly enhance the perception of the company.