To maximize resume success, you need a strategic resume that presents you in the best possible light. Today’s modern resumes’ employ a variety of tactics and best practices to help them shine. Yet avoiding resume pitfalls and keeping on trend can be a fine balance, and a bit overwhelming, so here is a breakdown of 4 simple strategies to help keep you on track:
- Don’t use the same resume for every application
You’ve likely heard it before, but this bears repeating. One single, stagnant resume is unlikely to meet the requirements of diverse positions. Keywords and core skill sets vary from position to position and your resume needs to reflect these. Yet the pressure to write a new resume for every role can be overwhelming. To help, consider creating a strong foundational resume that you can customize, modify, or build off of for each application.
- Do create a resume that is unique for YOU
A one-size-fits-all resume approach is not a strong strategy. You want to leverage your unique career history, skill sets, and achievements and present them in the strongest way possible – for you! This means that a resume format or presentation that worked for a friend or a colleague may not be appropriate for you or your industry. Similarly, copying content of other resume samples won’t be effective because no one else has the same abilities, career track, outcomes, and level of ability that you do. If you want to succeed at getting noticed and doing well in your career, you need a resume that is an honest reflection of your personal value and attributes.
- Don’t copy and paste job descriptions into your resume
Truly, just don’t. Too often job seekers become complacent with their resumes and decide to simply tell employers what their past work positions involved, instead of trying to sell what they are best at. Task-based resumes (or basic job overviews) are not enough to demonstrate level of proficiency. Employers need examples of achievement to use as evidence to see if you have what it takes to excel in the role. If an employer is comparing two resumes and one overviews job duties and the other shows examples of success – who do you think is going to win the interview?
- Do emphasize personal success with lots of results and achievements
Keeping the audience in mind, select several of your top career achievements and let these statements take center stage in the resume. A few strong and measurable results will speak louder than a long laundry list of basic job duties. Evaluate each posting carefully to identify top requirements and align your resume statements with these needs. Finally, quantify examples as much as possible to boost value. For example, instead of saying: “Supervised a marketing team” ….try: “Supervised a team of 5 multidisciplinary marketing staff who together achieved a 95% customer satisfaction rating this year”. Struggling to think of examples? My post: Turn Nothing into Something on Your Resume can help.
- Skye Burke is an award-winning, multi-certified resume writer who helps bring job seeker’s careers to new heights! Want to win the interview with a resume that gets you noticed? Reach out to Skye online at Skye Is The Limit Resume and Career Solutions to learn how.
