To write an eye-catching resume that gets noticed and gives you an interview call, your resume must be well-written and properly structured, with no misinformation, ambiguity, and grammar mistakes.
Writing an Eye-Catching Resume can be tricky, especially if you haven’t done it before. I suggest you write several drafts and allow yourself the time to proofread for errors and ruminate over what you’ve written. Practice, after all, makes perfect.
Choose your resume format correctly. If you have a professional association whose opinion you trust, by all means, listen to what they have to say. A simple critique can save you a great deal of time and money.
10 Tips to write an eye-catching resume that gets noticed and gives you an interview call.
10 Professional Tips To Write Eye-Catching Resumes
Clear, Well Written Position Title and Job Description
Provide your title, plus a detailed explanation of your daily activities and measurable results.
Since job titles are often misleading, or their function may vary from one company to another, your resume should tell the reader exactly what you’ve done.
Titles such as engineer, account manager, business analyst, internal consultant, and student internships are especially vague.
Clarity of Dates and Place
Document your work history accurately. Don’t leave the reader guessing where you were employed or for how long. If you’ve had overlapping jobs, find a way to pull them apart on paper or eliminate mentioning one to avoid confusion.
Provide Specific Detail
Specify some of the more technical or involved aspects of your past work or education. Have you performed tasks of any complexity or significance? If so, don’t be shy; give a one or two-sentence description.
Appropriate Attention to All Parts of Resume
Give appropriate attention to jobs or educational credentials according to their length or importance to the reader.
For example, if you wish to be considered for a position at a bank, don’t write one paragraph describing your current job as a loan officer, followed by three sections about your high school summer job as a lifeguard.
Only Add Relevant Information to the job.
Confine your curriculum vitae with job-related or demonstrates a pattern of success.
For example, nobody cares that your hobby is spearfishing, that you weigh 137 pounds, or that you belong to an activist youth group. Concentrate on the subject matter that addresses the needs of the employer.
Leave Nothing to Imagination
Please don’t assume that the resume reader knows everything or he must know this.
For example, the University of Indiana you attended is in western Pennsylvania. An “M.M.” is a Master of Music degree, or that your current employer, US Computer Systems, Inc., supplies the fast-food industry with order-taker headsets.
Focus on Resume Length
Fill up only a page or two. You won’t need more than two pages if your content is strong. Writing more than two pages sends a signal to the reader that you can’t organize your thoughts or you’re trying too hard to make a good impression.
Spelling, Grammar, and Punctuation; Check and Recheck
Create an error-free document that is representative of an educated person. If you’re unsure about the correctness of your writing (or if English is your second language), consult a professional writer or copy editor.
At the very least, use a spell-check program if you have access to a word processor (MS Word, MS Excel), and always proofread what you’ve written.
Make Resume Easy to Read
The resume must be easy to the eye. Organize your thoughts in a clear, concise manner. Avoid writing in a style that’s either fragmented or long-winded.
No resume has ever won a Nobel Prize for literature; however, an unreadable resume will virtually assure you of starting at the back of the line.
Proper Appearance and Presentation Design
Select the proper visual format, typestyle, and stationery. Resume readers (HR and Recruiters) have become used to a customary and predictable format.
If you deviate too much or your resume takes too much effort to read, it’ll probably end up in the trash, even if you have a terrific background. I recently worked with a candidate with the most beautifully written resume ever.
When I asked him about it, he sharpened his skills by writing and rewriting his wife’s resume. After getting the hang of it, he worked on his own and kept revising it monthly.
