Recruiters look at a resume for an average of 7 seconds. This means, that once your resume is in their hands, those 7 seconds are making or breaking your candidacy. You need to make those 7 seconds count.
Well, what makes a standout resume? What kind of resume makes a recruiter take a second look?
Stick with us, and we’ll walk you through the process of editing a resume to perfection. We’ll go over common resume mistakes, resume editing tools, and more.
1. Know Your Industry Standard
Here’s an insider tip. A successful resume for the finance industry will look worlds different from a scientist’s resume and the resume of a UX designer.
This is why it’s important to know what a successful resume looks like for the industry you’re in or trying to get into. You won’t have success applying to the more conservative finance jobs if your resume is decked out in eye-popping colors. Likewise, you won’t have success applying to UX jobs if your resume is plain and stark.
If you’re making a horizontal career transition, make sure you update the style of your resume to fit the job.
Specific industries have certain standards, so your best bet is to ask around for what a generic resume should look like in your industry.
2. Resume Generator as a Template
If you’re at a loss for how to format your resume, you can try a free resume generator. This service will format your experience to a premade professional template. The market isn’t like it was even 5 years ago; there are tons of resume editing tools out there.
This is a great way to design a resume that will stand out from the crowd, since you can pick from a vast library of templates.
3. Double and Triple Check Spelling and Grammar
This is key. Poor spelling and grammar is a big turn-off for many recruiters.
Read over your resume with a fine-toothed comb. Make sure your grammar conventions are consistent from point to point.
Better yet, have friends and family read over the resume for you. The second pair of eyes is always better than one when it comes to these documents.
Here are some things to watch out for:
- Using consistent formatting and spacing
- Using proper punctuation
Avoid using words you don’t know the meaning of.
4. Use the Job Description
You won’t like this step if you’re applying for a massive volume of jobs, but we swear it makes a huge difference.
Use the exact wording of the job listing in your resume.
Let’s say a generic software engineering job listing asks for these qualifications or skills:
- Knowledge of cloud services (Azure, AWS)
- Kubernetes
- REST APIs
- Knowledge of security best practices
And so on. You’ll want to pick and choose the skills you have and write them word for word in your skills section. Feature them, and make them stand out.
Editing a Resume Should Be Easy
Editing a resume is a skill you can master. The key to a successful resume is not opaque at all.
The one thing all job-seekers need to remember is to know their audience. Format, edit, and modify your resume for specific job postings, and you should hit the jackpot (your dream job) in no time.
For more lifestyle tips, check out some of our other blog posts!
