It isn’t easy to find a good job these days, no matter how impressive your skills and qualities might be. The competition is quite stiff and everything in the industry changes quickly, so you need to adjust really fast. This can be hard, especially if you didn’t have the opportunity to keep up with the latest trends.
However, don’t worry: this is still possible. I want to help you with that, offering some useful tips on how to impress the interviewers with your resume.
How to Make Your Resume Better?
Okay, so you are a candidate with an impressive list of skills and job experience (or not). This information does matter but the way you present it also matters a lot. You might be used to writing it the old-fashioned way, describing your career objective first. However, I recommend trying other thing called qualification summary.
This type of formatting has appeared recently, becoming more and more popular among both employees and interviewers. Such change is caused by a simple yet important reason: the HRs have to look through an impressive number of resumes each day. They simply cannot afford to spend as much time on reading them as they did before, very slowly getting to the main point of a resume – a list of candidate’s qualifications.
That’s why more and more candidates start with listing their main skills and achievements – things that matter the most and that can get the attention of the HRs. This simplifies the reading process greatly, also making the positive impression on the HRs – and while the final result won’t depend on this one thing only, it could still be a good start.
This type of formatting is popular – however, it isn’t widespread at the same time. That’s why you will be able to impress with it. Moreover, this type of formatting can be successfully used in all the areas, starting from small business and ending with the military.
So what exactly has to be covered in the qualification summary?
1. Your Professional Experience.
You should mention how many years you have worked in your area of expertise. However, simply mentioning it is not enough. You should also list your professional achievements (only the ones that are somehow related to the job you’re applying for).
2. Your Degree.
Or degrees, if you have more than one. This won’t work well for all the positions but if this is really important for the job you’re applying for, definitely do so. The same goes for mentioning the title of your coursework – mention it if it is somehow related to the job too.
3. Your Skills.
Probably you have a lot of them, so it’s important to limit them only to the ones related to the job as well. If there are too many related skills, you should consider dividing them into a couple of smaller lists. For example, you can name them “computer skills”, “language skills”, and so on.
4. Your Licenses and Certificates.
These things not only show that you have some additional skills needed for the job – they also show that you are motivated enough to continue learning, strengthening the old skills, and developing the new ones. Mention not only licenses and certificates but the results of your studies (for example, maybe you’ve received new job responsibilities because of that).
It might seem tempting for you to try and exaggerate something, especially if you really want to get the job. However, I strongly recommend avoiding doing so as it can do you more harm than good.
Why should you never lie on your resume?
Latest researches show that a lot of people lie on their resumes. These lies can be small and big but it isn’t their size that matters. What’s more important is that they actually lower your chances of getting the job.
Lying is understandable: these days candidates are put under lots of pressure. It might seem that you have to be not only very skilled but also highly motivated and career-driven, which isn’t always true. While such lies might seem harmless, they actually affect your job more than you think.
Let’s assume that you’ve lied about wanting to reach the most on your job. Most likely, the interviewer will remember that and later you will find yourself facing a very unpleasant situation. You will either have to work harder than you want to in order to get the promotion you never actually wanted or settle with looking lazier and more irresponsible because of not meeting the standards you’d set for yourself. If the company was actually looking for a career-driven person, this could also lead to them firing you.
The same goes for lying about your skills and exaggerating them. You might look more professional this way, but if you were hired for the skills that you don’t actually have (or don’t have them on the desired level), this will most likely end badly. In this case, you’ll have to catch up with these skills very quickly in order not to make a bad impression.
Moreover, the skills and qualifications are very easy to check these days. The interviewers might call your former employers and colleagues to do so. They can also check your social media (especially the professional ones like LinkedIn) to see whether you have the skills you claim to have or not.
That’s why you shouldn’t lie. Being honest won’t lower your chances of getting the job. In fact, these days it is much easier to get a job even in a completely different area as the employers and interviewers are more open to the transferrable skills these days. That’s why even if you are a military veteran willing to find a completely different job, you don’t have to lie in order to do so.
Proofreading is another important thing you should remember. Even the insignificant mistakes and typos can ruin the impression you’ve been trying to create so hard with your resume. That’s why proofreading is a must.
Moreover, you don’t even have to do it yourself these days. Various resume writing services can help you with both proofreading and editing your resume, making it even more outstanding and professional-looking.
So, if you doubt that you will be able to come up with the impressive resume on your own, you can always turn to such services for help. People working there are real professionals, so there will be nothing to worry about.
While all these things can indeed make your resume good-looking and impressive, they are not the only ones that can help you. Maybe you have your own tips or advice that can help write an amazing resume? Or maybe you simply want to share your experience and stories with me and the readers? If so, please do so in the comment section below. We will be thrilled to read them.
I wish you good luck with finding and getting the job of your dreams!
Author’s Bio:
Kevin Nelson started his career as a research analyst and has changed his sphere of activity to writing services and content marketing. Currently, Kevin works as a part-time writer at BreezeWriting. Apart from writing, he spends a lot of time reading psychology and management literature searching for the keystones of motivation ideas. Feel free to connect with him on Facebook, Twitter, Google+.
