Resume Renovation

Is it time to give your resume a face lift? Whether your actively job searching or not, it’s always a good idea to have an up-to-date resume. The resume that served as your golden ticket to your last position may not cut it in today’s job market. On average, employers devote less than 30 seconds to peruse a resume. They are scanning opposed to reading. Today’s resumes should be clear, concise, and keyword rich.

At a glance, what is the employer going to learn about you? Are your relevant experience, skills, and accomplishments easy to identify?

Your resume has two main goals:

1.) Make it through the company’s Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

2.) Hook the reader’s attention

§         Organize your contact information in a concise manner. Include one email address, one phone number (even if you have more than one!), and your LinkedIn URL.  Hyperlink your email and LI URL to make it easy for the employer to reach and research you. Your physical address is optional, but recommended when applying for local positions.

§        Replace the outdated “Objective” with a Headline and Professional Profile. Use a Headline for immediate impact, giving the reader a good understanding of your industry/goal (i.e., Nonprofit Marketing Executive). Incorporate short branding statements in place of paragraphs. Focus on two to three things you want the reader to know about you. Keep the content on-brand with the position you are seeking.

§        Maximize the space in your Experience section. Concisely illustrate skills, action, and results. Omit full sentence paragraphs (they will be overlooked) and day-to-day tasks. Don’t reiterate your job description. Rather, emphasize your individual contributions and successes. Help the employer see what makes you good at what you do. Polish bullet point statements to highlight results.

§        Bring your format into the 21st Century. Avoid “old-fashioned” fonts (i.e., Bookman, Times New Roman).  For alternative fonts, view this List of Fonts Common to Windows and Mac Systems. Limit bullet points to three to five in a row (long lists of bullet points tend to look like paragraphs and get skipped). To keep your resume to 2 pages, minimize page margins and make blank lines a smaller font size.

In today’s job market, your resume is just one piece of the job search puzzle. It is a critical tool, and in combination with strategic networking, can help you stand out from the crowd!

Posted by Kelly Allgeier