In today’s competitive job market, a résumé is an extremely important marketing and branding tool for you in your applications. Each day, thousands of ideal job seekers are overlooked for positions due to a poor résumé and therefore miss out on great opportunities. This quick 5 point guide is a check you can perform on your résumé to see if it is up to the task of landing you an interview and securing the job you want.
1. Structure, Format and Layout:
All these areas are quite important as potential employers and recruiters are faced with sometimes hundreds of applications to sift through and will not spend alot of time on each one. You need to have all the necessary information showing in the right places and formatted well to make it easy for the reader to understand. Eg. List Professional Qualifications and Technical Skills at the start of your résumé. Use a Personal Statement. Don’t write about yourself in the first person tense.
2. Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation:
There should no spelling mistakes or errors – this does not present well and can often give the reader the impression that you have rushed your résumé. If you have rushed your application, how important is it to you? Also can highlight a lack of attention to detail.
3. Employment History:
This should be listed clearly and the reader should not struggle to determine your role titles or duties. Keep role duties in dot point format. Ensure months and years are listed for dates of commencement and cessation and list your most recent/current employment first and work back in time (reverse chronological).
4. Achievements:
These link well with employment history and add value to your role duties. Keep these high-level and attractive so that the reader wants to hear more about them during interview. Don’t go overboard as you do not want to come across as over confident.
5. Résumé Length:
Numerous clients ask how long a résumé should be. There is no set guideline and it really depends on your experience and how much of it you have. In saying this, 4 pages would be the longest I would deem acceptable in the Australian marketplace and this would be based on somebody with a great deal of career history.
Well, hope that helps. I offer a FREE Resume Health Check if you are interested. Details are listed on my LinkedIn page. Feel free to connect and share my post.
Good luck in your job hunt!
