Job-hunting? Make sure you have the perfect resume to help you land that dream job! Here are some best practices in resume writing from the experts:
- Keep your resume brief, simple, and easy to read. Ideally, resumes should be one page long. However, if there is a need to include more important information, make sure not to go beyond two pages. According to studies, managers spend less than 10 seconds when glancing at resumes. Thus, the more succinct your resume is, the better. One way to keep the resume short is to use short sentences and active language.
- Package your resume to target the specific job you are applying for. This would help keep your resume short but efficient. Check out the job description and package your qualifications and background to be responsive to the job requirements. Managers will be looking for keywords that are relevant to the position. Including these keywords will increase your chances of getting selected. Instead of listing all your skills, choose the top three that would be most relevant to the position.
- Your resume must look presentable. Margins should be one inch on all four sides and line spacing should be set at 1.5. Choose readable, professional fonts such as Arial or Times New Roman and keep your font size between 10 and 12 points. Divide the content into sections to include a header with contact information, a professional summary or objective, work experience, education, and skills. In terms of organization, you may choose to be chronological, functional, or a combination of both. You may opt to add other information as needed such as character references and the likes. There are various resume layouts available that you can use. Choose the ones appropriate for the position you are applying for. If you are gunning for work in a design company, you can go for a more creative resume. If the job opening is in a law firm, a simple and straightforward layout would be better.
- Quantify and include numbers. Any claim that you include in your resume especially your skills must be substantiated with data. It is not enough to claim that you have an exceptional grasp of the English language. It would help to include the score you garnered in a standard English examination to prove your point. If you say that you are efficient in accomplishing tasks, include figures like how many designs you can deliver or requests you can process in an eight-hour work. These figures would help other people gauge your competencies and skills.
- Have somebody proofread and edit your resume. Managers frown upon typo errors and there might be some errors that could totally change their assessment like numbers in years of work experience. These simple but crucial mistakes can be best avoided if there is somebody to help check the resume prior to submission.
