Write A Standout Resume

“Be so good they can’t ignore you”

It doesn’t matter what level you’re at in your career, to get noticed for a potential career that’s a right fit for you you need a killer resume. Your resume is a tool to get you noticed by hiring managers. It’s a summary of you and all that you can bring to the table. The goal is to let hiring managers and recruiters know why YOU are the candidate they’ve been looking for.

To really stand out you’ve need to build a resume that highlights your experience, accomplishments and credentials and point out your important skills. All these factors need to be industry specific in order to have the chance to get noticed for the job you’ve been hoping for.

You can easily jump on the net and find a template or sample resumes related to your field, fill in the blanks and make it yours. These are definitely great tools to help you get started. Think of your resume as your personal marketing tool to sell yourself. Land that perfect career with some of these tips:

Contact Info: make sure your name and any contact information you want to share is consistent throughout. This will include all your social pages. If you use your full name, nickname, middle name; make sure this is present.

Online Profile: almost all recruiters and hiring managers will, at some point, take a look at your social media mainly your LinkedIn profile. Make sure that the information presented on your profile is relevant to the resume you are handing them. This will include all of your experience as well as the above mentioned contact information.

Job Descriptions: look up job descriptions relevant to what your job title was/is and tailor it to fit you. This part of your resume is very important. You want to be brief, to the point but also include any and all major accomplishments.

Be job specific: if the position you are applying for requires any specific training or licenses be sure to include those. If the posting mentions any specific skill set that is unique to this job make sure to point out that you possess this skill clearly in your resume. Tailor your resume to the job you are applying for.

Timeline: ALWAYS start from your most recent position and work your way backwards. If you recently graduated, include any internships. Is there a gap in your start and end dates but you were volunteering...include that. You want to show that you were consistently gaining experience. If there is a significant gap in your experience be prepared to answer why. A good resume should list at most 15 years of experience.

Education: List your education from most recent to latest. Name the institution, major, degree and dates.

This may sound like a lot of work but remember that you are selling yourself to your potential dream job. By taking the time to think of all of your experience and who you are today you can gain the confidence needed to ace that interview and land that job! Invest in yourself to encourage others to do the same!