To be successful in the job market, it takes a decent amount of time keeping up with your resume, job search techniques, online application requirements and more. Resume trends in 2019 are geared towards providing better opportunities for job seekers. Paying close attention to the shortfalls of resume writing and analyzing the trends of 2018 is a perfect place to start. To become competitive in the job market, resume trends in 2019 must be applied: adding links to social media channels, utilization of action verbs, beating the ATS scanning systems, quantifying your achievements, and keeping track of emails/phone calls.
Shortfalls include: bad formatting, not including FULL demographic information, not annotating job training, not taking advantage of keyword optimization, and not including an “other information” section. Bad formatting includes starting your resume with your education or list of certificates. I am proud and I know you are proud of your educational accomplishments but starting off with an education section is a no no! Consider an accomplishment statement, summary of experience, or values you have to offer the organization. List all your demographic information: name, phone number, home address and email address. Job training is often neglected, include a section with: training courses, on-the-job-training, certificates, computer training, and any HR required courses; sexual harassment, EEO, supervisor training (as they relate to the position you’re applying for). Keywords from the job announcement needs to be utilized throughout the resume to show the reader that you are capable of being the candidate they are seeking. An “other information” section or a similar section allows you to display information that doesn’t quite fit into the resume content: “willing to relocate”, “prior experience”, “gaps in employment due to….”, or “looking to use transitional skills to begin a new career in…..”.
The first step before providing a social media link (like LinkedIn) is to make sure you clean up and present yourself in a professional manner. Add your social media link and make sure the link works before adding it to your resume. Utilize action verbs in-place of words like: “responsible for”, “in charge of”, or “tasked with”. Although you may have been responsible for, in charge of, tasked with; did you actually manage, facilitate, administer, lead, and develop? Beating the ATS scanning system includes ensuring the job announcement/job description is in your resume in some shape or form. For example, if the announcement is looking for a candidate who: “Provides regular reports on a variety of procurement and maintenance issues”; if you have completed the task(s) somewhere in your experience, your resume should read “Provided reports for procurement and maintenance issues on a daily basis” or something along the lines that has the keywords: reports, procurement and maintenance! Quantifying your achievements includes adding numbers to your accomplishments (if applicable): managed a $10K budget for the logistics department or maintained stock at 5 store locations; resulting in zero supply issues.
Lastly, it is important to consistently monitor your emails (spam included) and attend to phone calls. In today’s time, we screen phone calls, service outages cause callers to be sent directly to voicemail, and if email portals do not recognize senders; emails get dropped off in the spam folder. More than often I have heard about job offers that candidates waited too long to respond. Message me for a free list of action verbs to assist you with the development of your resume and as always; Ready To Go Resumes is a great source for resume development, resume critique, and Cover Letter development. Good luck!
