Here’s what makes a great resume

A resume is not a boring piece of paper that lists all your past experiences and skills. It is an attractive piece of marketing material for your job search. Your resume should be a magnet that reels in interested potential employers and hiring managers. So, how does one write an interesting resume and not a laundry list of job duties?

Skip those random jobs

Did you spend six months jumping in between jobs while you took on temp work? If none of the jobs are related to the scope of the role you are applying for, you should not mention those jobs on your resume. Instead, lead your work experience section with jobs directly related to the applied job description.

Highlight how you’ve moved up

Many first-time resume writers make the mistake of combining multiple roles with a single employer to make one entry in their career history. In doing so, they miss out on a perfect opportunity to showcase how they have ranked up in job titles within the company. When writing a resume, you must always show your promotions with an employer to impress recruiters. Here’s an article that explains all about listing multiple jobs with the same employer on a resume.

Tweak your accomplishments

Your accomplishments don’t have to be removed from your resume just because they don’t highlight related experience. Highlight job-related skills using your achievements by framing them in different ways. For example, consider that you are applying for a job in editing. Your current resume says that you have “authored 500 articles” for a previous employer, but it doesn’t necessarily highlight your editing skills. By framing your achievement as, “Edited and proofread 500 self-authored articles,” you get to highlight job-related skills for the new role.

Talk about the gaps

If you have had career gaps of three or six months, relax. Most employers are not too concerned about short career gaps. Most of the time, hiring managers are looking for career gaps that stretch several years which indicate that the job seeker lacks serious knowledge about the current tech being used in the industry. However, it is best to list your career gaps on your resume instead of trying to hide them. You can simply list a qualification that you gained during the period to show the employer that you did not let go of your professional development during your career gap.

Remove older qualifications

If you have completed your college degree, there’s no need for you to mention your high school diploma on your resume. Similarly, if you are an experienced professional with multiple years of expertise, you must remove some older qualifications from your resume. Not sure what needs to go? Look for the qualifications that highlight skills that are no longer relevant to the working world, such as your certifications in DOS commands, WordPerfect, COBOL, or typing.

Word things right on your resume

A lot of job seekers are tempted to use unnecessarily complex language which involves lots of big words when they write a resume. However, this form of ‘resume speak’ will end up masking the true extent of your actions and results. For example, “Used Wattpad to discover and recruit young writers to boost company profits by 20%” sounds more impressive than saying “Utilized online platforms to reach out to new writers to increase sales” Use impactful language when writing your resume.