A resumé is your first strike when you hit the job market, and needs to be perfect in order for employers to advance you to the next phase. You probably all know the basics behind creating a resumé (and if not, Career Services can teach you), but there's more to a resumé than a specific layout, and more things you can do to get noticed and get your message across. There are pages and pages of resumé advice online, but for this list, we've compiled the best tips from Her Campus, Huffington Post, Canadian Living and CBC News. Consider this advanced advice.
1. Customize the resumé to make it relevant to the job
It's tempting to create a single perfect resumé, and rapid-fire it out to many different jobs. That's not a good idea though, especially since resumés can be searchable online, and companies can speak to each other. What you should be doing is altering your resumé for every job application, basing it on what, specifically, the job calls for, highlighting experiences and things you've done that are specifically relevant. Similarly, reduce and cut things that aren't relevant to that particular position, especially if the resumé is running long.
2. Research the company
Tied to the above, there's more to customizing your resumé than just looking at what the a job posting is asking for. Look at the company itself, find their mission statement and company values on their website, and base your resumé on that. Similarly, research the industry itself, and look into what the most useful and most needed skills are, so you can talk about the ones you have on your resumé.
3. Link to your online presence
If you don't have an online portfolio, you should create one, in order to showcase your accomplishments. When it's created, its URL should be included with every resumé you write. Similarly, if you have a blog, or any social media you think would be of interest to your employer, you can link them, as well. Just be sure that it's all work-appropriate, because they will definitely look at it.
4. A bit of uniqueness is appreciated, but don't go overboard
Uniqueness doesn't mean pictures, graphs, odd fonts, or coloured paper. None of that will help your resumé, and could actually turn employers away. Uniqueness means you avoid using common phrases like "team player," "hard-working," "responsible for," or "duties include," and replace them with more unique things like "orchestrated," "launched," "spearheaded," "planned and implemented," "Increased revenues," and so forth.
5. Projects, projects, projects
It's one thing to talk about what you can do, and it's another thing to talk about what you've already done. You need examples, which is why, if you've ever tackled any large projects for your work, or even for school, you should list them with each job on your resumé. If you've done any volunteer work, it could also qualify for the same reason. Either way, focus on the specifics, your role, and what you accomplished for maximum impact.
6. Put some numbers in there
Having raw stats to back your accomplishment will make your resumé stronger. If you, for example, improved a company's website traffic, or earned them a certain amount of money, note that. More likely, if you produced a certain amount of things for a company (for example, wrote a certain amount of news stories), give the numbers. Give whatever stats you can, as long as they're impressive.
7. Errors will cost you the interview
Everyone makes mistakes, but on a resumé, any spelling, punctuation, or formatting inconstancies will cost you the interview. If a company has to choose between several different resumés, the ones with the mistakes, or bad/inconsistent formatting will almost always be the first ones cut. So, if possible, have multiple people read your resumé before it goes anywhere, to catch things you missed.
By Anthony Geremia