Resume Writing has been your primary focus ever since you have started looking for a job. Probably even before that. As you were busy wrapping up the last semester in college by day, you were probably putting together your resume by night. Presenting your accomplishments and accolades in a smart professional manner to attract the attentions of the desired employer is an important start to your career.
However, like everything else your resume too needs an upgrade at a regular frequency. After all your career has indeed come a long way from your first summer job and you too have evolved in the process. Given below are a few tips that may help you brush up your resume writing style so that you have a spanking new resume ready for your next career move.
Rephrase your Summary:
The first thing that one comes across in a resume, after the name and personal details, is the summary or objective section. I remember my first resume had an elaborate section on my objectives. However, in the current scenario, very few employers would be interested in knowing about your objectives. Rather they would prefer to know how you can help them achieve their objectives. Therefore, it is best to dump the objectives part and rephrase it as your professional summary. Make it short, crisp and a smart gist of all that you bring to the table. Ideally a summary is a quick glance at your capabilities that will hook the prospective employers and make them read on. However, make it sufficiently long enough so as not to be too abrupt. The summary is your sales pitch, so make it the best.
Emphasise on Achievements:
In order to bag the job you need, you have to sell yourself well. The resume is your advertising tool that will help you do that. A common tip in marketing has always been to impress upon the customer why they need to buy your product by emphasising on the benefits that the product brings to the table. Similarly you need to emphasise on your achievements that has helped your earlier organizations reap great benefits. If possible quantify those benefits. For example, Helped in closing X number of deals; or Reduced the support costs by n %. Help them understand what you have achieved rather than highlighting what your job responsibilities included. It is this sense of benefiting from your services that will stir up their interest and get your resume pushed to the top of the pile.
Map Work Experience Intelligently:
The section on your Work experience is a critical one. This is where you can showcase how you are the best fit for the job by aligning your prior experience with the current job responsibilities. Employers like to see relevant experience. Ensure that you highlight specific instances that perfectly defines that you possess the right expertise and understanding of the job you are applying for.
If you have a lot of experience it is best to highlight the significant ones in a bulleted form. Too
long a resume may often bore employers. Keep it short, relevant and emphatic. Say less but do not leave out crucial details.
Always Proofread:
Your resume is the first impression you create on your future employers. It is very important, therefore that you proofread your resume always before sending it out. A badly written resume full of typos is sure to create a bad impression. Check for improper grammar usage, incorrect choice of words, use of appropriate tone, improper spelling, insufficient use of space, no logical usage of content. Though you may not make any edits every time you send out your resume, however, it is always good to run a quick check covering these factors. You may always come up with something that you would like to change.
Work on your resume is never complete. You will always have to keep on updating it as and how you progress in your professional path. However, it is important to remember that making relevant and impactful edits is crucial to keep yourself in demand. Adopting the right techniques for resume writing is as important as upgrading your skillsets. While one helps to keep you relevant the other helps to make others aware of your relevance. Both will ensure that you get to be present at the right place and at the right time.
You may also want to read other articles written by the same author ‘Tips To Knowing Yourself Better‘, ‘The P-C-R approach to achieve financial stability‘, ‘Emotional awareness for personal and professional success‘, ‘Tips to improve your resume writing‘ ‘Back from the break – 3 tips to make you rock it’.
About the author:
Amrita is a freelance writer currently based out of Pune. She has worked with organizations as a Technical and Web Content Writer. Her short stories have been published on Amazon and on Juggernaut books. She is an avid traveler and her travel stories are available on her blog – Amritawrites.
(The author is a guest blogger at Her Second Innings. The opinions expressed are those of the author.)
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