“Will my resume make it or not?”
The question that pops up in every candidate’s mind when applying for a job or internship. Call it magic call it true but your resume is what you are for the Hiring Manager who has never met you before. A quick glance of 30secs by the interviewer decides your resume’s fate. It either gets selected or goes to trash!
So how does one make an impact in such short time?
Here are some tips and tricks by the eminent hiring professionals who tell what are the elements of a good eye-catching resume.
- Customize: Today, customization is the key to a successful venture. The same holds true for your resume. Customize your resume to suite the job specifications. Do not blabber about stuff which is of no relevance, highlight the key skills required for the job and how crafty you are with them. Following the same old resume template and forwarding it to every employer doesn’t work. Concentrate on the keywords used in the job description, tailor your resume to be the closest possible fit and voila, you’re there.
- Best comes first: One should always highlight the most relevant experiences as close to the top as possible. It should not be halfway down the page, and definitely not somewhere near the bottom. With a blink of an eye, you know the recruiter is looking at the very top of your resume.
- The strategic use of emphasis: Your resume will highlight your key strengths only if they are actually highlighted. Emphasize on the important stuff by the means of bold fonts and underlines. Personally, I advise everybody to use the 3 B Rule (Keep them bold, ❶ bulleted and brief)
- Keep it simple silly: Your resume is a highly professional document, do not dress it up like a birthday card. Use of multiple colors, gaudy texts and backgrounds will only make it worse unless you’re a graphic designer(where you can actually showcase your imaginations). Keep it simple, straightforward and subtle.
- Focus on the relevance: As your experience grows, your resume will become longer. What needs to be kept in mind is that the interviewer is not there to read a theater script, keep the content in resonance with the job description.
If you know you’re qualified for a position, your resume should make it easy for a recruiter to find evidence of this. Place everything appropriately, move your strengths to the top, and don’t be afraid to show off in the rest of your resume. Get going, make yourself a Ninja’s resume!
