Jumpstart the career of your dreams by learning how to make a resume that stands out. Get 7 easy, doable ideas here!
How To Make A Resume That Stands Out From The Crowd
Are you ready to join the workforce? Would you like to land the job of your dreams? Then there’s one skill you need to learn: how to make a resume. Your polished, professional look can only get you so far. At the end of the day, what gets you moving through the rest of the process is your resume. Learning how to make a resume is a skill everybody has to learn. After all, at some point, you’ll apply for a job. Knowing these tips and ideas can help narrow your choices and focus on the best.
1. Creativity is now the name of the game
Creative resumes in, boring ones out. What better way to surprise your future boss or the HR than by handing out a one-of-a-kind resume! This is especially true when you’re applying in the creative arts, trying to get a job as an artist, animator, graphic designer, or app developer. It’s the best time to get smart and tell the company what you can do from the get-go.
But what if your industry remains traditional? Think accounting, sales, or law. I don’t think companies will be flattered by cool graphics. You can still be creative. Just look at the example above. Looks professional, clean, yet sleek, and modern.
2. Don’t write a novel
Do you have any idea how many people apply for a certain job? There’s no official statistics, but it’s safe to say that you only need to mention the critical points for the job description! The HR or Owner doesn’t have the luxury of time to read page after page of your resume.
Keep your resume between one and two pages – three can already be a stretch. If the pages go beyond that, it’s time to remove data that don’t matter a.ka. those that don’t meet job requirements.
3. Know the “magic words”
Employers look for two skills when they hire people: hard and soft. Hard skills refer to your technical knowledge about the industry. For example, if you’re applying as a digital marketer, words like SEO, blogging, curation, and analytics, to name a few, must be familiar to you. If you want to be a chef, then you should know food technology and the difference between diced, sliced, and minced.
When learning how to make a resume, include these “magic” words that would tell your future employer you know the drill. If the job requires a bit of training, then you won’t be a difficult student because of your background. If you decide to upload your resume online, using keywords will help you connect to your target industry.
Hack: Not sure what keywords to use? Check the job description. They’re right there! This is also the best way to make sure your resume details perfectly match what the employer’s looking.
4. Quantify your expertise
Which sounds better: boosted sales in June 2016 OR increased sales by X percent in June 2016? Yup, that’s right. The second one. It gives a clearer picture of not only your skill and proficiency but also how good you really are. It even means you are results and goals oriented, employers LOVE soft skills.
You don’t need to be a genius in math to quantify your expertise. You can always get the data from existing company reports or tools like Google Analytics (for bloggers and digital marketers).
5. Create a headline with a punch
In writing articles, headlines are so powerful marketers spend hours creating them. They even perform testing to find out which ones would really work with the intended audience. It’s the same thing in writing resumes. A great tip on how to make a resume is to impress them right away by creating a punching headline. But how do you make one? It should be a headline that is catchy but summarizes your expertise, experience, and accomplishments. For instance, if you’re a manager, you can stay Operations Manager with X Years of Experience or Demi-Goddess of Operations (that should pique anyone’s interest, for sure).
6. Add the right photo
These days, it seems you can already get away from attaching photos to your resume. Besides, it’s your skills and expertise that count more. Nevertheless, attaching photos gives a nice extra touch to your resume. Some employers would also like to see a face to go with the credentials.
But what photos should you use? While there’s nothing wrong with using selfies, make sure it’s something decent and professional. Otherwise, wear smart casual and head to a photo booth. Won’t cost you much money.
7. Read, reread, and repeat
Hundreds of applications get rejected because of misspellings and wrong grammar. You’ve read that right. Although learning how to write a resume doesn’t need a PhD in English, it still demands you to know your subject-verb agreement, spelling, and tenses. After all, communication is extremely important once you’re already hired. Before you print, upload, or send your resume, check the content as many times as you can until you feel satisfied.
If you want to know how to write a resume format, this is the video to watch. It shows you the best tricks to design a page that stands out (and besides, it’s a cool video!):
Do you now know how to write a resume that’s smashing? Awesome! Keep in mind what you put in there is what matters the most, but some flair, style, and smartness won’t hurt your chance of landing an amazing job. In fact, they boost it. Start creating or tweaking your resume based on these ideas.
What do you think of my tips on how to write a resume? Do you have yours? It’s time to share your ideas with the community! If you need more career inspiration, read these positive thinking quotes!
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Featured image via nataliebacon
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