A Small Checklist for your Next Résumé

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Checklist being filled out Most people start off at some point during their college lives at composing and compiling their first résumés. From here on, the race begins for landing the best jobs and earning the highest salaries. While different people view résumés with varying interests, there’s one thing beyond a shadow of a doubt— your résumé is your first impression.

Of course the traditional résumé has been partially replaced by online sources, social networks and other platforms, but the same rules apply to all these forms of media, regardless of all other factors.

Listed below are a few key points you should remember when building your present or future résumé:

1. How should we format?

There is a general understanding that your résumé should start with your personal details, education, and experience, but nothing is really set in stone. I’ve seen lots of people spending days and even weeks dividing their résumés into columns, adding colors, and pictures. For me, a résumé is a business document that is best kept simple.

People who review your résumés will be interested in the details you provide, such as job experience and companies you have worked, for rather than the colors you used. So, keep it to the point and give out only relevant details.

2. Eliminate errors

The worst things I’ve seen in résumés are common errors that I personally consider careless mistakes, and with that attitude I don’t think you deserve any further consideration. Case closed.

While many jobs may require only your technical expertise, employers and recruiters also look for other qualities in candidates and basic writing and editing skills are at the top-of-the-list. If you don’t have basic skills, you need to acquire those today. As a substitute, you could pay a professional résumé writer to do it for you, but that’s a last resort, not career advice.

3. Be more specific

Don’t just generalize about what you’ve done, give precise details in brief. For instance, instead of saying you taught English, say you taught English to French-speaking hospitality management students in Ivory Coast. Make sure you also list your hard and soft skills. Many recruiters and HR professionals will be keen to know about those.

4. Use keywords generously

You should understand the needs of your next prospective employer. Make sure your education and experiences are listed up-front. That does not always imply that the recruiter should see it without scrolling, but he or she should certainly not have to rummage through to find this information. So if you’re an engineer who has worked on certain machines that industry-insiders may be interested in, specify the particular machines and anything similar that might catch their eye.

5. Outreach

Be sure to post your résumé on as many website as possible. Most employers and recruiters around the world are using the myriad online sources to dig up their next recruit. To be noticed, you must reach out through as many sources as possible while being relentless with the traditional form of sending out your CV via post and email to as many local recruiters as possible.

Keeping adding to your accolades and your chances of landing your dream job will inflate significantly.

By Recruiter.com