Best Practices for Resume Writing

If you are searching for best practices for Resume Writing, then you will come across several suggestions. Some are given my resume makers, some given by industry experts, etc. However, so many suggestions and tips might be very confusing at times, and this confusion can lead to a disastrous resume, which can affect your job search. A persuasive resume is essential in the present competitive scenario and making such a resume is not an easy job. What makes the task even more difficult is to know exactly how to communicate your experiences and strengths in an impactful manner and minimize the focus on your weaknesses at the same time.

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Although you will get a flood of recommendations while looking for best practices of Resume Writing, yet there is very fine line, which differentiates a great resume from a good one. There are certain Resume Writing practices, which most of HR experts agree on, and obviously we have stated them here, but before moving straight to the Resume Writing practices just know why you should adhere to these practices of Resume Writing.

The chance of your being called to a resume depends entirely on your resume, so your resume the very first and a very significant step in job hunting. The way you convey your experience, career history, and skills will decide whether you will land on your dream job, making your resume a tool to sell your skills to your potential employer. With increasing competition, it becomes even more important to give your resume the magical touches that make it stand out in the crowd. For, this you need to follow the best Resume Writing practices. The Resume Writing practices we provide here cover all the aspects of a great resume, from the design, to the layout, to length, to the language, and above all, the dos and don’ts of Resume Writing . 

Customizing is the key

This is the age of customization, and the need of the hour as well. Every employer wish to know why are you suitable for the job, and not all generic resumes are able to answer their question. If you want your resume to be on the top of the pile, then tailor it according to requirements of the job and industry trends. The structure of your resume should be such that it focuses specifically on the job related skills, along with your ability to solve problems, progress and taking responsibilities. The skills that are least relevant to the job you are applying for should come at the last. Suppose, you have both technical and financial skills, so if you are applying for a technical job, then make sure that your technical skills are mentioned before the financial skills. This strikes the employers immediately as they are more interested in job specific skills. Similarly, if you are applying for a financial job, then your financial skills take the top position in your resume.

While customizing your resume, you should focus on the value proposition as well. You can beat the competition only when you state your strengths boldly. In a glance, the recruiters must know the advantages of recruiting you for the job. Focus more on your achievements and strengths, so that your resume coveys the message that you are a distinctive person with valuable skills and accomplishments that will help the company in future.

Update! Update! Update!

This is not about any software update, but the word applies to your resume as well. This is one of the best Resume Writing practices. Often, those who are well settled in a job think that they need not update their resume, but now it is time to get out of this myth. You might never know when you are looking for a new job or when a better opportunity stands in front of you. Keeping your resume updated will help you to match the need of the time, so just keep it polished before it gets rusted. There are a number of reasons for keeping your resume updated. Here are a few:

• It is reminiscent of your accomplishments and the skills you have developed during your job tenure
• It gives a confidence boost, by reminding you what all you have achieved
• It gives you a lucid idea of your strengths
• Above all, it prepares to meet any good or bad situation. For instance, you might need another job if you lose your current job due to any reason, and similarly it will help you to move on to a better job if you an opportunity to move ahead in your career.

Only essential information, No fluff

Adding fluff to your resumes does nothing more than adding a few more pages to your resume. Presently, recruiters have very less time to review many resumes, so they find resumes that are loaded with references and hobbies and do not focus on accomplishments and experiences, very unsatisfactory. Use the space in your resume to the fullest to provide only essential information that recruiters look for. State your valid qualifications and skills and highlight your experience by using correct keywords in your resume. Instead of using embellishing statements while Resume Writing, you should put in efforts to highlight your strengths, especially those that match the job requirements.

Highlighting qualifications

This can be trickiest aspect of Resume Writing. It is important to do it in such a way that it does not sound like boasting, yet it communicates the skills that the employer is searching for. Here are a few ways in you can do it perfectly:

• Assess the needs of the recruiter by going through the job description and identifying the skills that are more emphasized in the description. This search will help you in landing on relevant keywords to use in your resume as well.
• Use powerful words that describe your skills. You can demonstrate them by citing some examples of projects you executed in your last job.
• You can also state in quantifiable terms how your work helped your employer to gain something. For instance, you can mention that your waste management skills helped the employer to reduce the waste by 15 percent.
• Don’t repeat the information over and over gain

Proofread

You have put it much effort on every section of your resume, and you think that there is no need to proofread it. Then, think again. Sometimes even expert resume writers make some typing or spelling mistakes, so proofreading your resume is a very important Resume Writing practice. You might never be aware of small mistakes that crept in while Resume Writing unless you proofread it before final submission. Remember that even a very petty mistake can push you out from the run.

The three main facets of proofreading include spelling, consistency, and grammar. Grammatical errors form the major part of the potential mistakes that resume writers can make. Today almost all the word processing software have the feature of auto spell check, so spelling errors don’t happen much, but contextual spelling mistakes are overlooked  by such software. At times you make some grammatical mistakes while typing like you add a period instead of adding a comma. This is why proofreading your resume is an important step of Resume Writing. You should also take care of hyphens and tense. If you are working somewhere at present, then using present tense is correct, whereas if you hold the position no more, then use past tense. Remember that using passive voice is also considered incorrect, although it is not a technical error. When you are using proper noun remember to capitalize them, but don’t capitalize common nouns for drawing attention to other facts. As far as consistency is concerned, make sure that the date or titles are formatted in the same way all through the document.

Indentation and bullets

The look and layout of a resume is as important as the information it conveys. Visual factors such as the style, the font size and style, the bullets, and even indents can add value to your resume. You might have put all the information in the correct order, but if you do not format it well, then it will appear like a scrawled piece of paper.

Suppose if you have read long paragraphs, will it hold your interest for long. Obviously no, so bullets are very important for formatting your resume. Bullets help in making your resume easily readable and give it a nice and professional structure. Using bullets helps employers to scan different points within a few seconds. When you are summarizing your educational qualifications, or experiences, or skills, use bullets and make short sentences. Make sure that the indents are vertically aligned, and while indenting the bullet lists ensure that all the lists are indented in the same way.

Emphasize on results

To make your resume more targeted you should put more emphasis on the results you achieved in your earlier job. The action comes first and then comes your skills developed, goals, or results achieved. You have focus on how you helped in improving production, how you helped in augmenting the product’s quality and cut down its cost at the same time, or how satisfied a client, learned different skills, contributed in attaining company’s objectives, and how you helped others in your team, etc. While stating such facts, you can use more action verbs to add more power to the sentences. Verbs like created, planned, organized, etc can be used and avoid the use of persona pronouns like she, he, you, or I etc.

Go for shorter resumes

The recent trends in Resume Writing show a preference towards shorter resumes. At present, the trend is of almost two pages, specifically at the executive level. The 3-page format is used very rarely. The 2-page format is has gained more acceptance in different industries, but sometimes marketing briefs and networking resumes of 1 page also works. These resumes are primarily made to put across an overview of achievements and experience, which is mostly required in networking conditions. The length of cover letter is also shrinking of late. However, the widely acknowledged length of a resume is still two pages, as it helps in conveying all the details and information in the correct way.

Branding

With the expanding web of social networks, branding has emerged as an important aspect of Resume Writing. Now, employers test resumes based on keywords, and look for branding elements such as taglines, title, summary content, etc. However, you should make sure that branding should be reliable, and it does not look monotonous. You can also add more value to your brand by using social profiles like LinkedIn profile. Even while branding on social profiles, consistency should be maintained, but it should be wide enough to have room for several career targets.

Added tips to improve your Resume Writing practices

• Avoid using acronyms and abbreviations, as not all might be aware of the full forms
• Be honest to the T, so that nothing can ruin your image and give an ingenuous account of benefits that you can offer to the employer
• Use bullet and descriptive statements to say what you want to say and do away with redundancies
• Give adequate space in between the points and keep then as concise as possible
• Do not supply any kind of negative information about you being fired, laid off, or any other negative incidences.
• Don’t include your picture, personal details such as weight or height, and try to lay off the references
• If you are not able to quantify your contributions to an enterprise, then support your achievements by giving examples of challenges and difficulties that you conquered using your skills.
• You can also mention how keep yourself updated with latest industry trends or what recent training you have undergone to polish your skills.

Remember that your resume is your key to the interview, so if you employ the best Resume Writing Services, then this will definitely fix your spot in the interview.