A quick resume checklist – 10 top tips

Is your resume up to date with your most recent experience and includes what recruiters and ATSs (applicant tracking systems) are looking for?  If you’re looking to get your resume into tiptop shape, start by following my top tips below.

1. Keep it professional – please don’t include funny email addresses on your resume.  This is one of the most common mistakes I see people make.
2. Include a one-liner summary of what you do and keep it short (include relevant job title and number of years experience).
3. Include 8-10 key skills that the recruiter can easily scan near the top of the resume (in 2 columns to be visually appealing).
4. Try to stick to 2 pages as long as it isn’t squished together (quality over quantity!)
5. New for 2018 – add hyperlinks to your resume.  This could be to your linkedin page or to past projects – just make sure they are highly relevant and stick to just a few.
6. Emphasize accomplishments, not generic responsibilities and try to leave out buzz words such as ‘high-achiever’ and ‘reliable’.
7. Make it tailored to applicant tracking systems so you have the best chance of getting past ‘the robots’.  Check out this post on glassdoor. 
8. Create ‘additional’ resumes (using the same outline) – tailored to particular jobs so that you can be specific and relevant about what you can offer to a company.
9. Fonts, italics and underlining – try to keep it simple.  Use at least a size 11 font and minimize the use of underlining and italics.  Use caps or bold to make job titles stand out – its easier on the eye (and the applicant tracking systems). Just remember to keep it simple and not get carried away.
10. Leave out basics such as computer skills and foreign language skills from 20 years ago.

NEED MORE HELP WITH YOUR RESUME?  OR JUST NOT ENOUGH HOURS IN THE DAY?  CONTACT ME FOR MORE SUPPORT.