Before you post that online resume, you need to make sure you are as prepared as possible. Just like most things in life, there are tricks and tips to making your resume as successful as possible. Keep these things in mind, and your resume will have a marked advantage against competing resumes.
Don’t depend on the pronoun “I”.
It’s implicit that your resume is about you; using the pronoun “I” takes away from the flow of the resume and clutters up the layout with unnecessary words.
Instead of writing something like “I was in charge of coordinating various multi team initiatives”, your resume will read better if you wrote something like “Responsible for multi team initiatives.”
Run from ugly fonts like they were the plague.
When online resume professionals say that you should think outside of the box, they usually aren’t referring to things like layout and font.
In fact, font style and size is where most job candidates usually mess up. Just because you can read and understand the words on your resume doesn’t mean that the hiring manager will be able to.
The best way to make sure your resume is legible is to stick to commonly used fonts: 10 point New Times Roman is usually a safe bet.
Never use confusing and/or cluttered resume layout.
There are certain resume layouts that just simply work. Others… well, not so much. The best way to make sure that your online resume makes the best impression possible, make sure to stick with the tried and true resume layouts.
For the record, the top two resume layout formats are “chronological” and “functional”.
Use specifics.
Use as many specifics as possible when describing your skill sets and professional qualifications. After all, anybody can plug in a bullet point that says “highly accomplished salesman”. You add a level of credibility when you specifically state something like “beat my KPI by 40% for three consecutive years.”
Proofread it. Then proofread it again.
Sounds like common sense, but more than one candidate hasn’t even made it to the interview room due to grammatical errors. Before you post your online resume, make sure that your spelling and sentence structure is perfect.
Bullet points are your friend.
Let’s face it: everybody has 26 hours worth of things to do. Of course, we all only have the same 24 hours. Don’t waste your resume reviewer’s time with bulky paragraphs.
Instead, be generous with bullet points. They are a great way of getting across information in quick, easy to digest facts. An added benefit is that they make your resume more appealing to the eye.
Get to the point.
You don’t have to (and really shouldn’t) write a novel for a resume. That is, unless you are looking to be an employed writer.
Instead, keep your resume to as few pages as possible. This means keeping the focus of your resume relevant to the position you are looking to fill.
Apply like a mad man (or woman).
Your resume could be absolutely perfect, but you can’t get a job if the right people aren’t seeing it. This means posting your online resume on as many websites as possible.
But don’t stop there. Use every last every distribution method at your disposal. Send your resume via mail to potential employers. Get some new business cards made up with the URL of your online resume, and pass them out everywhere you go.
Stay focused, be assertive and before you know it you’ll be sitting behind a new desk with a smile on your face.
Tags: online resume, resume