How Soon will your resume go to Trash?

I have just got out of a career seminar regarding resume perfection. That is right, even I’m not looking for a job now, I still go to career seminars and monitor the most recent trends.

I found this interesting from the seminar and can’t wait to test your knowledge here: How many seconds do you think the recruiter/hiring manager will spend on your resume, before they decide to move forward with your application or trash it?
A. 5 Min
B. 2 Min
C. 45 Seconds
D. 20 Seconds.
Pick your answer and we will start from there.

Waiting for your answer…..

Ready for the result?
D, 20 seconds. Believe or not.
I know you are hurt, after all the hours and efforts spent on your resume, you only get a 20 seconds chance? What can you do to avoid this happen to you?

It’s easy, make it as perfect as you can.

I will break it down for you.

• Format

You can pick either A CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME or A FUNCTIONAL RESUME, depending on the stage of your career and your specific need. However, I suggest most people pick the chronological while there’s only few people should choose functional resume. Those people include but not limited to those have a long career gap, or stay in a position without progression for a long time. Please let me know if you need help if you happen to be one of them.

• Professionalism

Your resume is to help you get the dream job you applied for, please be professional. For instance, do not use an email address like CrazyCatty@Junkmail.com, or list any experience that are not directly related to the job and might be considered negatively.

• Relavent

Tailor your resume every time you applied for a position. By searching their job description, you might find a lot of important key words that make them think you have a direct tie to the job. Ensure to use them as much as possible. For instance, if you are applying a Accountant position requires SAP experience, ensure you have listed SAP in your resume. A quick tip, for fresh graduate, it’s totally okay to list your relevant courses to increase your resume key word matching, and it works!

• Grammar

Do not let the grammar or spelling discount you. It’s quite normal to make typo, but not in the resume. Because you only have 20 seconds chance, ensure people won’t spot your mistakes at the worst timing and trash it immediately. Ask your friends and career coach to revisit your resume as often as possible.

A tip for those first language is not English: Make sure you think and describe your experience like a native speaker, do not bring in any previous assumption from your background. A quick way to upgrade resume is to learn from the best alumni’s resume in your profession and make your resume look similar. Or you can use a career coach.

• Length

Do not let your resume exceed 2 pages. Most time people only pay attention to the first page to decide if they’d like to continue or not. In extreme cases you need more pages, but be prepared people won’t see much after the 2nd page.

I get this question from time to time, how could I make my resume to exact 1 page or 2 pages? I don’t know where’s the concern coming from, it doesn’t matter as long as your resume is well built. If you can’t make 1 or 2, make it 1.5 pages by increasing the paragraph space. It won’t hurt your credential in any means.

• Personal branding

If you are applying for an entry level position, what made you different? If you are working for a large company has 20 or 200 people doing the same job as you do and have the same titles, what’s your advantage compare to them? How do you differentiate yourself?

Personal branding is getting more and more popular these days, ensure to think about what makes you unique and how you can stand out. let me know if you need any help.

Happy Job Hunting!

Originally published on www.jobhuntingsolution.com