Did you know these things about your resume?
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Your resume is an important element of all your job applications. If you are like any other job seeker, you may have put a significant amount of effort into creating the perfect resume for your job hunt. Today, I am going to share a bunch of things I have learned about resumes as a certified professional resume writer so that you can create a better resume for your dream job.
There are different types of resume introductions
I always talk about how important it is to write a summary statement for your resume. However, there are different types of introductions that you can add to your resume. Let me present five types of resume introduction to you and describe them briefly.
Resume summary – You are already a lot familiar with the summary statement after reading my blog articles. For first-time readers, a summary statement showcases a tailored list of your accomplishments, skills, and experiences that are relevant to the job.
Career objective – I have spoken about resume objectives several times before. An objective statement describes why you are writing the resume. It’s used to tie your goals with the company’s interests. However, we don’t use objective statements in resumes anymore as they are considered outdated.
Qualifications summary – A qualifications summary is added to a resume when we need to highlight the skillset of a job seeker. These are best for career change resumes as they typically highlight 5-6 professional achievements of a candidate.
Professional profile – A professional profile is a blend of both a career objective and a qualifications summary. This can be presented either as a paragraph or in bullet form. A professional profile is not targeted for a job title and is best for resumes that you upload online to job boards, job sites, etc.
Personal branding statement – A personal branding statement is quite similar to a summary statement. You write personal branding statements when you want to show potential employers what you do best. It is ideal when you want to stand out in tough competition or when you don’t have a target job title.
So, the next time you write a resume, you can decide which kind of introduction better suits you and your unique skillset.
You should do five things when writing your resume
Another thing I feel that we haven’t discussed much is the way you should write a resume. A lot of thought, planning, and organization goes into creating a winning resume. Here are some things you should keep in mind:
- Identifying your goal – Your goal when writing your resume should be to keep them reading. You want to write compelling narratives that hook readers and keep them interested till the end.
- Keeping it short – There is no need to include every last detail about your past experience in your resume to be taken seriously by a hiring manager.
- Being honest – Integrity and honesty are two qualities that employers admire in candidates Don’t shoot yourself in the foot by lying or embellishing your qualifications on your resume.
- Making it relevant – Generic resumes very rarely impress hiring managers. If you want to be seen by your employer of choice, you need to get very specific when writing your resume.
- Getting rid of errors – One important thing before sending out your resume – proofread it. This is the best piece of advice I can give any job seeker. A mistake-free resume is already a winner.
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