Resume writing trends tend to change
over time, and it’s crucial to know how to create a resume that is relevant for
today’s job market.
Here are our top tips for creating a
high-quality thoroughly modern resume!
1. Know yourself, your audience, and
the job
Resumes are essentially a form of
marketing. As for all marketing campaigns, you must know your own value and
strengths, as well as understand the employer’s pain points and what solutions
you offer.
This means that it’s not a good idea
to automatically send a generic resume to every prospective employer. Rather,
you should change/edit your resume where necessary to make it a good match for
the particular employer and the job being advertised.
Your resume should clearly
demonstrate your unique value proposition (UVP) – what you have to offer that
makes you stand out. And since the employer would be investing in you, it
should show how your UVP can create a positive return on investment for the
company.
2. Focus more on achievements than
tasks
While it’s fine to put tasks on a
resume, a higher emphasis should be placed on what you achieved. This might
include how you saved an employer money, new initiatives you created that
improved the business’s efficiency, revenue and so on.
You should be able to back this up
with real data where relevant – for example percentages or dollar values of
cost or time savings or efficiency benefits.
Having said that, you do want to
avoid too much bragging! It’s always important to keep front of mind that the employer
wants to know what’s in it for them. While you should demonstrate your
achievements, ensure your resume shows how they are relevant to the prospective
employer and how it could offer them value-for-money.
3. Make it succinct and avoid
complexity
These days the preferred trend is
for shorter resumes of 1-3 pages. Recruiters and employers are busy and often
don’t have time to read a whole life-story!
Of course, you also don’t want your
resume to be so short that it doesn’t cover the important details. The secret
is to hit that ‘sweet spot’ where your resume demonstrates the value you have
to offer, while being succinct, easy to read, and relevant to the potential
employer (that is, without any irrelevant detail).
In addition, you should avoid adding
too many graphics, as some application tracking software can be sensitive to
graphics such as tables and charts.
4. Hone the language for the
situation
Short and clear sentences are the
preference, while still making it interesting to the reader.
You should also consider location. For
example if you are applying for a job in Australia, make sure to use Australian
(rather than American) English. If you don’t, it can look like you don’t care
enough to take the time to tailor your resume to your audience.
Consider using keywords in your
resume – words and phrases that align with/match those used in the job ad.
A suggested resume format
Using these principles, here is a
suggest resume format:
- Short career summary at the top (up to five sentences).
- Employment experience, starting with the most recent job first. If a job is not relevant to the current application, you may want to consider mentioning it only briefly or leaving it out.
- Personal qualities / skills.
- Educational achievements and relevant awards.
- Professional references and referee contact details.
Not sure how to make your resume stand out from the crowd? Ask us how today!