What can you do in 6 seconds? Tie your shoes? Chop an onion? Recruiters and hiring managers spend an average of 6 seconds reviewing a resume before deciding to move on or keep reading. That’s not much time! To stand out and get recruiters and hiring managers curious to learn more about you, you want to make sure your resume is as clear and concise as possible, while highlighting your best career achievements. Updating your resume to make it shine is easier said than done, but here are 3 tips that can improve your resume instantly:
1) Focus on your career accomplishments and use quantifiable data whenever possible. Tie successes that would not have been possible without your guidance. How much did user engagement grow because of your strategy? How much time was saved because of your efforts? Employers want to know that you not only can get stuff done, but be a net benefit to the organization. Oftentimes, we feel compelled to write down every responsibility and duty in a role, which dilutes what you really want to show a prospective company — you’re an accomplished badass. Recruiters and hiring managers can always follow up on the basics, but have no place to look for your quantifiable successes other than your resume. If your resume looks like a job description, consider adding a success or two in each role with numbers you can share (make sure you don’t post any confidential info). You will stand out from the rest of the applicants if you do this simple but overlooked tip.
2) Cut your resume in half (or more). Have 20 years of experience? Worked at 5 companies in 4 years? Your resume should be 2 pages max. You can absolutely keep a CV (a living document about your career) that can have as many words as your heart desires, but it’s important to condense your career into 2 pages in your resume. Recruiters and hiring managers simply do not have enough time to read everything down to the punctuation. They need to make quick decisions of whether to put you in the pass pile or the trash pile. Believe me, they will thank you for sparing them the 8 page manifesto. Your genuine accomplishments will be diluted with too many words. You can demonstrate great prioritization and communication skills by focusing on the absolute most important components of your career. I guarantee that if you do this, you will easily fit everything within 2 pages. Side note, if you have just graduated from school or only have a year of experience, feel free to tap into school experiences that are still relevant to your career. I also highly recommend putting personal projects in your resume. This not only fills your resume with insight into you as a person, but also shows initiative and the self-starter attitude companies love.
3) Treat your resume like a work of art. A resume that is pleasing to the eye and easy to scan will increase your chances of your accomplishments getting noticed. That means avoiding blocks of text, small fonts, and tight spacing. Haven’t updated your resume since 2010? It’s a great time to consider modern resume design formats, fonts, and even colors that will keep you up with the times and your accomplishments feeling fresh and current.
Resumes are just one component of the job search process, but they’re your first impression with a company. With all your accomplishments highlighted neatly in one place, you can feel proud and confident going into any interview. This confidence will ultimately land you your next job. If you’d like to learn more about my 3 step process to upgrade your resume, get you more interviews, and get up to 20% more in your next salary negotiation, leave me a note!
