Impress recruiters which a captivating resume
If you’re looking for a new job opportunity, your resume is the ticket to getting there. Your resume is typically the first impression an employer has of you, and if they don’t like what they see, you better start looking elsewhere. Keeping your resume concise, professional and relevant to the job will help you get noticed by employers. As you read on, we’ll further explore tips and things to include to make your resume stand out.
9 Tips to Make your resume stand out
- Respond to the job description
- Quantify your resume
- Highlight accomplishments, not responsibilities
- Work with a recruitment agency
- Use an aesthetically pleasing template
- Use the summary section wisely
- List soft and hard skills
- Spare the irrelevant details
- Check for errors
- Respond to the job description
When writing job descriptions, employers already know what skills and qualities make up the ideal candidate. Include any experiences and skills you have that mirror the ones in the job description. If you don’t have any of the required knowledge or skills, you’ll need to get creative and fall back on any transferable skills.
Scan the job listing for keywords and look for ways to integrate them into your resume. If your resume goes through an applicant tracking system (ATS), it will recognize the keywords and push it forward through the hiring process. That way, your resume is more likely to meet a hiring manager than the garbage bin.
- Quantify your resume
Back your accomplishments up with numbers. You can reference numbers in units such as time, money, or people. Examples to consider are the size of budgets you’ve managed, the size of the team you lead as a project manager, or time spent on a project or task.
Quantifying your resume can help hiring managers visualize how you could contribute to the team and organization. Adding quantities will better showcase your skill levels and abilities and give you some leverage over competitors.
- Highlight accomplishments, not responsibilities
We can confidently tell you that the hiring manager doesn’t want to read about your job duties. They want to see your accomplishments and the impact you could make if hired. Think about any challenges you tackled or significant achievements made in previous jobs. Providing concrete examples and stories in the experience section will be more engaging and attention-grabbing than simply stating responsibilities.
- Work with a recruitment agency
Going solo on your job search doesn’t guarantee hiring managers will see your application. Working with a recruitment agency is a sure way to get your resume noticed. Businesses go directly to staffing agencies for potential candidates for them to review. This makes job hunting through a technical recruiter a direct pipeline to getting your resume into the hands of employers.
- Use an aesthetically pleasing template
Ensure your resume is professional, clean and easy on the eyes. Along with your resume content, the document as a whole should stand out. You can do this by creating your own unique template. Free pre-made resume templates can be found online or in many word processors, and sure it can save you time, but it will just look like every other resume. Existing templates can help you get started but should only be used as a guide.
- Use the summary section wisely
If you include a summary or objective section on your resume, make it count. This section typically goes at the very top, making it one of the first things recruiters notice. Avoid using vague self-descriptors like team player or creative thinker. Instead, use your summary to further promote your accomplishments and personal brand. Including a (4)personal brand statement lets hiring managers view you as a person before they even get a chance to meet you.
- List soft and hard skills
In the skills section of your resume, list any relevant soft and hard skills. Soft skills, also known as power skills, are personal attributes and traits that can affect your ability to work, such as time management and communication. Hard skills are job-specific technical skills such as computer programming. Though technical skills are essential in IT, soft skills can complement and enhance those hard skills.
- Spare the irrelevant details
We’ve discussed a lot of what you should include on your resume but knowing what to avoid is equally important when creating a stand-out resume. Your resume should be a single page, two at the most, if you are highly experienced. Stuffing your resume with irrelevant jobs or unrelated skills only proves you don’t understand the scope of the job.
- Check for errors
Check your resume for any errors. An error-free resume demonstrates your professionalism and attention to detail, all of which are applicable traits for any job or industry. Ideally, you’re customizing your resume for each job, so check that you’re submitting the correct version. Double, triple or quadruple-check your resume if you need to or ask a friend to give it a once over.
IT Recruitment Agency in Toronto | About Live Assets | IT Staffing Solutions
Live Assets is a boutique IT Staffing/Recruiting firm specializing exclusively in building IT teams of excellence for the Information Technology sector.
We are a small, but productive team that works closely together and has had a 96% success rate for the past number of years!
We have a diverse number of clients and industries and focus on both full-time and contract I.T. opportunities.
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