A great resume is just a few steps away!

The job market is as hot as ever, as revealed by the August JOLTS report. It is looking almost as positive as the labor market preceding the Covid-19 pandemic. The unemployment levels are low and good job opportunities abound for anyone who is looking for their dream job. If you are planning to enter a job search, this is the ideal time to start rewriting your resume!

If you haven’t touched your resume in a while, we suggest that you hop on over to the Resume Mansion website to receive a free review for your current resume. Once you know what needs to change on your resume, you can start snipping away the unwanted and improving the essentials. If you are not sure just what to do when creating a resume for your job search, read on.

First of all, gather your info

It will be easier for you to write an excellent resume when you have all the information that you need at hand. Some important things to collect are, job descriptions of your past jobs, a list of your skills, and your certifications. Once you have gathered all the information you need, you can start sorting them into two piles as ‘Relevant’ and ‘Unrelated.’

Select the relevant information

Not all of your past experiences and skills will be relevant to your target job title, and that’s okay. There’s no rule saying that you must mention all your past jobs on your resume. A great resume is always relevant to the job description and customized for the employer. Read the job description carefully to spot what experiences, skills, and qualifications are relevant to the job.

Choose your template

It is important to use an ATS-friendly resume template when you apply for jobs. If you are planning on downloading a resume template, go for one that is unique. You don’t want to get the resume template with the most downloads because then your resume will look like everyone else’s. A better idea is to create your own resume template using MS Word or another software. This will allow you to allocate just as much space as you want for your unique combination of qualifications on the document.

Leave no section unfilled

Remember to fill out all the sections of your resume. You can create a unique resume by incorporating additional resume sections into the document. Pay more attention to the work experience section of your resume and ensure that all your impressive achievements get a spot on the document. The sections you can add to your resume are Contact Information, Headline, Summary Statement, Key Skills, Work Experience, Volunteer Work, Education, Projects, Publications, Languages, etc.

Add a personal touch

Your resume does not have to be black and white for it to be professional. You can make many design choices to bring out your unique personality through your resume. One easy way to make your resume stand out is by using a background color for the document instead of using the very common white color. If you are working in the creative industry, you can even add patterns, shading, and other graphical elements to make your resume stand out.