Making a professional resume is essential for landing your next dream job. Hiring managers can scan through piles of resumes quickly, so optimizing space and words for a clean, easy-to-read format can make the difference between an interview and a brush-off.
Working together with a staffing manager greatly reduces the stress and anxiety throughout a career search. Your personal Staffing Manager at Masiello Employment Services will help you craft a tailor-made resume as the first part of our services to connect you with current job opportunities. Then, we will stay by your side throughout the interview process, coaching you at each step, guiding you through your next exciting career move.
Meanwhile, we are happy to walk you though some straightforward dos (and don’ts) of making a professional resume.
Customize Your Keywords
The hot new buzz word on the resume circuit is “keywords.” These are hidden throughout each job description and will give you great insight into what, precisely, the hiring manager is looking for with their next hire. They detail relevant skills or qualifications that a successful candidate should possess in order to land the job.
In other words, read the job descriptions you’re interested in carefully for keywords and integrate the most relevant ones throughout your resume. Pay attention to items under requirements or qualifications sections. Then add your applicable qualifications throughout your summary, work experience and skills sections.
Don’t forget that being the right fit for a job doesn’t come down to just technical skills. Employers are also looking for strong soft skills and emotional intelligence, like the ability to communicate and collaborate well with other members of your team. Showcasing these traits can give you an added advantage.
Stand Out In a Crowd
Know your competition by reviewing resume examples within your industry for best practices and fresh ideas. Then be sure to keep your resume clean, concise and straightforward. Start with a professional font, like Arial or Times New Roman, with body text sizes between 11 and 12 and headings between 14 and 16.
Present clean, wide margins for easy readability. If you find you have too much white space after you’ve written your summary, education and work experience, consider the value of adding certifications, skills, or achievements sections. In these cases, it’s important to weigh if you have enough detail to fill a section with honest, relevant information.
Always highlight the most important information first. Many people use a reverse-chronological timeline to keep the most pertinent experience at the top of the page where it is most likely to be read.
Keep your sections brief. Write two to three sentences in your summary or objective section and three to five statements in each work experience paragraph. Use action and power words to present relevant information quickly and showcase achievements.
Pro-Tip: Don’t skip the numbers. If you have known metrics on your job performance, don’t hold back. Employers love to know exactly how valuable you are.
How to Use Active Language
We mentioned above it’s important to use action and power words, but what exactly does that mean? It’s a way to write short, strong sentences using proactive words that convey experience and capability. In your work experience section, think clean statements like:
“Successfully led a specialized task-force in reducing wasted material by 20 percent.” Rather than, “While working at ABC Company, I helped a team of co-workers streamline efficiency.” Or “Designed and implemented a new business website using Wix software.” Rather than “Using Wix software, I designed and implemented a new business website.” Or “Maintained, tracked, and reported on company financial accounts using Quickbooks” instead of “Kept financial accounts up-to-date with Quickbooks.”
For Professional Resumes, Work with the Professionals
Last by not least, proofread your work carefully and make the most of your trusted staffing agency’s years of experience. Making a professional resume may seem like a challenge, but with a little help from our dedicated Staffing Managers, landing that interview—and your next job opportunity—can be easier than you think! Contact us today and together we’ll craft your standout resume in no time!