Writing a great resume doesn’t necessarily mean you should follow the rules you hear through the grapevine. It doesn’t have to be one page or follow a specific resume format. Every resume is a one-of-a-kind marketing communication. It should be appropriate to your situation and do exactly what you want it to do. Instead of a bunch of rules and tips, this brief guide is going to cut to the chase and offer you the most basic principles of writing a highly effective resume.
Here’s an imaginary scenario. You apply for a job that seems absolutely perfect for you. You send your resume with a cover letter to the prospective employer. Plenty of other people think the job sounds great too and apply for the job. A few days later, the employer is staring at a pile of several hundred resumes. “Several hundred?” you ask. “Isn’t that an inflated number?” Not really. A job offer often attracts between 100 and 1,000 resumes these days, so you are facing a great deal of competition. As such, this resume writing guide hopes to give you the basic tools to take this out of the realm of fantasy and into your everyday life.
The Purposes of a Resume
A resume is a brief, concise document that presents and effectively sells your most relevant and positive credentials for employment, admission to graduate school, consideration for a scholarship or fellowship or other professional purpose.
If your resume has a typo or grammatical error, it will probably jump off the page to an employer and this is a way to weed you out of a candidate pool. Your resume may be the only chance you get to make an impression, so make it a good one. As such, right below are some basic goals you need your resume to achieve in order to stand out from the pack:
To pass the employer’s screening process (requisite educational level, number of years’ experience and so forth), to give basic facts which might favorably influence the employer (companies worked for, political affiliations, racial minority and so on). To provide contact information, an up-to-date address and a telephone number (a telephone number that will always be answered during business hours).
To establish you as a professional person with high standards and excellent writing skills, based on the fact that the resume is so well done (clear, well-organized, well-written, well-designed, of the highest professional grades of printing and paper). For persons in the art, advertising, marketing or writing professions, the resume can serve as a sample of their skills.
To have something to give to potential employers, your job-hunting contacts and professional references, to provide background information, to give out in "informational interviews" with the request for a critique (a concrete, creative way to cultivate the support of this new person), to send a contact as an excuse for follow up contact and to keep in your briefcase to give to people you meet casually, as another form of "business card."
To use as a covering piece or addendum to another form of job application, as part of a grant or contract proposal, as an accompaniment to graduate school or other application.
To put in an employer’s personnel files.
To help you clarify your direction, qualifications and strengths, boost your confidence or to start the process of committing to a job or career change.
Steps in Writing a Resume
It’s a sad fact, but very few people write a resume that showcases exactly what makes them special. The old saying "you never get a second chance to make a first impression" is never truer than during a job search. When most people write a resume, they assume that the reader knows more than they really do. Remember that when you send your resume out, it must speak articulately for you. You can’t explain inconsistencies, clear up confusion or fill in things that are missing.
Know your Audience: Most resumes are ineffective because they don’t focus on the needs of the employer. This means you can potentially win the job you’re gunning for if you show how you can add value to your target companies. You can’t make a persuasive case for why you should be hired unless you understand exactly what employers are looking for. They’re hiring a new employee to solve a problem or take advantage of an opportunity.
This applies whether it’s an entry-level position or a senior leadership role. No one just creates a vacancy for the fun of it. This is why you shouldn’t start writing a resume until you’ve identified the type of companies you’re targeting and done some research to understand the needs of those companies.
Define your Value Proposition: If you’ve ever hired anyone, you’ll know that most resumes all look the same. Deciding who to interview is often a "hit and miss" exercise because there’s no way to distinguish between most of the candidates. The good news is that you can write a resume that grabs the reader’s attention by clearly conveying your unique value proposition in lively, interesting language. Your value proposition is simply those things that make you uniquely valuable to your target employers.
Just as marketers summarize the value of their product or service in order to differentiate that product in the marketplace, job seekers need to write a resume that clearly communicates why they can meet employers’ needs. Once you have identified your value proposition, you can write a resume introduction that encapsulates your value proposition. Nothing will help you make an impact as much as this one change to your resume.
Focus on your Impact: The people reading your resume have just one question: "What’s in it for me?". They want to know that you have made an impact on other companies. That’s why the bulk of your resume must be focused on impact, not responsibilities. Show to your would-be employers what impact you had in your prior positions and they can start to imagine the impact you will have on their business and their company. Rewriting your resume to replace boring old responsibilities with energetic accomplishment bullet points is a guaranteed way to increase your resume response rate.
When identifying what makes you special, think about what others say about you. Consider when you’re at your best. Think back over your work history. Identify how you add value to your employers. As an example, your value proposition could be like this: " I use my prior experience as a Human Resources executive and my knowledge of marketing, to write resumes that help people get the job of their dreams." What’s yours?
“Action-pack” your Resume: Look at your resume now and ask yourself whether it’s interesting and energetic. Does it convey that you have taken initiative, achieved results and made changes? Do you feel it communicates drive and enthusiasm?
If not, you need to action-pack your resume by rewriting it to incorporate high energy, active words. One of the easiest ways to do this is to rewrite your accomplishment statements so that they all begin with an action verb. Dynamic, high-energy language like this creates a sense of movement, action and purpose that is irresistible to recruiters who have to read hundreds of lifeless and boring resumes. For example:
Delivered 10% increase in productivity
Solved challenging coding problem
Reorganized HR filing system
Transformed disorganized office into a more streamlined office
Boosted sales
Changed work approach
Resume Design: Design is the aspect of resume writing that’s most often overlooked by busy job seekers—but it’s incredibly important. Your resume will initially be scanned for 20 seconds or less before a decision is made about whether your resume belongs on the "no" pile. In order to make it past that first screen, you need to ensure that your key selling points jump off the page at first glance. Remember, a badly designed resume loses you interviews, so don’t skip this stage. Putting in the effort to lay out and format your resume correctly will pay off enormously.
Assume that your reader is very busy. Assume that he or she isn’t really reading your resume, but skimming it quickly. Anything that doesn’t "pop" off the page will be missed. Earlier, you identified your key selling points—now it’s time to create a design that emphasizes those selling points. Design is a complex subject to cover in a short time, but the many resume design samples found online should be helpful enough to give you a better idea on the subject. Look at them carefully and see how your eye is drawn to key pieces of information.
Most people do not understand how to write a resume and this lack of knowledge hurts them badly when they apply for vacant positions. This article is designed to help you write a resume that sets you apart from the pack. To do that, you need to know your audience, understand and communicate your value proposition, describe how you have made an impact, action-pack your resume and create a resume format that’s effective.