A resume is an advertisement that is trying to get a hiring manager to fork over $80,000, $100,000, or more to rent a profession for a year. We need to put a little work to it to make that work for us.
You don’t have to have the fanciest resume but need to have a professional-looking resume. If you think that old Word doc resume that’s filled with typos going to work for you, then think again.
Let’s get started with the tips and tricks to make resume work for us
Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash
Show off first
The ones that differentiate you from everyone else should come first.
You should not list common things first like a programming language, or a common course early on, since these are likely common to everyone.
Write exceptional work or projects first because people reading your resume proceed in sequential order, so you want to impress them with what makes you special early on.
Use action–result language
Your resume should show what action you did and what results it produced.
For example
Increase API performance by 75% by implementing caching, leading to an increase in order by 10% in a quarter
This will show a prospective employer not only what you can do, but what results you’ve been able to achieve and how they might likewise benefit from hiring you. Ideally, you have to make it “measurable”.
Top Projects
Your resume can include significant 2 to 4 projects. Many candidates add all their 10+ projects including non-impressive projects. It is a big NO.
High quality
Capitalization, numbering, correct punctuation, correct grammar, no typos, and consistent spacing are must-haves to make your resume a quality resume. A typo or spelling mistake can make you look careless. No compromise on that front.
PDF resume
A portable Document Format is a preferred format for your resume because it renders well across platforms.
Page size
Any resume beyond two pages is not a good idea. One and two pages works, try to keep small and concise.
Contact information
Where a recruiter will contact you if he/she/they liked your resume? You should definitely include contact information.
You can also include
- A LinkedIn profile.
- Github links to showcase your personal projects.
- Medium profile link to showcase your writing.
- A link to your thesis.
- Links to companies and products you’ve worked on.
And anything that will stand you out from the crowd.
Proofread
Have your friends proofread your resume.
If you can send a copy to a known recruiter and ask for their opinion it would be great. Recruiters see a large number of resumes and often are the best people to tell you if your resume needs work.
Keep it online
You can have a LinkedIn profile that has the information from your resume on it, and you should have an online version of your resume so that you can send someone a link to it.
Take help
There are a couple of websites that can help and provide scores and feedback on your resume.
A few of them are:
I hope it really helped you with your resume and I wish you get hired into your dream company soon.
All the best :)