Writing a Resume

As unemployment in America reaches an all time high, many people are left wondering when they will get their next employment opportunity. When that time comes you want to have a resume that is ready to submit. However, you also want to make sure that your resume reflects your hard working, honest, and ready-to-hire spirit. There are ways that you can make sure that you write a better resume.

- Proofread, Proofread, Proofread!

This is one of the most overlooked steps in all forms of writing, but especially resumes. People often think that because it is not a normal piece of writing that it won’t have mistakes. However, that is not the case. There are many commonly misspelled words as well as grammatical errors that can hurt a resume. You want your attention to detail and literacy to reflect how serious you are about getting a new job.

- Get Straight to the Point

A lot of times people want to overshare information on their resume. They want to show all of the amazing attributes that make them a great employee. However, sometimes all of these components can make the writing long which defeats the purpose of a resume which is to easily view information. All other extensive knowledge details can be saved for the actual interview if the interviewer asked you questions like “Tell me some instances you were praised at your old job”. Other than that, keep the resume concise and no more than 1 to 2 pages. You also want to be concise in the fact that you don’t use vague language. Words and phrases like “involved in”, “assisted with”, “contributed to”, all indicate you didn’t take a charge in this role. If you are going to use vague terms like “hardworking” then make sure to back it up.

- Highlight Times You Have Gone Above and Beyond

Employers typically want an employee that will go above and beyond in the company. You want to show initiative and how you took a role in your company that went past responsibilities of the position. Yes, you can highlight what your job entailed but show how you went past that.

- Pay Attention to the Words You Use

You want to show your presence to an employer through a single piece of paper. That can be challenging which is why you want to use action verbs as well as key words. Examples of these words are “analyzed”, “resolved”, “generated”, etc. The reason you want to use words like this is because it shows leadership and a higher level of intelligence.

- Write to Your Employer

While a resume can be used for every employer, you want to actually change it up just a little so that you can have it better suit all job positions. You may even benefit from having different versions of your resume prepared for different fields. Your resume has an audience and if you have a generic resume that is not created with the current position in mind, it can hurt you when you would’ve gotten hired.

Overall

Resumes can be tricky but hold a key component in securing your next job. Make sure that you take your time when writing your resume and you will be able to find your next employment opportunity!