Your resume is the first glimpse at who you will be as a candidate. It’s like a window that allows someone to peak in, but not see the entire home. It needs to paint just the right picture without creating a complete, detailed, and exhaustive history of your entire professional life. Developing a resume that draws the reader in and encourages them to pick up the phone is the single goal of the exercise. So how can you WOW recruiters? Here is how to make a lasting impression on the recruiter with just your resume.
Have a clean, sharp layout.
Step one is to determine the layout for your resume. There are multiple formats you can use, but make sure that it isn’t too busy with additional fonts or colors. You also want to avoid photographs or other images, unless you’re specifically targeting creative positions. Use bullet points to ensure there is enough white space and not a lot of huge text blocks.
Highlight your best qualifications.
Next, use the top of your resume to highlight your best qualifications. Many professionals create a skills summary here that details what they bring to the table in terms of past experience, education, and accomplishments. You do want to share why the company should hire you as well as what skills you have.
Emphasize skills for this role.
Don’t forget to customize the resume to match the specific position for which you’re applying. And yes, this means customizing it further with each additional application. In most cases, you can do a simple tweak to utilize phrases or words direct from the job description.
Make them want to bring you in.
Your resume should be a snapshot of your experience, not the complete picture. It should simply whet their appetite and encourage them to pick up the phone to call you and learn more. To this end, you don’t have to include every last thing you’ve ever done on the resume. And don’t forget the art of the cover letter. This additional introduction can give them even more reasons to contact you.
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