The Basics of Resume Writing

There comes a time in every professional’s career journey when it becomes apparent that a change is necessary. While shifting gears feels natural to some, others haven’t switched jobs in years. If fear of entering the unknown waters of job hunting is holding you back from kicking your career into high gear, it’s time to take action and start moving in the direction of your career goals.

In order to get through the door at top companies, you must have an impactful resume to highlight all of your accomplishments. Hiring Managers scan hundreds of resumes a day, and relying on an outdated resume will not get you hired. So how exactly can you write a resume that will land you a job? Here are our top three tips:

Craft a Powerful Opening Statement

An Overview/Summary section on your resume helps Hiring Managers gain a general understanding of your skills and expertise. Its top-of-the-page prime location makes it the perfect place to include a powerful opening statement that tells employers why they need to hire you. This is where you brag about your experience and expertise that is specific and relevant to the position you are applying for — make that first impression count.

Focus on your Story

In order to effectively present your professional journey to date, compelling storytelling is crucial. It’s imperative that you construct your resume so it describes the linear story of your career. Within that, touch on your previous work experience, career-related challenges that you overcame, and what value you brought to your former company. Furthermore, make sure you display actual statistics of how your prior workplace efforts propelled your former company to greatness. This enables Hiring Managers to see for themselves the quality of your skills.

Avoid these Common Mistakes

In addition to spelling and grammatical errors — which you should scan for profusely — there are many other subtle mistakes that job seekers commonly make when writing their resumes, such as:

• Unrelated work history: If you’re applying for a Software Engineer position at tech company, it only seems obvious that you don’t need to include information about your tenure working at a Customer Service Representative at a call center. However, while this example may be extreme, to this day multitudes of job seekers choose to include unrelated work experiences on their resume. A general rule of thumb is to forgo mentioning any job that does not highlight your skills that could be harnessed in the position you are applying for.
• Unrelated private information: If it is illegal for an employer to ask you about your relationship-status, age, sexual orientation, and religion, why include it on your resume? Stick to your professional story, and save your personal one for those you come home to after work.
• Tacky fonts: You want your resume to be easy to read, right? Then avoid using elaborate font styles. While the business world is often innovative and fun, no Hiring Manager wants to try to decode the font on your resume. Sticking to Times New Roman is your best bet.
• References: It is simply a waste of resume real estate to give a portion of space to the words “References available upon request.” If you are a legitimate candidate, your employer will likely deduce that you have the references to back up your claims and later ask for them if necessary.

Once you’ve constructed a quality resume, you can begin making additional copies that cater specifically to the demands of the roles you are applying for.

Additionally, if you’re hoping to nail down a killer position quickly, great resumes work fantastic in conjunction with great Recruiters. Connect with us on LinkedIn or email us to learn more about how our Recruiters can help pave the way toward your next career destination.

Originally published at https://www.mbassett.com.