Top 10 Resume Writing Tips for Anyone

The first week of July which calls for the start of our weekly business tips. We decided to start off with tips for one of the most important tools everyone has in business the resume. Writing a resume or even updating your current one after not looking at it in a few years can be a daunting task. These helpful tips will try and ease the pain caused by update stress.

1. You don’t need to lie if you don’t have the skill: If you don’t have the skills the job posting is requiring don’t lie and say that you do. More often than not you will be caught on your lies. When asked to complete a task you have not been previously trained for you will then be exposed and possibly fired. It may be your dream job, but without the skill set, it will remain a dream.

2. The shorter the better: take some time before updating and think about what your highlights are. Slim down on stories and get to the point, most employers will be looking for keywords (see point 10). If they want to hear a story they will invite you for an interview.

3. Know what to prioritize:  employers care little about your family situation or personal information; they will learn all that later. Your resume is there to portray your skills, education, and previous experience. Hobbies should not include time wasting activities such as video games (unless required by the job).

4. Clarity is key: don’t try and use ‘big words’, more often then not you look convoluted and lack basic clarity. Basic language is key because an employer will be skimming your resume for content, not how well you can use a thesaurus. Headings, bullet points, page numbers, and basic tidy work to organize your resume will help with clarity

5. Basic fonts: Do not use crazy colours or comic sans font to make your resumes pop out from the rest unless you are applying for clown college. The more ‘artistic’ the font the more strain on the employers eyes. The employer could be looking through hundreds of resumes, make yours as easy as possible to read using alignment techniques and easy on the bold/uppercase wording (saved for headings/subheadings).

6. Organize your resume: as a quick example most resumes are organized as

- Name

- Skills profile

- Experience

- Education / professional profile

- Personal data (achievements)

- Traceable references

The order is not set in stone but if you want a better examples there are resume templates all over the internet and easy to find.

7. Up to date: This is a given, but if you are applying for a new job your resume cannot be 6 months old. All the information must be as up to date as possible, you don’t know when the employer will get a chance to look at it and you don’t want to have to show up with a new resume explaining the last 6 months (if you get the chance).  MAKE SURE YOUR REFERENCES ARE UP TO DATE, people/businesses change numbers or locations make sure the information is still accurate.

8. Choose references wisely: make sure your references are people who knew you and liked you in your previous job(s). A good reference is preferably superiors who will remember you and did not fire you. Make sure you leave the company on good terms and you ask if you can use the person as a reference, do not surprise previous employers with potential phone calls.

9. Create hooks: do your homework, look at keywords in the job posting and cater your resume to them. If the job requires a education that you previously completed comment on the achievement and high grade. Employers are looking for key features on your resume, you will have the best chance if you single those out and amplify them.

10. Key words are key: Many if not most employers now use key word software to search through the hundreds of emailed resumes. If your resume does not focus on these keywords you will be overlooked for the job interview. Make sure you do your homework as stated above and have a dynamic resume for each job rather than a static resume for everything. In the job world every little thing helps and the more work you put in the more reward you will get back.