We read dozens of resumes every day through our free resume evaluation service, so we’ve seen it all: the good, the mediocre, and the never-going-to-be-hired-with-that-resume. To make it into that first pile you must choose both an appropriate font and current industry buzzwords.
Font is pretty straightforward: keep it clean and in the serif family. Examples would be Times New Roman, Book Antiqua, Century Schoolbook, and Garamond. The whole purpose of serif fonts is to make reading easy on the eyes. Believe it or not, we have seen a resume in Comic Sans, and you can guess which pile that landed in!
Buzzwords call for current industry knowledge, which means you have to keep up with the changing times. Hiring managers are drawn to certain keywords. Saved, reduced, social media, lean, increased, rapid growth, year over year, eliminated, and discovered are a few buzzwords that speak volumes about your ability and what you have to offer a company. Leave off phrases like “responsible for” and “in charge of” and instead beef up your resume with powerful statements. What’s more impressive, that you “maintained the department budget” or that you “saved the company $100,000 through inventory and budget control”?
Study the job descriptions of the positions you’re looking to apply to. Highlight industry-specific terms or phrases and use them in your own resume. Sometimes this means tweaking your resume several times to fit specific position requirements, so we recommend that our clients save every version to keep organized. By implementing terms from the job description into your resume, you’re maximizing the search engine optimization value—and increasing the chance of a hiring manager saying, “That’s exactly what we need!”
Although a strong career history and robust resume content are important to getting an interview, presenting an attractive, well-rounded resume will assure hiring managers that you have the expertise and confidence that they are looking for!
For more resume tips, upload your resume to employementboost.com and receive our professional evaluation for free.