Regardless of the field, you are studying, you need to create an informative resume when applying for a job. The resume allows you to put your best foot forward while also being your first line of defense when pursuing a new job. It is critical to understand your field and understand the best way to articulate how your relevant experience makes you the perfect candidate for a job. Here are some suggestions of some tips and tricks that can be implemented to help sharpen your resume.
Create a skills summary section
Several sources point out it can be beneficial for the applicant to include a skills summary at the top of the resume. Review the job description for terms and/or skills that illustrate core elements of the position and keep a running list of what skills you feel as though you are proficient in. Recruiters will typically skim through resumes looking for specific words in a resume to determine if an applicant could be a strong fit for the position. Including a skills summary on a resume is a perfect way to play into that fact and draw the recruiter in with some of the skills that you feel you are proficient at.
Focus on Accomplishments Rather than Responsibilities
When building a section for your work experience, it is very easy to simply outline your responsibilities from your past work experience. Rather think of some of the accomplishments that you had from past jobs. By doing this, recruiters can better understand how you did your previous jobs better than others in the same position. Think about accomplishments that are linked to data or can be quantified. Having quantified accomplishments helps make these accomplishments more concrete in the recruiter’s mind, thus leaving a strong impression. This is extremely beneficial as you what to work towards differentiating yourself in the recruiter’s mind and potentially getting an interview.
Create a LinkedIn Profile
Besides reviewing your resume, it is not uncommon for recruiters to look for you on LinkedIn. Most sources advise that you limit your resume to one page, providing the most crucial information that you feel the recruiter needs to know and speaks towards why you are the best applicant. However, there is so much information that can be provided and expanded upon on a LinkedIn page. Therefore, consider LinkedIn as a way to expand upon and provide more detail into your experience and skill set to a recruiter.
Tailor Your Resume for Each Position
Several sources point out that one of the most common mistakes made when it comes to resumes is applicants that create a single resume and send it out to multiple companies. Instead of doing this, conduct relevant research on the company and dive into the job description of the positions that you are interested in. These are two places to look into in order to develop a better understanding of what the company is looking for and how you can reflect those qualities into the resume. Consider first creating a master copy of your resume; and when you find a position that you are interested in, tweak the master resume to align with the organization’s needs.