Looking for a new job can be a grind. With so many details to attend to — researching prospective employers, lining up professional references, practicing interviewing skills and checking the salary range for your role — it’s tempting to recycle an old resume and top it off with your newest work experience.
Resist the impulse. If you’re hoping to score an interview for that dream job, you need a freshly polished, customized document that’s going to grab readers’ attention from the start. Here’s how to write a good resume:
1. Craft a lead
Every list of resume writing tips will tell you the same thing: Start with your contact information. Your name, phone number, email address and, if applicable, links to your website and LinkedIn profile all belong in the header.
But the top of the page is valuable real estate. If you want the reviewers to give your resume more than a quick scan, you need something up there that’s going to make them want to keep reading.
Back in the day, resumes had an objective statement just below the contact info that explained the type of job a candidate was seeking. Today, hiring managers and recruiters expect to see a short, snappy paragraph that’s more like a profile. Think of these important two or three sentences as your 30-second elevator pitch: They should quickly summarize your experience and training, and highlight your relevant skills for the role you’re seeking. Expand on your qualifications deeper in your resume and in your cover letter.
2. Show impact
The bulk of your resume should focus on your work experience. List your past jobs in chronological order, from most recent to oldest, and take a results-driven approach to describe your duties and accomplishments. That means including meaningful information about how you benefited a project or the company.
To show how you excelled in the position, use action verbs, give specific examples and add quantifiable results. Don’t simply say, “oversaw project management,” for instance. Instead, give a concise, specific project description, along with your role (“Project manager for a six-person team with impeccable deadline accuracy”) and concrete numbers to show impact — the costs you saved your employer, for example, or the percentage growth in sales revenue. If you don’t have that kind of data, report the solutions your team delivered or other project outcomes. The goal is to show you made a difference.
3. Include soft skills
Remember that interpersonal skills are critical to your career success. Effective writing and verbal communication, critical thinking, time management, creativity, and problem-solving abilities are all highly prized in today’s workplace. It’s important to add them to your resume. But how do you show, rather than simply list, these attributes?
A thoughtfully written resume and cover letter are a start. Both documents, if carefully organized, free of grammatical and spelling errors (see tip No. 7), and tailored for the role you’re applying for, will be clear demonstrations of your writing skills. (If you have them, include links to published newsletters, reports or PowerPoints you had a hand in as examples of your work.) You can also frame your work history and accomplishments to show such abilities as collaboration, adaptability and leadership.
Other soft skills might be more difficult to showcase. Few of us can point to a TED talk or other online video or podcast to prove our verbal and presentation skills, for example. But we all have a LinkedIn profile. Ask a handful of your colleagues, former coworkers or others in your professional network to write recommendations that include some mention of your creativity, leadership qualities, teamwork and similar qualities.
4. Highlight tech skills
Share your software skills and technical knowledge. As an example, job candidates for an admin position or similar role are expected to have Microsoft Office experience. Smart candidates would list their levels of proficiency with each of the suite’s applications, as well as any training or certification programs completed.
Many jobs will require more advanced tech skills. Using the job description as a guide, discuss your expertise with the software required for the role. Again, certifications and training should be listed. Even better, include mention of relevant software in your work history to demonstrate professional experience.
5. Be unique
Highlight talents that are relevant to the position or company. Foreign language fluency, for instance, could give you an edge in getting an interview if the employer has international operations. Your role as an organizer for a Meetup group related to your industry can show leadership skills. Whatever your passion, use your unique qualities and experiences to make yourself stand out.
Many hiring managers like to gain a more complete picture of potential employees so don’t be afraid to mention some outside interests. Just don’t go overboard by providing a laundry list of hobbies and personal pursuits. Always keep in mind that your resume is a professional document.
6. Include keywords
Many companies scan resumes and cover letters for the keywords used in their job postings. Tailor your resume for every job description you reply to — and that means sprinkling the document with some of the language each posting uses. For example, if an employer is seeking an applicant with experience “maintaining executives’ calendars,” use that same wording in your resume instead of a more casual phrase like “keeping track of schedules.”
7. Proofread!
Even in this tight job market, an employer sorting through a dozen or more resumes doesn’t need much reason to remove you from consideration. Meticulously proofread your resume for spelling and grammatical goofs. In addition to running spell-check, read your document aloud slowly so you can focus on each word. Finally, ask a friend to double-check your work. One simple typo can kill your chances of landing an interview.
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