Are you ready to take the next step and pursue your dream job? If so, the first step is to update your resume and cover letter! Find out what tips will make your resume stand out.
Always Reflect Your Unique Experience
My side hustle is editing resumes and cover letters. I’m used to seeing accomplished individuals come to me with impressive work experience — but their resumes often don’t do a good job of highlighting their unique experiences and accomplishments. This can give the wrong impression that they’re not a strong candidate or that they lack confidence in their abilities.
Resume Tips: Don’t Be Afraid to Apply for Your Dream Job
It doesn’t help that job postings often have such daunting criteria. Raise your hand if you’re looking to upgrade your current position but the qualifications for your dream job include:
- A master’s degree or PhD
- A minimum of five years progressive experience in the field
- 5-10 years of leadership experience
- Excellent verbal and written communication skills
- Experience with software or applications you’ve never used before
You might be sitting there thinking, there’s no way I’m going to get this job — but worry not! Job posting criteria is just fuel to create a resume that shows why you’re the best person for the job, even if you don’t tick off all the qualifications.
You might even have most of the qualifications already but you’re downplaying your expertise because of imposter syndrome. In this case, focus on your strengths and communicate them clearly because a resume decides if you make to the next step: an interview.
Use These Tips to Build a Strong Resume
Here are my tips and tricks on how to make your resume stand out:
1. Decide What Information You Want on Your Resume
One of my first tips in building a strong resume is deciding what information you want to include on your resume, and which information is better suited for your cover letter.
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You resume should provide a future employer with broad insight into your education, professional experience, volunteer experience and any certifications or accolades. A cover letter, on the other hand, should tell an employer who you are and what exactly you’ve done, and why you’re a great candidate for the position.
Keep your resume short – you don’t need to list every job responsibility, only the most relevant ones to the job posting. If you feel you have more to say about something, expand on it in your cover letter.
2. Be Specific and Quantify Your Accomplishments
Another tip is that the content on your resume should show your accomplishments in the best light. Be specific with what you’ve achieved and if possible, quantify your accomplishments.
For example:
- You could write that you managed a store and increased revenue by 19% and beat budgetary targets by over 24%
- Or maybe you’re a marketing whiz and exceeded ticket sale goals by 3X with a 25% decrease in campaign budget
By quantifying and being specific in your resume, you show that you’ve made tangible changes in the organization. If you don’t have goals at your current position that are tied to numbers, comb through your emails for positive feedback from your manager, colleagues or clients. Use these as examples to demonstrate you’ve made a meaningful contribution to the company.
3. Focus On Relevant and Recent Information
Throughout our lives, all of us will collect different work experiences, accolades and participate in different extracurriculars. However, your resume isn’t meant to list everything you’ve ever done. Tailor your resume to the job description, highlighting that you have the experience, skills and capabilities they’re looking for.
You’re creating your resume and you get to choose what’s on it. List the most applicable work experiences and accomplishments that make you stand out from other candidates. For example, when I was updating my resume to apply to hospital pharmacy positions, my resume was filled with retail pharmacy experience because this is where I began my career. However, this work experience was no longer relevant as I gained new experience that better reflected the skillset needed for a hospital pharmacy. I finally gathered the courage to hit the delete button on that experience and now my resume looks more appropriate for the job postings I’m targeting.
4. One of the Most Important Tips: Proofread Your Resume
This is one of my most important tips: take the time to proofread your resume. Grammatical and spelling errors make your resume look sloppy. The employer might think you’re careless or don’t care about the position. Use a free online tool to help with typos and grammar. A tool like the Hemingway app will highlight common errors. It’s easy to miss something in a document you’ve been staring at for hours.
Your resume is your first impression! This is what gets you through the door. Ensure that it reflects well on you by proofreading it before you submit it.
There we have it, some tips to creating a strong resume. Consider implementing these tips when applying for your next job!
