Writing an effective résumé: Here’s what you should know!
That’s right, there is no one way to build a resume
Do you have a resume? Do you even care about having one? Of course you do, otherwise you wouldn’t be reading this. You might’ve asked your friends and peers about what a resume should look like, and maybe asked for theirs to see. Then maybe you did some research online, but still aren’t quite comfortable or don’t know where to start, everyone has a way. That’s right! Everyone has a way, and so should you! Now it is my duty here to help you find your way, and the rest will follow.
Follow this and you’ll be alright
Here I will share with you some of the things that will not only guide you to build a resume, but also help you think about the best way of building it. Before jumping into the very effective process or creating and reiterating your resume content, I will be sharing with you some critical elements which you need to consider when thinking about your resume. The five following elements are key to consider when you are building your resume, and they can also serve as a check-list for you putting it all together.
1. Always start with an objective (What is yours?)
If you wish to build or update your resume, then you’re probably planning to use it for applying to some sort of organization. This could be a school, company, government, etc., but most importantly, you should know where and why you are applying and what it is that you are trying to achieve. Is it a job offer or university admission? What field is it in?
You want to treat the potential recipient(s) of your resume as your customer(s) and think of what they look for or matters to them. Unfortunately, many job seekers think of resumes as a printout of their history, when it is in reality a marketing tool that only you control and decide what to include in or exclude from it. And there is nothing wrong with that, as long as it does not include any false information.
It’s important to have clarity about who you are applying to and what it is that you are trying to get out of it. Accordingly, you want to tailor your resume to the extent possible. Likewise, it is important to showcase to employers what it is that you are offering and what you bring to the table. In other words, what problem do you solve? what’s your value proposition? and what is it that differentiates you from other candidates?
2. Think about the structure and components
Taking your objective into consideration along with your qualification, you need to think about the relevant sections that you can include in your resume, and know which of them are relevant to you. This can include your personal profile or overview, work or professional experience, volunteering experience, education, technical skills, trainings and professional qualifications, and other possible sections that you can have.
3. Prioritize and optimize
Indeed, you might be tempted to include all of them and that’s alright. But at some point, you will need to look back at what you have and try to prioritize, reshuffle and shrink everything down to one page, maybe two pages for those with a lot more relevant qualifications and experience. However, as much as possible, you want to have a lesser number of pages (ideally one page); you want to optimize your page to make use of all the white space in it, before going into the second one.
The longer your resume and longer it takes to go through it and grasp what’s really important for recruiters and hiring managers, the less enjoyable it will be for them. And why should they keep reading when they have so many other resumes that are easier to read and go through? As you progress in your career, it will be more essential than it ever was for you to be able to say MORE with LESS but in the best way possible. Such skill will be of a second nature to you, as you grow more cautious of your priorities.
4. Make it your look and feel
Again, taking into consideration your objective and what you are applying for. You’ll want to understand some of the styling factors. But honestly, mostly for business and STEM backgrounds, you’ll want to keep it simple, professional and conservative. However, it can be nice for candidates in fields like graphics and design to have more artistic and creative resumes, as for professionals in such fields, this can be an indicator of how creative and artistic they are. But it is important to note that styling isn’t the only factor to consider for the look and feel of your resume. Your font, color and writing style altogether make up your personal brand.
So before proceeding far in building your resume, try-out some fonts to see which of them you feel fits you best (try to stick to the serif and san-serif fonts). This will help you avoid any large changes on your resume if you decide to change the font later in the process, as fonts will space differently on the page.
5. Make it consistent and logical
Sectioning and styling are important to be made consistent throughout your resume. If a certain type of information is bulleted, indented, bolded or underlined, you’ll want to make sure similar information follow the same formatting as well across your resume. These will serve as the rules guiding the reader’s attention when reading your resume.
Now that you know, follow this process
A resume draft is never final; you should always be updating your resume. To develop your resume in an efficient manner, take the following steps in the same order. You may go back and forth between them as you progress, but it is important to not start one step until you go through the one before it.
Write down all of your accomplishments and qualifications (work and volunteer experiences, education, training, computer and other technical skills, and any other relevant accomplishments you have)
Highlight the most important accomplishments and qualifications for the role and company which you are applying for
Group and categorize your accomplishments and order them based on their importance and relevance
Fine-tune your content (spelling, grammar, word-choice and formatting)
Remove extra (or least important) content to trim it down to one page, most tailored to your objective, and export as PDF
Have someone you trust proofread it, and as you receive feedback it is important to know why their suggestions should or should not be reflected on your resume
You are welcome to use my resume template to get started, but I truly recommend that you learn how to format, structure and update your resume, so I suggest that you start shaping it in a way that works best for you and your purpose.
To receive my resume template, you can subscribe to receive emails from me and reply to my email, requesting the template.
It’s not easy but worthwhile
Writing an effective resume is certainly not easy and requires a lot of effort, but it is definitely worth it, and that is why it is very important that you learn how it works and be comfortable with it for the rest of your career. Now this should get you going with creating or updating your resume.
But in case you’re still unsure where you are heading in your career, give Choosing a career path a read to help you more effectively see through your potential.
If you require further guidance and tailored advice regarding your resume or any other aspects of your career, you can learn more about how I could help you or reach out and I will be thrilled to see how I could help.
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