Improving your resume doesn’t have to be that hard, though you should put some effort into making it a “winning document.” You do realize you’re not alone looking to get a job, so it’s better if you can somehow outshine other candidates. Here are some tips that could help you out:
1. Make your resume easily scannable
Most employers don’t initially read the whole resume; rather they scan it, and only if they have time at that moment, give it another look. You want them to get the key information about you quickly. If your resume isn’t easy to digest, it could easily be through away.
That said, it’s absolutely mandatory to use bullets, which will make your resume a lot more readable. In most cases, you should avoid using paragraph-styled text.
2. Keep it compact
Your resume doesn’t have to be a single page document, but try not to go over 2 pages. Keep the most important things on the first page (like your previous jobs). Eliminate clutter such as unnecessary dates (i.e. college activities) and parentheses (commas will do just fine). Moreover, don’t list too much experience on a resume – only the relevant stuff really counts.
3. Simplify
Remove all “I”s and “me”s from the resume right now. This isn’t a document about your ego. Moreover, if possible talk about accomplishments rather than tasks. And cut the wording; for instance, instead of saying “Ensured client meetings were coordinated” say “Coordinated client meetings.” It says the same thing, while saving some space for other (important) things.
4. Spellcheck
This may sound like common sense, but that doesn’t make it a common practice. Nothing says “amateur” so loud as misspelling. Proof-read your resume a hundred times if you have to and use spell-checker. Simply put – spelling errors are a big no-no in every employer’s book.
Finally, if you need some help writing your resume, perhaps you should try some tool to help you out. I’ve searched the internet and found this one to produce great results.
