The average corporate job attracts 250 resumes and of those, about 2 percent get contacted for an interview.
If you’re one of those 250 applicants, your resume needs to grab the company’s attention or you don’t stand a chance. Let’s look at how to make your resume stand out.
How to Make Your Resume Stand Out by Looking Good
One of the most effective tips for resumes that stand out is to make them look good. If your resume is hard to read or even looks like it would be, you’re at a disadvantage from square one.
Use an attractive layout like these resume format templates from Adobe Sparks. Your resume still needs to have the right information in it, but the most important step is getting someone to read it.
Customize Your Resume for the Job
If you’re applying for jobs with many companies, it’s tempting to send them all the same resume to save time.
Don’t do that. It’s obvious to the reader and if you’re not willing to put in the extra time to write an effective resume, why would they want to hire you?
Instead, customize each resume for the company and job you’re applying for. Refer to things that are unique about that application and focus on the specific skills and experience they’re looking for. Make the reader think “This sounds like the perfect person for this job.”
Use Keywords in Your Resume
Include keywords and phrases in your resume related to the job you’re applying for and the skills required in the job posting. Many employers will pre-filter the resumes they receive to look for particular words and phrases, then only review the ones that include them.
Use the job posting as a guide but also spend some time searching for similar jobs in Google. Look for keywords that come up in a lot of the results and use the Google search suggestions for ideas.
Include Proof of Your Skills and Experience
When including skills and experience in your resume, don’t just say what you did – say how you did it. Include proof of your past accomplishments. For example, instead of saying that you helped double sales in your last job, say you implemented processes X and Y to generate a 115 percent increase in sales.
Explaining how you did something and presenting specific numbers gives it more impact and also makes it more believable to the reader.
Proofread, Proofread, Proofread
Before you submit your resume, make sure you proofread it. One of the easiest ways to make resumes that stand out for the wrong reason is to submit something with spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, or any other problems that proofreading should find.
A potential employer may not think “Wow, this resume has no spelling or grammar mistakes,” if you do your job right but you can bet they’ll think “Wow, this person didn’t proofread this before sending it,” if you don’t.
First Impressions Counts
Your resume will likely be an employer’s first impression of you. Make sure you follow these tips on how to make your resume stand out. If that first impression isn’t good, you likely won’t have time to make a second one.
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