Top 4 Things You Should Include on Your Job Resume
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You only have six seconds to capture a hiring manager’s attention and set yourself apart from the competition. Resumes are rarely read from top to bottom; they are quickly skimmed over because managers look for key words and phrases before they’ll take a closer look.
If you want your resume to stand out from the crowd, make sure include these four components:
Contact information: This should be placed at or near the top of your resume. Your contact info should include your name, phone number, email address and cell number. Place your information in the order in which you’d like to be contacted. A LinkedIn URL is also good to include (you do have a LinkedIn profile don’t you?).
Awards and achievements: You need to look as good as possible on paper. List your career awards, achievements, and successes that will help explain why you’re the best candidate for the job. You can also include personal awards that you’ve achieved after your career listings. For instance, winning a 5K, or a volunteer of the year award are major accomplishments that you can be proud of, and it shows that you have other interests outside of work. Hiring managers like to know that you devote some of your time to other things.
Keywords from the job posting: Look for power keywords in the job posting, such as ‘detail-oriented, ‘results driven,’ ‘organized,’ ‘team player,’ ‘able to delegate,’ ‘leader,’ etc. Make sure you include these keywords and sprinkle them throughout your resume. Put them in past job descriptions, in your career narrative, objective, etc. Those traits are what the hiring manager is looking for, and the more you include, the better chance you have of being contacted for an interview.
Career Narrative: This is basically the story of your career both past and present. Make it interesting and relevant to the position you’re applying to. Of course, it also has to be truthful! This is your chance to shine and show what you’ve got. Skills, experience, accomplishments, awards and major projects you’ve completed should all be included in your career narrative.
Your resume is a snapshot of your entire career, but it can be difficult to convey everything in one or two pages. You need to be concise, succinct and clear about what you want to say. Pick out the most important aspects – the ones that will get you that interview. You can talk about your other, less important accomplishments in the interview. Remember that the hiring manager is likely sifting through hundreds of resumes just like yours. Think about what is going to make yours different.
How is your information going to jump off the page and make them want to interview you?
This may take some time, and you’ll have to tailor each resume to the job you’re applying to. If you’ve done your resume using the tips above, the chances are much better that you’ll be the one they call! Then you can wow them in the interview and land that job!
Great Hire can help you build your resume and get you on the right career path. Visit the website today to learn more.
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