What can I do to improve my resume?” – a question we talk about with candidates daily.
A resume is your opportunity to tell your professional story. And although it seems like common sense, having a rock-solid resume that includes relevant components of your background and experience is critical to landing your next job. After looking at thousands of resumes over our careers, we have boiled it down to 3 simple guidelines that apply to candidates at any level as it relates to creating a rock-solid resume you will be proud of. Rock-Solid Resume Tips:
1. Include Numbers Numbers are a universal language, people from any company, industry and background can understand the value of a number. On your resume, numbers are instrumental in helping to quantify your responsibility, accomplishments, and how your experience will translate to the value that you can bring to a new job and organization. While not all areas of responsibility or accomplishments are quantifiable, examples on how to best leverage the impact of numbers include:
Percentage (or dollar number) productivity or growth
Percentage (or dollar number) for cost or time savings
Sales numbers
Number of transactions, clients, or volume
Performance to goal
2. Keep Your Audience in Mind
Put yourself in the shoes of the intended audience for your resume. In order to write an impactful resume, write it such that anyone reading it will understand your background and accomplishments. Avoid acronyms or language that might be specific to your organization as these diminish the value and dilute your resume. We encourage asking a third party to proofread your resume, this will also serve as a second set of eyes to catch any language that might not be easily understood.
3. Consider Your Resume a Highlight Reel A resume tells your professional story as a highlight reel of your career. Avoid cluttering your resume with information for the purpose of filling up the space. Every piece of information should have value and describe what and how you have built your career and accomplishments. To create the most relevant impact, resumes should be formatted in reverse chronological order with the most recent jobs at the top and corresponding highlights below. While writing your resume might feel like a to-do you would rather avoid, investing the time to write a rock-solid resume will pay dividends when it helps you land your next job.
While writing your resume might feel like a to-do you would rather avoid, investing the time to write a rock-solid resume will pay dividends when it helps you land your next job.