Resume Tips

The easiest way to get an employer’s attention is to include in your summary the exact skills requested in the employer’s job announcement. The use of keywords at the very beginning of a resume will capture the employer’s attention. Conversely, using a variety of skills that are unrelated to the position will detract from your value, not add to it. Using the employer’s specific words will ensure you get attention, while paraphrasing with other languages can be disadvantageous. Tagging “hard” (technical) skills on at the end of the resume may work for recruiters’ electronic searches, but when the recipient/screener is actually reading your resume, your most important skills may be overlooked.

Having the right hard skills will determine if the employer will read further. “Soft” skills are important but very difficult to measure/prove. In many cases, employers assume you have related soft skills until they learn otherwise. Typically, soft skills can only really be determined with proof (quantifiable results) or when the employer actually meets you.

If you have stated a skill in the summary portion of your resume, you need to support it through an example of your related accomplishment in the experience portion of your resume, whether you are using a functional or chronological resume format. Describing a specific incident, event, work experience, or project will show evidence or “prove” you have a specific skill. Fancy language may appear engaging, but for the discerning decision maker, it does not take the place of facts. Facts sell. Using concrete examples in your resume will also prepare you for your interview. Using vague statements may get you in the door, but at some point, you will have to come up with specifics to make it real. Better to do it now than assume you will be able to produce supporting details on cue during and interview without preparation.

Avoid generalities or broad statements. Stick with numbers, percentages, specific outcomes or descriptions of a process. Stating that you produced “extremely positive results,” or that you “greatly improved performance” is vague. You need to include: by what measurement, in what time frame, and compared to what?

Make sure that you are using work examples that are similar to their business needs. Define the scope of your work with the scope of the employer’s work in mind. Expecting the employer to interpret is a risky undertaking. Screeners look for candidates that are “the same” as the job announcement. With enough easily identified “qualified” candidates, employers will not try to interpret, translate or understand the experience that is not the same as their request.

Make it easy for the employer to relate to your value by using relevant terminology. Omit any unrecognizable acronyms or industry-specific language that employers will not recognize or identify with.

The flow of your information should be logical and compel the reader to continue reading. Bouncing from idea to idea without a natural progression will lose the reader’s attention. Grouping similar work examples or related outcomes is easier for the reader to follow.

When you repeat skills that you have stated in your summary in the body of your resume, make sure you have added information by attaching them to a result, outcome, or specific event, rather than simply re-stating them.

If you are interested in making information stand out, using white space is more effective than underlining or using italics. Italics and underlining are hard on the reader’s eyes when employers may be reviewing hundreds of resumes daily. Starting with no less than an inch margin around the border of your resume allows the reader to focus on the center. Use white space to make headings and titles stand out.

​Friends and family can proof for typos and grammatical errors. They can also tell you if your resume is pleasing to the eye. However, they cannot tell you whether or not it will be effective. Typically only the person screening your resume or a hiring manager in your specific industry will truly know if it is an effective resume.