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Quick Tips for an Impactful Resume
- December 11, 2023
- Career Advice CEO of your Career
Did you know an average resume gets about a 15-20 seconds glance when there is a pile to go through.If that’s the time you have to make an impression, you need to make the most of it. A resume serves as the first introduction you make on your prospective employer. You have to think of it as a crisp well written piece of an ad copy about yourself. So, spend time to craft your value proposition so you can stand out from the thousands that hit a desk!
In this article we share with why you should diligently update your resume regularly and what are the things you should keep in mind when making changes to your resume.
Why should you keep your resume updated? How often should a resume be updated?
Well, if you are looking to land a new job opportunity, one of the first things that you will need to do is put together your resume.Many of us spend a few years in a company traversing through the corporate ladder gaining experience, building skills along the way before we take a leap to find the next career move. Now if you were to sit after five years trying to write what you did, you will definitely find it daunting task. Having said that, if finding a job was not overwhelming enough, we add the struggle to get the perfect CV to the equation.
So to be on top of your game, as best practice we always suggest, reviewing your resume at least once a quarter.You should update your resume every time you secure a new role or gain new skills or experience.Updating your resume regularly lets you add things as they happen so you don’t forget any important information, especially when resumes demand showcasing achievement statistics.
This way you are ready for any new job opportunity when it knocks your door and you will save a lot of time recalling details from your memory black hole!
A Simple Checklist to Updating you Resume in 2024
1. Update your Resume Summary
This is the opening paragraph to your resume and is the first thing someone reads. It is your elevator pitch to describing who you are, and why they should choose you to fill the job opening. It’s is 4-5 sentences of crisp summary of your experience, accomplishment and skill ensuring the reader is compelled to know more about you and read your resume. This is a section you should review after you completed writing other sections of your resume to ensure it is reflecting the story you want to tell.
2. Showcase your experience of Transferable Skills
Transferable skills are all of the things you’re good at, that can be applied to various roles in various industries. These often are categorised at soft skills. Some examples includeskilled communication, presentation skills, strong writing,time management, project management and problem solving.
Now, be honest with yourself and make a list of such skills you have acquired. While updating, you should ensure you include them as part of not only your skills section but also find places in the job experience section to highlight them.
When updating your resume for a specific job, try and identify what skills they would require and how you can adapt your resume to showcase your fitment.
3. Update Your Work Experience Section
This is the section which takes the maximum space on your resume. Here are some pointers to help you with making it impactful:
- Make your section heading stand out. Use reverse chronological order to write out your job experience.
- Use a template format for each job position and make each entry clear and legible.
- Use up to 5-6 bullet points in for more recent positions and reduce as you go along.
- Show case key achievements, especially for more recent positions.
- Use words that show increased responsibility such as “Led a team to..”
- Make use of action words and quantify where possible using statistics and numbers.
- State numbers to show size revenue, profits, project size
- Use percentages to showcase increase or decrease
- Showcase time savings
- For e.g. – Effectively managed a sales for 10 clients and grew revenues more than 25% YoY.
4. Update new skills and certifications
With online learning, we all are exposed to a plethora of opportunities to learn new skills. Companies today look for people who showcase the ability to learn new skills and value such certifications. This also helps you showcase a growth mindset open to learning. So, add any new certifications and relevant skills to update your resume. Albeit ensure they are relevant to the job you are applying for. To improve readability, remember to group skill by categories when there are many similar ones. For e.g., Programming – SQL, Python, Java; Data Visualisation- Power BI, Tableau.
5. Optimize your resume for ATS
Most recruiters and many employers use an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) that use analytics programs which match the keywords used in your job application to that of your resume. The more you optimise you resume for ATS, the better chances you have for your resume getting picked earlier on in the shortlisting process.
How do you make your resume ATS friendly?
Review the job description in the advertised job. Shortlist keywords from here. You can also use Google to find keywords which may be industry specific and relevant to the job position. Armed with a list of keywords, now just sprinklethem across your resume, however, don’t overstuff it. Ensure you create your resume in Word or Google Document and save it as a PDF file.
6. Focus on relevance – remove irrelevant details
As we add on years of experience, our resume become longer as we describe roles that we have played. As you gain more work experience you can always reduce descriptions of positions held earlier in your career and details of college and school extra-curricular activities which are not relevant now.
7. Additional points to keep in mind
- It helps to have a master resume which is always updated for quarterly changes. However, customise a copy of the resume to suit the needs of the job that you are applying for.
- Format your resume to ensure it can easily be read. Ensure consistent formatting across the resume. Use a mix of bold, italics, underline, font combinations to make things stand out.
- Put the most important information higher up on your resume.
- Always proof read your resume. It helps you reflect on what you have written as well as ensures there are no spelling or grammar errors. It also helps you replace words with synonyms where words are getting repeated often.
- Put contact details where they are easy to locate. Include your updated LinkedIn profile in the contact details.
- Keep the file name simple, following this format – First Name Last Name Resume Year.
So, follow the tips we have shared above and start updating your resume now. If you still need more help with you resume, our team of experts at Hire Pundit will be happy to review your CV.
If this article has made you think – then think no more and take action. For hands-on help to build an impactful and satisfying career, reach out to our experts at Hire Pundit at [email protected]
At Hire Pundit, our team of experts is always here to help guide at every of step of your career journey helping you to land the job you desire. We can help you put your best foot forward by jointly defining your value proposition on your CV and LinkedIn, assist you in finding your perfect job, prepare you for interviews, aid cultural and language trainings, negotiations, and support you through a smooth transition.
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