It’s time to face a bitter truth: no matter how overqualified you are for a position, it’s difficult to get hired with a subpar resume. What exactly makes a resume average? Well, there are many factors for that. It’s important to know what employers are looking for, what stands out to the human eye, and what will get you more interviews for job offers. Whether it’s for a law firm or an elearning content company, a more effective resume means getting more opportunities for a job. Let’s look are some tips that will help you create a great resume.
A Splash Of Creativity
First things first, boring resumes are a thing of the past. Honestly, it heavily depends upon the position you’re applying for — a chemical engineer’s resume won’t look the same as a graphic designer would. However, a completely black and white, straight down the ledger resume might be overlooked by a resume with a splash of color or creative design. Looking at current resume templates is a great idea to look at some great examples of what employers are looking for. Also, your resume should be readable to most people: decent-sized font and easy-to-read colors.
Ignore Gaps
One of the hard parts about getting a job can include your past employers. We all know how difficult the period between jobs can be: lots of time editing, emailing, and updating your resume and hiring websites. So, should you include that you’re not working at your current job? Should you show the gap to your current situation? Honestly, not bringing attention to this is probably the best way to go. Whether you were sick or had a justified reason to quit, the new employer you’re trying to impress only sees a blank spot on your resume. Leave the gap out of your resume, and if gets brought up in your interview, be honest about it.
More Is Less
When creating your resume, you want to maximize your positives and remove your negatives. This means that rather than having ten projects listed, cut that down to the three most important ones and emphasize them more. Employers can generally tell when someone is trying to “fluff” up their resume or make smaller things look more significant. After your new resume has done the trick, here are a few things to remember when preparing for your job interview.
