5 Rules for Building a Great Resume
ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT GETTING A JOB? THESE RULES ARE MEANT TO MAKE YOUR RESUME STAND OUT.
Your resume has one job: To convince the reader that you're a candidate worth interviewing.
Here are five rules to help you write a resume and their brief explanation given below
1. Summarize Your Unique Value
2. Communicate with Confidence
3. Watch Your Language
4. Key in on Keywords
5. Keep it Concise
What do these really mean?
1. Summarize Your Unique Value
A resume should begin with a Summary (or, if you're a student, new grad, or career changer, an Objective). Use this space to tell employers who you are and how your skills and qualifications meet their needs.
Although your real objective may be to get away from your micro-managing boss or shorten your commute, don't say that on your resume! Your Summary or Objective is where you explain how and why you are uniquely qualified to contribute to the company or organisation.
Bonus: Once you've crafted a solid message that summarizes your value, you can use it as the basis for your response to every hiring manager's favorite line: "Tell me about yourself."
2. Communicate with Confidence
Tell the potential employer what you've accomplished in your current and previous roles to show how you made a difference. This is not the time to be humble or modest, or to assume the employer will read between the lines.
For instance, if your resume just states the facts, without context (e.g., "Sold 50,000 pieces of the organisation's product between January and June"), the reader won't know if that's better, worse, or the same as what the company had achieved in the past. But a confident statement like "Boosted product sales by 35% in the first six months" or "Increased product sales from 40K to 50K within six months" is bound to jump off the page.
3. Watch Your Language
Don't start your sentences with I or We or Our.
In fact, don't even use full sentences. Bulleted statements that begin with strong action verbs typically have the most impact.
Here are two ways to say the same thing. The first is a bad example; the second is much better:
