Our goal at Upword Resume isn’t to deliver resumes that look good. Our goal is to create resumes that work.
That means resumes that give hiring managers the information they need to identify you as the person best qualified to solve their problems and make their businesses run better.
One of the ways I keep Upword Resume up to date with current hiring practices is partnering with recruiters and career coaches. This helps us align our deliverables with what works in the real-world job market.
This month, I’m proud to share with you my annual resume writing collaboration with career coach Heather Austin. Heather and I worked together to identify the Top 5 tips for a great resume:
Tip 1: Update Your Contact Information
Okay, this may sound pretty basic. But I work with many job seekers who have let this critical section of their resume fall out of date. For bonus points, create a custom LinkedIn url.
Tip 2: Include a strong Summary section
A Summary section is the #1 most important part of your resume. It’s the first thing a hiring manager will read, and it occupies the most prominent real estate on the page.
A great Summary section includes:
- Key skills.
- Key outcomes (the benefits that result from your work).
- The business problems your background enables you to solve.
- An identifier that acts like an attention-grabbing headline and shows overarching theme of your resume.
Tip 3: Consider using a Professional Highlights section
A list of your professional highlights is a great strategy to draw extra attention to the most impressive elements of your background that otherwise may get buried in your resume. Craft 2-5 bullet points describing your accomplishments, and add a competency block full of ATS-pleasing keywords.
Tip 4: Format work experience correctly
A great strategy to create a clear, readable work history is to combine–
- A short paragraph outlining your main job responsibilities.
~and~
- A handful of bullet points identifying your professional accomplishments. Put metrics or ballpark numbers on these wherever possible.
Tip 5: Use JobScan to check your keyword match rate
Many job seekers feel frustrated by the prevalence of automated ATS keyword scanning systems. Solve this problem by using JobScan to get instant analysis of how well your resume matches a position and optimizes for ATS. Take advantage of JobScan’s offer of 5 free scans per month.
At Upword Resume, we build resumes to make sure you get past ATS *and* impress the human readers. Learn more here.
