10 Tips for a great resume

10 Tips for a great resume

Think of your resume as your shop window – it must effectively display your experience, skills and qualities in a very short period of time.
The following tips will help you produce a resume that does just that.

Target your resume to a specific job or type of position

Prospective employers/recruiters need to be able to match your skills and experience to their selection criteria. Consider carefully the requirements of your target job and make sure your resume highlights the relevant key skills and experience.

Structure your resume so it is easy to navigate

An initial scan of a resume is usually only 20 or 30 seconds, so it is very important that the information is laid out clearly and your most relevant skills and experience are in sharp focus. Use headings and sub-headings to divide information and keep the format crisp. There are no ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ resume formats. The most effective resumes are designed with an end target in mind. Experiment with ordering your information in different ways to create the right message.

Create content that sells

Good design should get attention, but it’s really the content of your resume that determines how many interviews you generate. Provide plenty of information to help sell your skills and experience. Include a brief description of your current / recent employer to help put your role into context (particularly important if your employer is not very well known or you are changing industry sectors). Give concise descriptions of your roles and responsibilities, including key information such as the number of staff you managed or the size of budget for which you were responsible.

Focus on achievements / contributions

Differentiate yourself from the competition by highlighting your relevant skills and achievements. Think about your key performance indicators – every job has them whether they’re written down or not! – and use these as a basis for developing a list of successes.

Quantify and qualify your achievements

Create powerful success statements by quantifying your achievements, focusing on the key business drivers of saving money, making money, saving time, improving service etc. Give an indication of the scale and scope of your contributions by including details of the numbers of people / sites involved in particular projects. Highlight any special features eg an industry first / the largest ever etc.

Use strong marketing ‘power’ words

Exploit language to create the tone of your resume. Use ‘power’ words in your statements such as ‘achieved’, ‘delivered’, ‘led’, ‘drove’, ‘exceeded’, ‘implemented’, ‘spearheaded’, ‘pioneered’, ‘introduced’, ‘initiated’, ‘project managed’, ‘saved’, ‘reduced’, ‘increased’, ‘improved’.

Sell the benefits of your skills

Most resumes provide a list of duties without explaining the benefit of those skills to employers. If one of your key skills is the ability to motivate teams, for instance, explain how this has benefited your employer’s bottom line. You might say that you have improved team morale and motivation resulting in increased staff retention which has in turn reduced recruitment costs.

Ensure perfect presentation

Poor presentation can undermine the best content, so make sure your spelling, grammar and layout are perfect. Get someone to read your resume to double check for errors.

Provide examples to support your claims

If you claim to be a good communicator, for instance, back this up by providing information on the types and levels of people / organizations you’ve dealt with, and how you have communicated ex; ‘Delivered presentations to expert audiences of up to 500 people’.

Keep your resume highly relevant and concise

Don’t try to include everything you’ve ever done in your resume. A successful resume is relevant and targeted to a specific job or position, so you should only include information which supports your suitability for the role. Re-order your resume to highlight experience most relevant to your current target. Reduce early career detail to give more focus to recent employment.

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