qwerty Seven Tips To Make Your Resume Stand Out | TDS Personnel

Seven Tips To Make Your Resume Stand Out

Recruiters and hiring managers can get hundreds of resumes a day. This, coupled with time restraints on the people receiving them, means stand-out resumes are becoming increasingly important. Your resume is a sales pitch, and you should assume the hiring manager will only take a glance before they move on to the next one. To ensure they see the best of what you have to offer, we have outlined some key areas that we think can enhance your application.

  1. Limit use of clichés and buzzwords. Recruiters see, ‘team player,’ ‘multi-tasker,’ ‘results-driven,’ and ‘attention to detail’ all the time. While we know these are important skills to highlight, the words themselves have lost a lot of their intended meaning over time due to repetition. Demonstrate your skills in your employment history by qualifying them through your experience.
  2. Use action-orientated words in your employment history. A great way to bring life to your skills is to use action words introducing each bullet point. Words such as integrated, managed, lead, organized, created, contributed and supported ensure your experience will also be demonstrating relevant and transferable skills.
  3. Highlight only your best achievements. It is tempting to include all achievements on your resume. However, too much text can result in the reader becoming disengaged. Only include your key accomplishments; the work you are most proud of and is most relevant to the job at hand.
  4. Include a one-sentence synopsis of the companies you have worked for. This is a chance for you to highlight the interesting organizations you have worked for and the insight you have gained. Note: this is dependent on your employment history. If you have worked at large, well-known organizations this space might be better used for something else.
  5. Include volunteer experience. If you have volunteered, include this on your resume. It gives interesting insight into your personality, work ethic and what drives you on a personal and professional level.
  6. Font is important. Companies spend a lot of time considering the font that best represents their brand, and so should you. Stay away from dated fonts such as Times New Roman and go with something that is clean and easy on the eyes.
  7. Include some color. In a sea of black and white, color is a way to catch the hiring manager’s eye. Use it sparingly, and if you are using color in headings make sure it is easy to read.

Your resume should give insight into your personality, your ambition and what motivates you, not just your work experience. Make it eye-catching, concise and easy to follow. When you are looking for work, following these 7 tips to make your resume stand out from the rest can give you a significant advantage in landing the job.

Beth Title