6 ways to write the perfect resume to get you noticed

Writing a profound resume is as good as winning a league match. They will not give you the championship trophy yet, but you know for a fact that you are not getting eliminated. You cannot write an ambiguous resume and expect to score the job. 

A resume is the first impression you make of yourself on your hiring manager. It has to be well-written and, more importantly, follow a format. There are 100’s of resumes reaching your hiring manager, and for yours to stand out, you have to shuffle your cards to win the game.

What follows are the tips and tricks that will help you break down the seemingly impossible task of writing a resume:

1. Mention your full official name - An obvious inclusion, but often forgotten. You need to mention your entire name and avoid using any abbreviations for your last name. For example - If your name is Joanne Marshall, do not write Joanne M, that just promotes distrust in your hiring manager.

2. The starting point - It is not always easy to figure out what to put in the opening lines of your resume. It can get a bit overwhelming to break down your experience in bulleted snippets of information. Instead, you should first search for online job descriptions that interest you to make the process efficient. The majority of the job descriptions today contain the roles and responsibilities section that lists out the knowledge, skills, and abilities the employer is looking for. Use this list to build your own set of bullet points.

A tip here would be to customize your resume by narrowing down the job roles that truly hold your interest. Rather than mindlessly sending out resumes to any and every hiring manager out there.

If the job description says, “Previous experience managing international team,” your resume bullet should say:

  • Managed a team of 12 developers across 4 offices over 2 continents.

If the job description says, “Looking for someone who has experience managing budgeted projects.”

  • Managed a $4 million project budget on time.

If the job description says, “We’re looking for a builder, and someone who will be able to implement and scale process,” you should include a bullet that says:

  • Implemented the company’s first Manager training program, scaling this across new teams and offices.

While doing this, make sure you use job descriptions for qualified roles.

3. The basics - When you submit your resume, remember that it will most likely be a part of the other 300 or so resumes for the role you are applying for. Sometimes, it is just the basic details that catch the eye, and if you get that wrong, your resume could be out of consideration just like that, even if you have the relevant experience.

  • Convert your files to a PDF to avoid formatting issues unless you send it to us or any other search firm. When sending out your resumes to a search firm, make sure it’s a word document and not a PDF to make it easier for them to tweak the content and brand you better in front of the clients.

  • Add your contact information. As basic as it sounds, tons of resumes come our way that’s missing a phone number, email, LinkedIn profile URL, and full official name of the individual. As a search firm, we highly advise you to incorporate them to increase your chances.

  • You do not necessarily have to add an objective statement. We know that you have sent in your resume to get the job. Save that space for some important information.

    However, if you may, add the objective part in your cover letter, explaining details that are not readily apparent in your resume. For example:
  • You are interested in relocation and actively planning to move to the city where the company is based.
  • That the work gap in your resume is due to sabbatical, world travel, or pursuing a higher level degree.

4. Include attention-grabbing skills - Your hiring manager is skimming through a pile of resumes to hire. To make it easy for them to see that you are the best fit for the job, format your resume with the most relevant information in an eye-catching manner. Try to condense your descriptions with verbs and adjectives such as organized, coordinated, independently managed, expanded, etc.

In general, a few skills are highly desired, like analytical thinking, effective communication, curiosity, the ability to work as a part of a team, and leadership skills. 

If you can prove that you have some of these skills, your resume will be your goldmine.

5. The final touches - It is important to make the right first impression. Use help from someone to proofread your resume and look it over. For example, one simple misspelling can put your resume on the “No” pile, no matter how impressive it is—such as writing colour instead of color, or catalogue instead of catalog as spelled in the States. Make your vocabulary suited to the region or country you are applying to.

6. Don’t get discouraged - Most importantly, don’t lose hope. Hiring managers get 100’s of resumes that they have to scan through, and there might be a good possibility that they would have overlooked your resume. But, of course, that does not mean you are not qualified enough. So what you can rather do is tweak the content of your resume, reorder the bullet points, use a different keyword, and go ahead and add the experience you missed out on adding in the first version.

You can even reapply for a role, but don’t forget to mention in the cover letter that you are a repeat applicant and are applying again because you are highly excited about this position.

To wrap it up, it’s never a bad idea to make friends or start a conversation with your hiring managers. Instead, they will often dispense free advice on how to rework your resume. To proofread your resumes, we suggest getting in touch with -  Phil ShiposKumar Mangala, or anyone alike with significant recruiting experience while also being excellent guides.

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