It has long been a maxim to “make your resume stand out”. Unfortunately, while that advice is still applicable, it is often taken the wrong way as an invitation to wildly experiment with formatting, design, and colors. Such drastic changes from a standard, top-down, black-and-white resume can have a harmful impact, as they bring subjectivity into the situation and can result in negative biases. Instead, you can make your resume stand out through much simpler ways, such as having it be easily readable, well-organized, clean, and with action-oriented content. Your resume should truly be a personal document that speaks to your experience, history, and abilities – here are some do’s and don’ts for building a personalized resume.
Don’t Include Interests or Personal Activities
Many people will include a small section at the bottom of the resume titled “extracurricular activities”, “interests”, “personal information”, or the like. While this isn’t usually a massive negative, unless highly unprofessional information is placed there, most of the time it doesn’t help either, and takes up room that could go towards more valuable and relevant information. The only time something like this is useful is when you have done something recreationally that you want to do professionally but have no experience in performing in that realm. Otherwise, it’s usually better to expand on your experience, education, or skills.
Do Include Specific Achievements
You want your resume to speak as specifically as possible to what you have done in your previous experience – and what you can offer future employers. That means not just including general responsibilities and duties but going in depth on your achievements and accomplishments. If you won an award, don’t just mention the award title, but explain why you won it and how! While some professions and roles are more focused on numbers than others (such as sales), it’s nearly always a good thing to include quantitative metrics. This could include budget managed, number of employees reporting, cost savings, revenue generation, or clicks for a marketer. Metrics will show just how much value you bring and are specific to what you have personally done.
Don’t Use Graphics or Charts
They’re less common than they used to be, but sometimes you still see someone who includes graphs, tables, or charts on resume documents to display figures or achievements. While this might seem like a good idea – displaying data visualization skills as well as clearly showing achievements and quantifiable metrics while creating a distinctive look – such graphics are almost never a good idea on modern resumes. This is because Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) struggle to read such images, and the resulting issues can cause your resume to be thrown out or marked as spam. The worst outcome in the modern application process is your resume not even making it into the hands of a person, and including charts or graphics increases that negative outcome by a substantial percentage. On top of that, the same issues mentioned at the top regarding subjectivity come to the fore if someone doesn’t like bar charts or think your orange color palette is unappealing. It’s best to leave such graphics for presentations, not resumes.
Do Create a Summary Section
On the other hand, a good area to create a more personalized document is in the summary section at the top of the resume. As this area is not tied to any one job experience, you can focus on your overall skills, experiences, and personality traits that make you a good fit for the roles you’re pursuing. This is a great place to include buzz words that are more tailored to you and less general, with terms such as “Energetic”, “Composed”, “Self-motivated”, “Passionate”, “Dynamic”, and “Hard-working” being some examples of buzz-terms that can also truly speak to what you offer compared to peers and competitors. The summary section is also an opportunity to expand on what you bring to the table at the broadest level such as driving process improvements, mentoring and coaching peers, and finding opportunities for organizational growth. The summary is extremely important as a landing place for keywords and keyword phrases while also showcasing your specific talents for recruiters and hiring managers.