Improve Your Resume With These 6 Easy Tricks

What are the best ways to improve your resume quickly?  Should you invest in fancier paper, try out new fonts or rearrange the sections?

While there are plenty of resume “gimmicks” masquerading as advice, it’s just as easy to improve your resume with methods that make your resume stand out – and in the best ways.  Here are six quick, simple ways to improve your chances of landing the interview:

  1. Bullet points make your resume easier to scan. When you use bullet points, bold font for headers and white space, it becomes easier for hiring managers to spot the specific job titles, tasks and accomplishments that qualify you for the job – and to sort you into the “to call” pile rather than the “to toss” pile.
  2. Think “accomplishments,” not “duties.” For each job you list on your resume, list your top two or three accomplishments. Listing accomplishments demonstrates what you can achieve; merely listing your job duties, on the other hand, only demonstrates what your past employer asked you to do.
  3. Lead with strong verbs. For each accomplishment you list, lead with a strong verb: “Supervised inventory and financial standards.” “Developed inventory storage method that increased warehouse efficiency by 3 percent.” “Analyzed market and forecast sales.”
  4. Get specific. Wherever you can, use specific, concrete numbers and statistics. For instance, if you worked in hotel housekeeping during college, saying “Cleaned three more rooms per shift than any other staff member” is stronger than “Cleaned rooms efficiently.”
  5. Emphasize skills you want to use in this job. Ideally, you’re already applying to a job where the core skills are skills you want to use every day. Emphasize this by focusing your resume on the skills and accomplishments you want to use on the job.  For instance, even if you have outstanding clerical skills, don’t list them if you’re trying to avoid a job where you are shuffled into clerical duties.
  6. Skip the clutter. Dates on college activities are a waste of space – your reader can guess you were involved in them during college. Similarly, delete the line “References available upon request.”  Hiring managers know they can ask for your references, and this line wastes space you could use to talk about your achievements.

At THE RIGHT STAFF, LLC, our recruiters can help you connect with the best jobs and employers in the greater Minneapolis area.  Contact us today to learn more about our staffing services in Minnesota.

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