Your resume is your first encounter with the employer, so it should be a good one. It is one of the essential tools that reveal your abilities, working record, and educational background. Thus, having a well-prepared resume can go a long way toward getting a person an interview with an employer. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you create a standout resume: Here’s a comprehensive guide to help you create a standout resume:
Understanding the Basics
Purpose: The purpose of your resume is to get an interview, which requires a listing of your qualifications for a particular position.
Format: There are basically three layouts: chronological, functional, and hybrid.
Chronological: suits the purpose of those people with a stable working background.
Functional: Recommended for candidates who are already in the job market, those who are switching careers, or those who have been jobless for some time.
Combination: Therefore, it shares features of both the chronological and functional organization of business letters.
Length: In most cases, it should not exceed one to two pages, but if the writer has adequate experience in the specialty area, then it will be advisable to include more than two pages.
Basic Sections of a Resume
- Header: Your full name
- Professional email address
- Phone number
- LinkedIn profile (optional)
- Summary or Objective:
It can be a single-line description of your career progression plan or two lines about yourself.
- Skills:
More emphasis should be placed on the technical skills in addition to the interpersonal skills in relation to the position.
- Experience:
Mention other employments in order of the dates of employment, company, position held, responsibilities, and accomplishments at the place of work. Keep action verbs at the beginning of the bullet point.
- Education:
Put the degrees, certifications, schools attended, and the years in which these degrees and certifications were earned.
- Projects (optional):
Include academic or personal projects carried out that highlight the required skills.
- Awards and Honors (optional):
Explain any patents, honors, or accolades you have been given.
Writing effective resume content
Tailor your resume: Tweak it to fit each job that you are applying for in terms of the skills and experience required.
Quantify achievements: Always accompany the description with figures (for example, new sales by 20%).
Use strong action verbs: Starting bullet points should be provided with verbs such as ‘achieved’,’managed’, o or ‘developed’.
Proofread carefully: It has been noted that in business letters, typos as well as grammatical and punctuation mistakes are bound to give the wrong impression.
Resume Design
- Keep it clean and professional: Be selective in the font and format. Have a clean and pleasing look.
- Use white space effectively: Do not clutter the page, meaning that all the information that is to be introduced to the audience should not be crammed on one single page.
- Consider using keywords: Also, it is preferable to use some of the keywords provided in the job description.
- Use a consistent format: Regarding the formatting and layout, make sure that you use a consistent font type, size, format, and format style throughout the resume.
Advice for Different Categories of Applicants
- Entry-level: Eschew discussions about GPA, credits, degrees, years of study, and concentration on education, skills, and courses.
- Experienced professionals: Stress the achievements and career trajectory in the medical field.
- Career changers: emphasize relevant skills that you have already developed and how they can be applied to the new career.
Additional Tips
- Online resume builders: One of the options is to create resumes using the provided online resources to obtain neat and tidy-looking resumes.
- Seek feedback: It is recommended to have someone, be it a friend, a family member, or a mentor, go over your resume.
- Update regularly: Update your resumes with the latest achievements.
Remember,
You are marketing yourself anytime you write your resume, so let it sell for you. It should sell your value proposition to any employer you target. Thus, by adhering to these rules and targeting particular positions, you will enhance your likelihood of interviews and the subsequent desired positions.
