12 Sep 6 Thoroughly-Explained Insider Tips to Writing a Resume
The first thing a hiring manager will see of any candidate will be their resume. However, a resume has to go through a lot before it reaches a hiring manager. This means that a resume needs to be properly built to get you that job. The real question is how do you construct a resume that will not only surpass the ATS (Applicant Tracking System) bot but impress hiring managers? Here are a few tips you can use when writing a resume:
Where to Start Writing a Resume
There is a lot of information that needs to go into a resume. When building a resume from scratch, it can get pretty overwhelming. There’s no single place to start. Depending on your career, the job you’re applying for, and the extent of your past experiences, the resume-building process will look very different.
However, there are a few good questions to ask before you start writing a resume.
Tip #1: What Is Included in a Resume?
As mentioned before, there can be a lot of information that goes into your resume, and some of it might not be necessary depending on your career. Nevertheless, there are a few basic things that need to be added no matter the resume format or career you’re in.
When writing a resume, make sure to include these five things.
Summary Paragraph
On the first page of your resume, it’s best to have a summary paragraph to include your most important soft skills. This paragraph needs to include things you have experience with and showcase to hiring managers that you have what it takes to get the job done right.
This paragraph typically appears just after your name, contact information, and job title on the first page. It’s always best to make sure it comes before your past experiences as it will sum up your career as a whole and gear your resume toward the job you are applying for.
Past Experiences
Another vitally important part to include on your resume is your past experiences. This should be self-explanatory, but you need to make sure you’re showcasing the experiences you have and the reasons you fit a job description. You won’t be able to land a job if you don’t fit the criteria it has.
When writing your resume, make sure to detail the responsibilities you held with each role and the major accomplishments you reached. Doing this will help uplift your past experiences and show hiring managers that you’re the right person for the job.
Contact Information
The next part you should always include on your resume is your contact information—this includes your name, email address, and phone number. It is also highly recommended to include your LinkedIn account.
Many job applications receive hundreds, if not thousands, of submissions. Even after the majority of the resumes are sorted through an ATS bot, a hiring manager still has numerous resumes to read through. When writing a resume, make sure to include your contact information on the first page—typically at the very top of the page in a bold font—and on the second page—smaller and in the heading.
Core Competencies & Technical Skills
We’ll dive deeper into keywords later, but it should be noted that sections dedicated to your core competencies and technical skills are important for keywords. This is why it’s necessary to include on your resume.
Core competencies are the capabilities you can bring to a job, kind of like the hard skills you possess. This includes things like time management, written and oral communication, leadership and training skills, Go-to-Market (GTM) strategies, and more. Further, technical skills hold the same purpose with keywords as core competencies on a resume. These need to be programs you have knowledge of, including programs such as Microsoft Office, Google Drive, CRM programs, Salesforce, Zoom, etc.
Branding Geared for a Specific Job Application
Now, this part will look different on every resume. When sending out applications, you need to be tailoring your resume to match that application. This means you need to adjust the job title at the top of your resume, alter keywords throughout the resume (primarily the core competencies and technical skills sections), and rework any sentences to elevate the right skillset.
Branding is important, especially when writing a resume. Make sure to include the right branding to match the job you’re applying for. A resume won’t surpass an ATS bot if the branding isn’t correct.
Additional Things that May Need to be Added
Though the five things detailed above are necessary to include, there are a few other things that you may need to have on your resume depending on the job you are after.
- Volunteer Experience
- Professional Development (outside of your education!)
- Associations / Affiliations
- Publications (but also not if you have too many – you may need an addendum for those!)
Tip #2: Choosing the Right Format When Writing a Resume
If resumes were only one format, then we wouldn’t need as much help constructing them. However, there is a lot of freedom with resume building. There are also a lot of restrictions. Here are a few tips for choosing the right format for your resume and which guidelines you need to follow.
Format types
Out of each variation of formats, there are three main types that will be the base of most resumes. These are:
The Reverse Chronological Format
This is the most basic form of a resume. As the name suggests, it is a resume that follows your job experience in reverse chronological order. This means that the first job listed on your resume will be your current position. From there, the jobs will follow from most recent to least recent.
The Functional Resume
Next, we have the functional resume format. This is a format you will typically see for professionals changing their careers. It focuses mostly on skills and transferable information as opposed to the actual job experiences you have held (of course, it does still include this).
The Hybrid Resume (or Combination Resume)
Finally, the last resume format you might run into is the hybrid resume. This format is a combination—as the one name says—of the other two basic resume formats. It is set up to exemplify a specific skillset (or skillsets) of a professional while still following the reverse-chronological format. This resume format is most helpful for those with a lot of experience that may need to be condensed or for people with major gaps in their employment.
Choosing the Right Format
Now that you know the three basic resume formats, you need to decide which one fits your personal goals better. We recommend that you always try to create a reverse-chronological format first.
However, take a look at all of your past experiences. Do you have any gaps in employment, jobs that don’t fit the career path you’re going on, or older experiences that may need to be exemplified without worrying that they will cause unwanted ageism? If so, then your resume might fit better as a functional resume or hybrid resume format. Just note that these two resume formats are harder to create, and therefore more difficult to get right.
General Formatting Rules to Follow
Now that you’ve chosen your resume format, there are a few general things that you need to implement. No matter the format you choose, make sure to follow these outlines when writing your resume.
1. Length
For any professional level—no matter if you have 25+ years of experience or only 5+ years—you need to remain under two pages on your resume. This is a hard limit. An ATS bot may remove a resume from the pool of candidates if it is too long. Further, a hiring manager won’t spend time reading through a resume that is longer than two pages—it is better to condense the information and only showcase what is most important.
2. Font Size
The recommended font size for resumes is between 10.5 to 12. Any lower than 10.5 and the ATS bot will not be able to read it. Outside of headings, anything bigger than 12 may take up too much room.
3. Columns & Tables
If you have a lot of information to put on a resume, it might be tempting to condense things by putting them into columns or tables. However, this is a major issue for ATS bots. This will jumble your information and ruin your chances of landing the job.
4. Images & Graphs
Much like the columns/tables, images and graphs will cause a lot of issues when going through the ATS bot. It is best to leave these off when writing your resume.
5. Company Name, Location, Job Titles, Dates?
Understandably, the information needed for your past experiences can get confusing no matter the format you use while writing a resume. Outside of your responsibilities and accomplishments at each job, you need to ensure you are including these four things:
- Company Name
- Company Location (if you work remotely, you still need to put the company’s HQ)
- Job Titles Held at this Company
- Dates You Held Each Position (this includes months! be sure to detail the dates for each position held)
6. Headers
When adding your name and contact information to the first page, do not put it in the header. This, again, will mess with the ATS bot. However, it is best to add this information to the second page of your resume in the header section. This is to visually ensure that a hiring manager knows whose resume they are looking at—just in case the second page gets loose from the first page.
Tip #3: Keywords, Keywords, Keywords
One of the most important parts of a resume—outside of the formatting—will be the keywords. This is something that you may need to adjust for each application you submit.
As we keep mentioning, the ATS bot is the first thing your resume will go through. Unlike a human hiring manager, ATS bots will not be reading through your resume. Instead, they will be scanning for specific keywords.
From day-to-day responsibilities at your past jobs to the technical programs you used, these can all be considered keywords. When writing a resume, you can find the necessary keywords to include directly from the job description. Read our blog about finding keywords from job descriptions here to find out how to properly utilize them.
Tip #4: Tailoring & Writing a Resume to MATCH the Job You’re Applying To
For how frustrating it can be to write a resume, it’s even more frustrating when you learn that one resume won’t fit all. In fact, one resume will only fit one job application if it’s tailored correctly. There are a few parts of a resume that will need to be adjusted for each application you send.
The one spot on a resume that you should always tailor to match a job application is the job title at the top of your resume. This is an important keyword for the ATS bot. If the job title at the top of your resume does not match the job application’s title exactly, the bot will toss your application out without scanning the rest of it.
The other parts of a resume that need to be adjusted mainly stem from the keywords. These keywords might change depending on the job itself or the job expectations. So, make sure you’re reading through job descriptions carefully when writing your resume.
Tip #5: Soft vs. Hard Skills
One of the more confusing aspects of a resume to understand may be the soft and hard skills. These concepts are hard to grasp and can get pretty confusing. But these are important keywords to include while writing a resume, so here are a few tips to showcase your soft and hard skills.
Soft Skills
A soft skill is typically seen as a personality trait/skill you spent a long time developing. This includes personal habits and traits that direct the way you work—whether that’s alone or with others.
This includes skills like:
- Verbal & Written Communication
- Teamwork
- Problem-Solving & Organization
- Adaptability & Creativity
- Critical Thinking
Hard Skills
On the other hand, a hard skill relates most to knowledge or training you have learned throughout your life—primarily in your career and education. These may also be technical and job-specific skills.
This includes skills such as:
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- SEO / SEM Marketing
- Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategies
- Project / Program Management
- Data Analysis, Forecasts, & Organizing
Tip #6: Utilize a Resume Expert while Writing a Resume
Learning all of the secrets to writing a resume might seem like all you need. However, you might find yourself still a little lost on creating that market-ready resume that scores you interviews. A certified resume expert could be what you need.
Professional resume writers already know the secrets of building the perfect resume. They can take your old resume and bring it to a new light—making the document ATS-compliant, eye-catching visually, and filled with the most important information of your career experience. Utilizing a professional service for writing a resume can greatly improve your chances of landing a job.
At The Jonus Group, we offer numerous career services to help you get to where you want to be in your career. This includes help with resumes.
Feel free to check out the services we offer on our page here. Lastly, if you would like to have a free consultation with one of our certified resume writers to discuss updating your resume, you can sign up for a time here.