A well written and organized resume is essential if you want to impress employers at a job interview. If you follow just five simple tips for improving your resume, you will significantly increase your chances of getting hired.
Proofreading
Nothing turns off employers more than resumes that have spelling and grammatical mistakes. So make sure you proofread all of the sentences before submitting your resume to an employer.
Keep it Short
Employers receive dozens of resumes every day. They don’t have time to look through resumes that are more than 2 pages each. You need to keep your resume as brief and to the point as possible. Try to make your resume only one page, but fill it with as much direct information about your history as possible.
No First Person Pronouns
It is quite clear to employers that your resume is referring to you. As long as you have your full name at the top, they will understand who the information is referring to. Therefore, you should not use the first person pronoun “I” on your resume. It is a turnoff to employers.
Use Bullet Statements
When you write the job descriptions for all the previous jobs you’ve held, you need to keep the sentences brief and to the point. You can even use fragmented sentences without referring to yourself in particular. If you find this difficult to do in paragraph form then write out your sentences in a bulleted list.
For example, instead of writing something like “Performed clerical duties in an office environment, and mailed letters and applied postage,” you could write:
- Performed clerical duties in an office environment.
- Mailed letters and applied postage.
As you can see, the bullets make your job duties stand out more and it is easier for employers to read.
List Your Skills
Resumes are not just documents that list your education and work history. They are supposed to identify who you are and what skills you offer to the employer. That is what all employers are trying to figure out about their applicants with each resume they read. To make this easier for them, design a little section on your resume that lists all of your main skills. You could make a bulleted list for this as well.
For example, you could list a series of skills that pertain to the kind of job you are applying for, such as:
- Data Entry
- Customer Service
- Sales
- Business Management
This small list of skills clearly tells employers what kind of work you can do for them. That way they don’t have to decipher lengthy job descriptions in order to figure it out.