Five Steps to Writing an Effective Resume
By Simon Erlich
This article will provide you with tools to ensure your resume is well constructed and stands out.
Whether you are new to resume writing or you have been through the process numerous times, you know it can be an onerous process. What is worse is putting in countless hours developing a resume only to never receive a call for an interview.
If this is you, your job searching process would likely benefit from a fresh approach, and you might consider booking a job search strategies advising session.
Below are five essential tips for creating an excellent resume.
1. Your Resume Should Be Customized For Every Job
Now do not get carried away thinking this is an impossible task that no mortal human can complete. If you are sending your resume to hundreds of online job advertisements, let me reiterate that you should consider booking an advising session, as this is rarely a recipe for success. However, you will need to send out more than one resume, and so some customization is necessary.
So, how do you customize a resume? It’s not so difficult. Read through the job description for the job you’re applying to and begin to write down the key skills and experiences the employer has stated they are looking for. Try to find the most often repeated skills as this will indicate what they prioritize in a candidate. What’s important here is repeating the exact language they use. Then, replace these words for synonyms you likely already have in your current resume. If you don’t speak to these skills in your current resume, you better add content to include them.
Hot Tip: I highly recommend keeping a master resume with all of your skills and experiences. Every time you apply to a new job and create new content, add that content to your master resume. This way can substitute content you have already written in and out of for each job you apply to.
Put yourself in the shoes of the hiring manager. Pretend to be the person reading hundreds of resumes. Chances are you would read the job description before reading the stack of resumes to refresh yourself on what you are looking for in a candidate. If a resume crosses your eyes that speaks the same language as the job description, you are probably going to give it a closer look. Don’t make it easy for the hiring manager to eliminate your resume from the stack. At the initial sorting stage, that is what they are trying to do.
2. Have Clear Formatting
Having a resume with poor formatting is a sure-fire way to have your resume end up in the discard pile. Think about it, how long are you going to spend as a hiring manager searching every resume for the information you want to see? If your relevant skills and experiences are not made easy to find, and your competitors are, why would a hiring manager look any further? As such, it’s crucial to have a well-formatted and structured resume that enables someone to see the information they are looking for quickly. Using well-placed headings and emphasizing keywords are some ways to achieve this.
Hot Tip: Do a self-test. Pretend someone is only going to look at your resume for 6 seconds. What stands out?
3. Catch the Hiring Managers Attention
Passing the “6-second” test. On average, hiring managers and recruiters take roughly 6-8 seconds to review a resume. That means you have 6-seconds of someone’s time to capture their attention. How are you going to accomplish that? Well, if you followed the first two steps, you are on the right path.
The next step is to include something at the top of your resume I like to call a “Highlight of Qualifications.” This section can be one of two things. It can be a 4-6 point list highlighting skills and experiences you have as they relate to the job, or it can be a short paragraph describing your skills and experiences as they relate to the job. In both cases, the important thing is to match the exact skills and expertise the job description lists with what is in your Highlight of Qualifications. This way, the first thing someone sees on your resume is exactly what they are searching for! If you have done this well, you will pass the 6-second test, and the reviewer may decide to spend a little longer reviewing your resume.
My preference is the bullet point list, and this is for two reasons: A. It is much easier to read and find keywords and B. I believe cover letters exist to describe your skills and experiences in detailed paragraphs. A block of text contrasts poorly with my advice in point 2.
Hot Tip: You want your most important and relevant skills and experiences to be highlighted higher up and on the first page. This aids in the attention-grabbing process.
4. Use the Verb + Task + Result Template
Writing Impact Statements. Constructing what I call “Impact Statements” – the statements you write under each of your work or other experiences – is most effectively done when you adhere to the Verb + Task + Result template.
Let’s break this down. The action verb either directly states the skills you are trying to showcase or lends emphasis to it. The task details an experience you have in a specific and illustrative way. The outcome validates that not only do you have this skill/experience, but you are good at it.
Hot Tip: Writing good impact statements requires some practice. You need to learn how to be a pithy writer.
Here are two examples borrowed from a workshop I led for Urban Planning Students:
A. “Worked alongside a team of planning students to design and develop a presentation for a community partner.”
B. “Successfully designed a sustainable transportation survey that yielded results from 500+ participants and was used to develop bicycle lanes and safer pedestrian walkways on campus.”
What makes the second example better?
– It starts with a descriptive action verb (Successfully designed). From this the reader knows you can “design” something, and successfully too!
– It clearly states the task (designed a sustainable transportation survey)
– It illustrates the outcome (was used to develop bicycle lanes and safer pedestrian walkways on campus).
– Importantly, what the second statement does is Quantify the experience and the outcome. Numbers can say much more than words in less space. Stating “500+ participants” in this statement informs the reader that this person has experience conducting large scale surveys.
Hot Tip: Try to avoid leaving ambiguous details by providing just enough detail that anyone can understand your experience but not too much to the point they cannot understand it. Avoid jargon!
5. Include Information That Suggests You Will Fit In
Make sure you “fit.” Most jobs in the world have more than one person applying that have the skills and qualifications to do the job. The further you go in the hiring process, the more it becomes about evaluating how well you will fit in with your peers and the organization’s values. As such, it can be helpful to leave a few bread crumbs in your resume that suggest you will be a good fit.
That means you will need to do some research about the organization’s values (please at least read their “about us” section online) and perhaps try to connect with someone working there. If you’re not already doing this or would like advice on how to do this successfully, let’s talk.
While the resume’s focus is first and foremost about showing you are qualified for the job, I argue it is helpful to have at least one section of your resume – usually towards the end of it – that provides some insight into who you are. This most often comes in the form of a section on your resume that includes activities, hobbies, or interests. However, it is possible to incorporate elements of your personality and interests throughout other sections of your resume.
Conclusion
Resume writing can be an onerous process. However, once you understand what to include and start keeping a master resume, the process gets easier every time!
I have now given you five impactful tips for successful resume writing, but it can be a lot to take in all at once. If you would like to learn more or have an in-depth conversation with a career advisor, you are encouraged to book a resume advising session and we will get you on the right track!