Writing a resume and updating your resume is a very uninteresting process but must be done if you decide to continue to work within the job market. Positions are consistently opening and larger responsibilities within every organization are growing. New positions and new responsibilities derive from new technological advancements, new customer demands, and new approaches to delivering goods/services. If you were asked right now to submit a resume to a hiring manager, is your resume ready? In this article, I will explain how to write a winning resume.
More than often, we become complacent and over secure with our positions; as a result, we do not think of having a resume. In the military, a resume is not necessary for employment so military personnel most likely do not have a resume ready (but should). Learning how to write a winning resume can increase your motivation to conduct a meaningful job search. When you are sure you are a top-notch candidate, you will be certain you have a greater opportunity to land a new gig. I will offer the most important resume writing tip gathered from top resume writers:
The design of your resume matters: as far as the format or template, your resume has to be ATS friendly. ATS stands for Applicant Tracking System and the majority of organizations have it. The ATS system pre-scans and stores your resume before it lands in the hands of HR staff, recruiters, and hiring managers. The idea is to weave through unqualified personnel, with the goal of “cutting time” reading unnecessary resumes. You may be highly qualified for a position but if the ATS system cannot read your resume, it will never make it to the next step of review. ATS systems cannot read special characters (uncommon bullets, thick borderlines, template text boxes, etc.). The ATS systems scans vertically (so a “skills section” at the top is necessary and alignment is important) and looks for keywords that match the job description or industry you are applying for.
Thus, if you have a position of interest, add the exact keywords into your resume -or- if you do not have a position of interest, include keywords within your industry. Lastly, it is important to be selective with the skills you add to your resume. Replace common skills with elite skills (be choosy). For example, if you held a management position, it is common to add “management” to the skills section – as management is a common skill of a manager. Instead you may consider adding “program management”, “project coordinator”, “future planning”; which all show the skills of a manager or management, but more powerful skills.
Statistics prove that 75% of applicants are taken out of consideration before a human receives the candidate’s resume; since they have not meet ATS specifications. Choose the correct format, add keywords similar to what the organization is looking for, and replace common skills with elite skills. Honestly speaking, the resume writing process is tedious; along with ATS friendly developed resumes, make your resume exciting/convincing to the readers.
