Time to Revamp that Resume and Land the Career you Deserve

By:  Beth Rachut

You’ve likely heard the statistic before: The average time spent scanning a new resume is seven seconds. Invest a little time into your document and make it worthy of more than skimming it a few moments. Here’s a few helpful hints to take your resume from stagnant to stellar in no time.

Be an Achiever, and Prove it, too!

Your resume is not meant to be a job description. We want to hear about your accomplishments and impacts within your job. Some examples might be:

• Built sales from 2 million to 5 million in the first full year of sales
• Signed on 115 new customers in a 26 month period to our proprietary precision program
• Reduced budget expenses by 9% in 5 years
• Presented at 36 events in 4 states throughout the last 2 years

What do you notice about the above bullet points? We are pointing out our accomplishment using something that is measurable within a time frame. This is something that makes your resume rise to the top of the pile. Another thing that is notable is the use of action words to describe, i.e.: built, signed, reduced, presented. These action verbs show accomplishment instead of just being a part of or responsible for a task.

Be Concise

Unless you have a multitude of published papers, your resume should really be no more than a few pages. Two-page resumes are still fine but keep it succinct. Keep each work experience to a couple of solid accomplishment bullet points. Wrap up the end with your educational degrees and community involvement. No need to let us know your love of hunting and CrossFit. Includes hobbies is outdated and unprofessional.

Don’t Forget your LinkedIn Account

It’s no secret that your potential employers are going to check into your social media. Why not flaunt your LinkedIn account on your resume? It’s definitely a trend to include the link to your LinkedIn account now. Just make sure you put int a little time to renew your profile and make sure everything is current. While the same rules mostly apply for resumes and LinkedIn accounts, write a few sentences in your about section to let others know what you are interested in and have mastered. The About section is also a great place to be able to show a little personality while still maintaining your professionalism. You can even emphasize things like skills and let recruiters know that you are open to specific opportunities without letting the general public see this.

Make it creative, yet Impactful

It’s ok to add a little creativity to your resume. Canva has some amazing templates to use that can make your resume shine visually. The key is to make sure it’s readable, consistent with styling and chronological. (The jury is still out as to if you should include a photo of yourself. In my opinion, leave it out.)

Proofread

Although it sounds so basic, proofreading is often lacking on resumes. Have someone else read over it. Double check that your personal information is correct and there are no typos. Don’t forget to leave an email address.

Now it’s up to you to make the material within the resume impressive as well. Take heed to follow a couple of these tips and you are on the road to a document you are proud to showcase.