A solid resume will improve the chances of landing a job – or at least ensuring an interview. However, at Job Capital, we find that even the most talented individuals find it difficult to know what makes a ‘killer’ resume.
Here are some tips to ensure that your CV is at it’s best.
- Short and to the point. Potential employers don’t want to wade through paragraphs to the get the important information – use bullet points.
- Avoid negativity. If you left your last company because you hated it, don’t share that information. An employer doesn’t want to think they’ll be a black mark on your next resume.
- Use white space. Don’t cram everything on the page – ensure that you have normal margins and the page is visually pleasing.
- Be honest. Don’t risk being caught out.
- Don’t include hobbies (or other unnecessary points such as age, religion or ethnicity).
- Keep it professional. Don’t write about personal experiences on the job – it’s neither relevant nor desirable in an employee.
- PAR – use the “Problem-Action-Results” formula when describing a project undertaken in an organisation.
- Use statistics when possible. If you brought benefits to an organisation, quote the results.
- Don’t use personal pronouns such as ‘I’ or ‘me’.
- Check thoroughly for grammar and spelling mistakes – have someone else look it over as well.