Write a Professional Resume & Stand Out from the Crowd | Resume Writing Tips

How to write  a good resume ??

How to write an effective resume? There are lots of varying suggestions out there.

Should you keep it to one page? Do you put up a summary on the top? Do you include personal interests and volunteer gigs? And how do you make it stand out, especially when you know the hiring manager is receiving tons of applications? This may be your best chance to make a good first impression, so you have got to get it right.

What Are Employers Looking for in a Resume?

Hiring managers just search for three things on your resume, “WHAT did you do?  The reason behind it WHY? And WHAT was the outcome?” If your resume has the answer to all these questions, you are on right track.

The key to a good resume is clear, easy-to-understand language. “Hiring managers want to see if a candidate fits the role requirements they are hiring for. “Your resume should showcase the hiring manager not only what day-to-day responsibilities you can handle, but how you can add value to the requirements.”

Basic Structure of Your Resume:

Not all resumes need to exactly follow the same structure but generally, they should have the following sections.

1. Header & Contact Info:  Resumes should include a header consisting of your name, contact info (basically your phone number, personal email address and links of your social profiles or personal websites should be subheading.

2. Professional Summary: By professional summary we mean that it should be a brief; one to three-sentence section featured prominently on your resume that in a nutshell outlines who you are, what you do, and why you are fit for the job.

3. Skills: Use bullets to list down your skills to make them more evident for the hiring manager rather than write in paragraphs. It shows individual’s ability to get the job done and thus your resume is taken more seriously.

4. Work Experience: It is one of the critical sections of a resume comprising the details of your work history in a logical and captivating format. The Work Experience section should have company names, locations, employment dates, roles and, titles and, your accomplishments.

5. Education: Quite a few jobs require a specific level of education, hence it is critical to mention your academic credentials on your resume. However, this section should not use much space.

6. Additional Experience:  This is optional, but considered to be valuable to showcase your achievements. This section is generally at the last of your resume which allows you to highlight your additional certifications, awards, and hobbies.

How to write the Resume at Different levels of Career:

The ‘Mid-Level Professional’ Resume

After reaching Mid-level, professionals have a strong background in managing teams or leading departments. They usually have experience of around 7 to 15 years; hence their resumes can exceed one page.

Essential tips:

• Make the first section your professional summary. For a person with rich experience adding professional experience is valuable. It is a nice manner to briefly convey your core competencies at the top of the resume.

• Highlight relevant skills. Try to use relevant keywords and phrases like ″strategic planning,” “cost management” and “financial planning & analysis” — as described in the job role you are applying for. It becomes easy for the recruiter to shortlist your profile.

• Make your recent position the most comprehensive one. The major part of a good resume is details about the professional experience. One should start with a complete experience of the current job role followed by just mentioning the name, tenure, and designation of previous jobs.

• Numbers, numbers, numbers. Numbers are very important when you are applying for a senior-level position; make them very clear in your resume. If the strategic plan devised by you brought changes in a certain % of profit, revenue or sales, emphasize it in your resume. But remember don’t fake, be true on your achievements.

• Emphasize select achievements. Be brief in your language and keep space for your proudest and most relevant accomplishments. This is a more compelling way to present what you can contribute to the next employer.

The ‘Junior-Level Professional’ Resume

At this level usually, an individual has two or fewer years of work experience and they require little supervision especially for complex tasks. These resumes for such kind of experience should be restricted to one page.

Essential tips:

• Showcase strong teamwork skills. The critical skill for this level which hiring managers are looking for is teamwork and interpersonal skills. It is suggested to use words like “we” or “our team”. It is beneficial as it shows an individual is a team player. These words don’t have a negative impact on your achievements; rather they strengthen your impact.

• Only include relevant work and internship experience. Avoid putting all internships or jobs you have done. It tends to weaken the resume; because it diverts the hiring manager from focusing on how qualified you are for a particular job.

• Leave out the professional summary.  At this level, individuals should not concentrate much on the professional summary as they do not have enough relevant work to justify their summary. Rather, they should focus on the first few jobs, major accomplishments, education, and extracurricular activities.

• Additional Certification & Achievements:  This is optional, but considered to be valuable to showcase your achievements. This section is generally at the last of your resume which allows you to highlight your additional certifications, awards, and hobbies. 

The ‘Recent College Graduate’ Resume

Essential tips:

• Put your education in the first section. A fresher, recent graduate from college should start their resume with the college or university details, degrees obtained, GPA, and any academic honors.

• Keep details about your internships short.  Keep it short and crisp, be honest and list the relevant details and tasks. Putting all the tiny things you did will just make the hiring manager think you are exaggerating or being dishonest.

• Use extracurricular activities to tell a story.  Mention the extracurricular activities you were involved in college. It can involve big responsibilities like being president of a club or can be a small initiative of a weekend of volunteer work. It should be captivating and interesting enough for the hiring manager to tell a story about your hobbies, accomplishments, and who you are as a person.

• Keep it to just one page.  Prospective employers are aware that you are just graduated, so avoid making fool of yourself by making you look like something you are not. Don’t oversell yourself else you will lose credibility.

• Make your resume pleasing to the eye with lots of white space.  Keep your resume clean, clear, and presentable; use bullet points and strong action verbs. Avoid filling your resume with irrelevant details, like putting the achievement of your school, etc.

Online resume – making sure your resume stands out online

With the latest trend, employers are keen and interested in seeing your digital resume. There are many options available for an online resume like one can have a full-fledged approach of building their own website or create a video to make a big impact. Or you can leverage an existing networking platform, such as LinkedIn. You can also use a free online resume builder.

An online resume has the benefit of being noticeable by potential employers but also has the disadvantage of not being customized to fit a specific role that you are applying for.

Conclusion

Your resume is the initial step of getting shortlisted for an interview with an employer. Ensure that you include the most relevant information on your resume, organize it to emphasize the most critical aspects of your professional image and carefully review it for errors.

Once your resume is polished and finalized, it should assist you in getting more callbacks, interviews, and job offers.

ALL THE BEST!!