7 Resume Hacks which Will help you get your Dream Job!
Are you a graduate gearing up to set foot into the real world? Or a professional seeking career advancement or interested in diversifying . Well a stellar resume is just what the doctor ordered ! As they say that a resume just is a mere piece of paper, oft ignored, but has the capability to make or break the rest of your life.
Here are 7 resume hacks which can help you polish it up!
1. Personal Details
Let’s start from the top! In most resumes (make it 99.9%) the top most section is dedicated to the individual’s personal details like name, address ,email etc. Two small changes can make a world of a difference here. The first one is a no-brainer-put down a professional email address and not crazygirl2012@…. Or dEceNtbOy@… Secondly, you can help yourself as well as the recruiter by putting in the link to your LinkedIn profile so that potential employers can have a detailed view of your professional online presence.
2. Objective Not needed
A number of resumes (and I see a lot of them every day) have a professional objective statement. Most of the times these objectives are trite statements such as “hardworking, dedicated individual aspiring for grow in sector x” with no reflection on the uniqueness of the candidate. My suggestion is “do away with the professional objective statement”. You are wasting valuable resume space. Instead why not put in a concise summary of achievements so that the recruiter can exactly know what sets you apart from other candidates. Remember recruiters and HR manager spend less than 6 seconds on a resume so you have use this information to your advantage!
3. Get your dates right!
I have come across a lot of resumes with a date typos, missing dates or have professional/academic activities which are in no particular order. Remember that recruiters only have a 6 seconds window in which they categorize a resume as fit/Not-fit, therefore if he/she can’t make any sense of it in those 6 seconds; it is surely going to end up in the resume black hole. So a key thing to ensure is that your professional and academic accomplishments are in chronological order( latest one comes first) and that all relevant dates are mentioned on your resume.
4. Keep it short and simple!
As a recruiter, I frequently get asked on the appropriate resume length. My rule of a thumb is in this regard is very simple; fresh graduates looking for their first job should keep it two pages max (although I highly recommend a crisp one pager). The task becomes more complicated for professionals with years of experience as their resume becomes a 4-7 page rendition of their career. The hard fact is that a recruiter would not go past the first 2 pages in the 6 second window and hence might miss out on the unique aspects of your earlier career stints. In such a scenario, my recommendation is to bring it down to 2-3 pages and to focus on the 1-2 key projects/initiatives at each career milestone instead of the laundry list of tasks or goals achieved.
5. Tailor Your Resume!
Tailor your resume to the job advert or the description given, with emphasis on key words required by the organization. Embedding the right keywords in your resume is imperative as a recruiter is most likely to use those keywords to shift through the hordes of job applications coming in from the company’s application tracking systems or job boards.
6. Be Honest & accurate
Ensure that your resume is an authentic depiction of your career. A fib might get you the current role but it would have serious long term career implications. On a similar note, ensure accuracy of facts and figures as well i.e. sales professional quoting annual revenue achievements should have the accurate numbers down on his resume.
7. Differentiate Yourself!
The last yet the most important hack is to “differentiate yourself form other”. For starters, choose a resume template highlights your achievements and not the one that your alma mater has asked you to follow. Sadly, most graduates lose this opportunity and send out their resume on the university defined templates. Interestingly, a number of professionals with significant experience are guilty of the same. So the key takeaway here is that choose your resume template wisely.
A resume gives you plenty of room to differentiate yourself. For instance the awards and achievements section (or whatever you prefer to name it) is where you can put in initiatives or accolades which put you a cut above the rest. Similarly, the interests section could be a key differentiator as you can use the space to highlight your unique (to you!) interests and hobbies(Please note that almost everybody put down reading, travelling and social media as a hobby/interest!).
Ayesha is a seasoned HR professional and runs a HR and Personal Development Blog at http://www.talenttracked.com/blog/. She is also the Founder & CEO of TalentTracked- a boutique HR firm targeted towards SME’s and Startups. If you are interested in pursuing a career https://www.facebook.com/talenttracked for details.
