5 Tips for Updating Your Resume

With employers receiving hundreds of resumes you must make sure that your resume hooks an employer’s attention within a 5-second glance. A great way to do this is to use job titles and skill headings that relate to and match the jobs you want.

Resume design should get attention but it’s really the content of your resume, the descriptions you include of your skills and abilities, that determine how many interviews you generate–as well as the level of salary offers you receive.   Make sure you also include achievements, contributions, successes or any other examples of how you made a difference in a particular role and added value.  Basically, what is it that makes you a better fit than the other 200 applicants?

Another strategy that is extremely important in controlling the image that employers develop about you–is to use Power Words or verbs that match the level of position you want.

To beat today’s heavy competition for jobs, it’s important that you identify and anticipate the full range of needs each employer faces and show how you can solve those needs.

Another big mistake that job seekers make is to list very important data in the lower sections of their job descriptions. As you compile statements for your resume, prioritize them by importance, impressiveness and relevance to the job you want. Remember that a strong statement which uses power words and quantifies will affect every statement under it.

Author: Angela Crooker