When you are looking for a job, having a top-notch resume is essential. In order to land yourself those interviews, you need to make yourself stand out and appeal to your potential employers. You make your first impressions through your resume, and there are certain things you want to avoid. Here is a short guide on how to create a killer resume that will single you out from the crowd and have employers eager to snatch you up.First Impressions
Looks are everything. If your resume looks sloppy and thrown together, it’ll be discarded by employers immediately. Follow a logical order - begin with your details, followed by a personal statement, experience, and finishing with your qualifications. Avoid using long sentences and paragraphs, since employers don’t have time to read through it all. Be clear and concise with the information that you provide and never use more than two pages.
Personal Statement
In your personal statement, you need to summarise yourself as a professional. Begin with a strong opening sentence that is specific to the role you are applying for. A graduate with a 1st class honors degree in child development from the University of Toronto, seeking an entry level role in the education sector is a good example. Keep it short and sweet. Be clear and direct with the information you provide, focusing on your experience and the attributes you gained from this that are relevant to the job target.
Experience
It is not necessary to fully explain all of your work experience. Only go into detail about the experience that is relevant to the job you are applying for. This may mean you have a section for Key Experience and a separate section for Other Experience. Include your job title, the dates you were employed there and provide one sentence that briefly describes the role and the tasks you were responsible for. A common mistake that people make when writing their resume is going into detail about tasks. This is not what employers are interested in.
Results Not Tasks
After giving a short description of the job, you need to highlight the achievements you made while employed there. Get your potential employers excited about what you could achieve for them and how you are going to make a difference at their company. Don’t present yourself using a passive, task-based approach, but focus on your active results. Instead of saying Developed effective and engaging lesson plans, add some key buzz words and figures to make it results-based. Successfully developed effective and engaging lessons plans to achieve an 89% student retention rate shows that you are an active achiever. Bullet points are an effective way to present concise and direct achievements that employers can easily pick out.
Interview Ready
Employers will be drawn in by your effective resume writing and eager to schedule an interview with you as soon as possible. Make sure you blow your new employers away with these interview tips, and bring that confident, achievement-based attitude with you to land yourself that dream job.
Don’t fall into the traps that will make your resume blend into the background. Instead, follow this guide to create an unforgettable resume that is guaranteed to impress your prospective employers.