No matter how many years of experience you have in your industry, crafting a solid resume can still feel intimidating. For many job seekers, a resume is the first glimpse an employer has into your potential as a future employee, and the stakes can feel quite high. However, creating a resume that accurately and concisely showcases your skills and experiences can majorly impact your success in searching for a new role.
While there’s much debate regarding utilizing a chronological or functional organization for your resume, most employers respond more positively to a hybrid of both. Here are a few key considerations to keep in mind while writing or revising your resume in preparation for your job search:
Highlight Your Key Skills
Recruiters and employers like to see an initial showcase of your key capabilities and experiences at the top of your resume. This overview gives a broad overview of who you are as a professional and what you can bring to a prospective company. This format is expected in a functional resume and immediately draws a reader’s eye to some of the most important information about you as a candidate. This objective statement should be specific to you as a professional, and it’s always best to use industry-specific terms and avoid cliches or overused adjectives.
Chronological Work Experience
One of the key benefits of utilizing a chronological format for your resume is that it gives recruiters and prospective employers an overview of your career progression. This section should include how long you’ve been in your respective field, the roles you’ve held, and how your experience level has grown over time. This helps a reader to fully understand how your career trajectory aligns with your desired role.
Focus on Measurable Results
When describing your previous work experiences, it’s best to focus on tangible and transferable outcomes rather than broad overviews. One of the best ways of doing this is to use quantifiable numbers (total sales, percent increases year over year, number of clients worked with monthly, and other key data). For a recruiter or prospective employer, these measurable results help to understand how your current skills and experiences align with the expectations and responsibilities of a new role.
Encompassing your entire career into a concise document can be daunting at first. Still, your resume is crucial to showing employers your professional aspirations while highlighting your ability to take on a new role. Organizing your resume to convey not only your relevant educational and work experiences, but also your personal achievements and significant results, helps make your resume stand out among other candidates.