3 Tips To Make Your Resume Stand Out
Although being quickly outpaced by networking, the resume is still an important component of many's job search process. Your resume is a personal advertisement of your skills and experience.
Done right, it can be key to getting you the interview. As a HR professional, I’ve reviewed thousands of resumes over the past 17+ years.
Here are three things I’ve found that successful candidates consistently do to make their resumes stand out.
#1 - QUANTIFY your accomplishments. Use numbers to highlight your accomplishments. Using numbers really makes your accomplishments stand out to the recruiter. For example:
Increased sales by 10% year-over-year through implementing a unique online marketing strategy.
Led a team of 10 customer service representatives, resolving over 500 customer issues each day.
Managed 50 complex accounts, consistently meeting customer satisfactions scores.
You get the idea. Use numbers wherever you can.
#2 - TAILOR your resume to the job you are applying for. Think in terms of what the recruiter is looking for and then tailor your resume accordingly. The best way to do this is to match as much of the content of your resume as possible to the job advertisement.
Use key words from the job advertisement in your “professional summary” section at the top of your resume.
Use bold font to highlight closely related skills and experience.
Put your relevant experience first under each job even if it wasn’t the primary function of that particular job.
Make your relevant experience obvious: If the ad says they want someone with 5 years of outside sales experience, and you have that, then write “5 years of outside sales experience” in your “professional summary” section at the top of your resume.
#3 - DESIGN your resume. Recruiters are more likely to pay attention to a resume with a good layout. You wouldn’t think design would be so important but considering that recruiters are reading so many resumes each day, good formatting can make it easier for them to see how your skills and experience relate directly to the job you’re applying for.
Use a consistent font (I recommend Calibri 11)
Line up your indents
Use bullets or bold text to highlight particularly relevant experience
Use lines or distinct section breaks to separate your resume’s sections
Ways to Work with Skye
Monthly HR Consulting: On-demand monthly contracted HR services customized to meet your business needs. Quickly offload HR tasks to an experienced consultant.
Leadership Training: Interactive in-person or online training tailored to your organization. Build leadership skills with relevant HR & leadership training.
Employee Handbooks: Handbooks tailored to your organization’s unique values and focused on reducing State and Federal compliance risk.
HR Strategy Session: Get quick answers to your HR questions from an HR pro. Receive expert guidance and a clear plan of action to resolve your immediate HR issues.
Leadership Coaching: Individualized, results-oriented coaching to help you achieve your career goals. Plus Career Coaching & Resume Writing for job seekers.
HR Special Projects: Impartial personnel Investigations, on-demand recruitment & onboarding, compensation planning, & more.
