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Whether you are looking to get your first job or want to move from your current job to a new one, having a well-written, up-to-date résumé is one of the most important things you will need!
A résumé is a document that you provide to potential employers that shows your background, work history, skills and accomplishments in a quick but impactful way. Have you ever heard the phrase, “It’s important to make a good first impression”? That is basically the goal of a résumé.
A résumé is required for most job applications, and it is the first thing the hiring team looks at to see if you are a good fit for the job or not. If hundreds of people are applying to the same job opening, it is important that your résumé stands out from everyone else’s to increase your chances of getting that job. This is especially important these days, since many hiring managers either skim very quickly through résumés or even have a computer program look over résumés they get.
That’s why a résumé should highlight your strongest experience and skills in a compact package. A résumé should be only one page long if possible (two at the absolute most) and include the following information:
- Your name and contact information
- Your work history
- Your education history
- Your skills
- (Optional) A summary at the top that gives a brief description of your background, experience, and skills as well as what you are seeking
As you can see, this person’s résumé shows their job history (in reverse chronological order), their education, as well as some extra tidbits like extracurricular and volunteer activities, all on one page so that the hiring manager can see their highlights within a minute or two.
Once you have created a solid résumé, an important thing to note is that you can (and should!) adjust your résumé for each job that you are applying to. One common mistake that people make is that they send the same résumé to a variety of different jobs without making any changes to better fit that particular job opening. If you do this, there is a good chance that you will send out dozens (if not hundreds) of résumés to job openings and not hear back from a single one, because you’re sending out a generic résumé that doesn’t stand out from the rest.
Instead of sending the same résumé to all potential employers, you should make sure to tailor your résumé to each job opening you apply to. That way, you can apply to only a few jobs and have a much greater chance of hearing back from them because your résumé stands out and is a good match for that job opening. Some ways you can do this are:
- Use the same keywords that are mentioned in the job post
- Highlight the experience and skills that would make you the best fit for this job
- If possible, mention hard skills and specific numbers
For example, let’s say there is a job opening that looks like this,and two people apply for this job. Here are their résumés:
If you were the hiring manager for this job, which résumé would you think is better?
While both résumé #1 and résumé #2 contain the required information, résumé #2 is better because it matches closely with what the company is looking for. How so?
- The information is specific. There are specific dates, locations and most importantly, specific numbers to impress the hiring manager. Saying “I made $100,000 in sales” sounds a lot better than saying “I made a lot of sales,” because the company knows what they can expect from you. Same goes for naming the specific systems/skills/programs you use.
- résumé #2 uses many of the same words that the job description uses. This helps the hiring manager see that you exactly match what the company is looking for.
- The information in résumé #2 is relevant to this specific job opening. While it’s nice in résumé #1 that John Jobseeker volunteers at an animal shelter and is a certified lifeguard, those things are not relevant to this job at all. Meanwhile, Jane Jobseeker chose to leave that information off her résumé, because she knows that the hiring manager for this job is looking for candidates who fit a very specific description—nothing more, nothing less.
Now that we’ve talked a bit about résumés, try to make a résumé yourself, or update your résumé if you already have one. And one final tip: ask your friends or family to look at your résumé—it’s always best to get feedback from as many people as you can before you use it.