You’ve submitted your resume to a handful of places but you aren’t getting the responses you had hoped for. I know that feeling well! It wasn’t until I had recruiter friends that I learned what was going on behind the scenes. Here are 3 tips for learning how to make a resume stand out.
1. Customize the wording of your previous experience.
Use the job description of the role you’re applying for to adjust the wording of your previous experience. You want to include key words found in the job description so the hiring manager reads it and thinks you’re enough of a match to give you an interview. Don’t make it word for word. Just enough to catch their attention that you have the right experience.
2. Always submit your resume as a PDF.
When you submit your resume through an online portal, the formatting can become completely messed up if you submit it in a word document. This could cause you to look unprofessional (even though it looked good on your computer) and it could cause a computer doing a pre-screen to automatically rule you out. Then all that hard work you did in step 1 won’t even get seen! A PDF can’t be edited after you submit it. So it’s the safest option for the document you spent hours making.
3. Try a different design.
Catch someones eye with a creative design. You can use a site like Enhancv to build your resume off one of their templates. This is also a good option if you are personally reaching out to the hiring manager. They will open your resume and be taken by surprise! Designed resumes are rare.
A good resume takes work – hours! Every time I update my resume I spend at least an hour on it, especially when you are working on customizing it for a role you are applying to. It’s obvious to hiring managers which candidates just threw their resume together in minutes. You want the job. You deserve the job. Your resume is the first impression!
Now go get that job. You got this!
Xo,
Celine Kaye
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