Competition in the job market is unavoidable. It is a reality that all those seeking employment face. According to ERE.net, an online gathering place for recruiters, a company will receive approximately 250 resumes for each job opening posted. With so many resumes to sift through, hiring managers can only spend so much time per job seeker. Based on a recent study by TheLadders, a recruiter only spends six seconds reviewing an individual resume. After spending roughly six seconds on each of the 250 resumes, only four to six candidates will be contacted for an interview. Furthermore, only one of those people will get the job.
More than ever, you need to ensure your resume sticks out from the competition. The good news is that we’ve gathered our best advice on how to make your resume stand out in the crowd. By incorporating some minor details and leaving out unnecessary language, you can make your resume sparkle.
Follow these four tips to help your resume get noticed:
1. Keep things professional and simple
Your first instinct to get your resume to stand out may be to add colors or fancy fonts. Fight the urge to do so. Our best advice is to keep this to a minimum. An uncommon typeface can be difficult to read, while an overabundance of colors can be distracting. However, simple placement and conservative usage of specialized fonts can make a big difference. Adding a thin navy border or selectively utilizing bold type face are great ways to highlight key information. It should be noted that those seeking jobs in a creative field such as graphic design have much more leniency in terms of these conditions.
2. Tailor your resume for the industry
Adding qualities such as hard-working, efficient and responsible are too nebulous to adequately define what sets you apart from the rest of the job seekers. Include industry-specific terminology and keywords to show employers that you understand and are fluent in the field’s specialized language. Instead of drafting your resume and then looking for jobs, first look for the position you want and then craft your resume to reflect what the responsibilities and roles in the posting.
3. List accomplishments
Many job seekers tend to stuff their resume full of their responsibilities and day-to-day tasks. Listing out your former work description fails to accurately portray how you managed to go above and beyond expectations. Employers look for resumes that delineate quantifiable achievement metrics such as how much you reduced expenditures at your former company or by how much you improved sale percentages. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects since employers tend to believe that past success will translate into future results.
In sum, if you are in the process of crafting your resume or tweaking your resume to make it stand out, keep in mind that less is more when it comes to styling, formatting and fonts. Relevant terminology and quantifiable data will set you apart from the rest. Show your potential future employer that you are familiar with the industry with how you present your job experience. Lastly, here is another article about resume preparation you might find helpful!
