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#CareerAdvice : #ResumeWriting – How to Future-Proof your Resume for 2019 and Beyond ! Whether Employed or Not, Updating your Resume is a Must each Year!

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We’re almost at the end of another year, which means that it’s an excellent opportunity to reflect on our achievements and set goals for the year ahead. If, like many people, you’re hoping to enhance your job prospects in 2019, then strengthening your resume should be at the top of your New Year’s resolutions list.

Perhaps you’re looking to increase your salary, or maybe find more fulfilling work. Whatever you’re hoping to achieve, your resume will be your number-one tool for getting ahead of the competition. Here’s the catch–making your resume stronger requires you to do more than just tweaking a piece of paper. You need to be prepared to take actions that allow you to have a strong resume.

Here are three strategies to future-proof your resume for 2019 and beyond.

TAKE ON EXTRA RESPONSIBILITIES

You’ve probably heard this Henry Ford quote before, “If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Motivational speakers often use it, but it’s also a fitting way to describe your career.

If you don’t take on responsibilities above and beyond your current job, then how can you expect to be considered for more senior roles? If you want a promotion into that next-step role in your career, then you need to show employers and recruiters that you are capable of performing them. Chances are, most hiring managers won’t take a chance on inexperienced staff if they can hire experienced candidates.

So, if you’re hoping to progress in 2019, reach out to your supervisor and ask if you can alleviate them from some of their responsibilities. You won’t be rewarded instantly for your actions, but familiarizing yourself with the workload of your superiors will have massive long-term benefits for your career. Eventually, your boss will welcome your contribution, and you’ll learn new skills and pick up invaluable experience that you won’t get from just covering the basics in your role.

Once you’ve gained a wealth of skills from stepping up and taking on more senior duties, be sure to highlight them in your resume and show recruiters that you’re ready for career progression. Don’t be afraid to step outside of your comfort zone when doing this. Challenge yourself and try to acquire some skills outside of the areas you already excel in.

 

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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STAY AHEAD OF THE TECH CURVE

Technology isn’t just for those who work in Silicon Valley. Nowadays, it plays a huge role in almost every industry and profession. It’s highly likely that you come into contact with technological tools in your work.

Most of us use multiple technology platforms, from operating systems to databases. Some of us are even involved in the building and selling of these platforms. Whatever your involvement is with tech in the workplace, you can’t afford to get left behind. The tech landscape is continually changing, and if you don’t have an understanding of current tools and systems in your field, you’ll become a much less attractive hire than those who do.

To keep your tech skills sharp and stay in-demand, you need to be proactive in seeking out the latest technology in your field, and ensure that your knowledge is up-to-date. LinkedIn and Twitter are great places to find industry conversations and learn about emerging platforms in your industry. If you learn about a new technology that is disrupting your industry, look for online courses on them, or speak to your supervisor about trying them out in your office.

When you do this, you can list a much greater breadth and depth of technical knowledge on your resume. You’ll become a much more attractive candidate to future employers.

DRIVE SOME TANGIBLE RESULTS

Hiring staff is a significant investment for employers, and, like any investment, they will eventually want to see a decent return. Naturally, hiring managers like to hire candidates who have delivered real results for previous employers.

If you want to showcase some impressive achievements on your resume in 2019, you need to start working toward them ASAP. Say you’re working on a big project, strive to make notable contributions that can be directly related to saving costs, improving performance, or any other metric that adds real value. If you see a process in your workplace that doesn’t function as smoothly as it should, take action and implement some changes to that process so that it enhances productivity.

By achieving these results, you’ll have concrete evidence that proves your value to recruiters and hiring managers. When you can present facts and figures, you can illustrate the scale of your impact, and give them an accurate reflection of the benefits you could potentially bring to their team.

Making professional progress requires you take the initiative to go above and beyond what you are hired to do. By actively boosting your skills, taking extra responsibilities, and staying on top of technological trends, you can make 2019 your year.

Andrew Fennell is an experienced recruiter and founder of resume advice center StandOut CV. He is also the author of “How To Write a CV” and regularly contributes careers advice to a number of leading publications.

 

FastCompany.com |  December 29, 2018

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#BestofFSCBlog : #ResumeWriting – 13 Irresistible #ResumeTemplates to Download Now! Everything You Need to Know About Writing the Perfect #Resume .

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If there’s one area worth investing in when it comes to the job search, it’s definitely your resume — after all, in just about seven seconds of glancing at it, recruiters and hiring managers already know whether or not they want to move forward with your application. Of course, writing a great resume is easier said than done, but at Glassdoor, we’re here to help you every step of the way.

That’s why we combined our job search expertise with Grammarly’s top-notch writing knowledge to create a comprehensive guide on how to write, format and design the perfect resume. With our new Ultimate Guide to Resumes, you’ll learn which type of resume is right for you, what to include in it, how to highlight your skills and more all in one place, so you can create a recruiter-approved resume in no time.

Download the full eBook here, and get a sneak preview with our tips below!

1. Choose the Right Type of Resume

If you thought there was just one type of resume, think again. There are multiple different kinds, and the one you should use will depend on your own unique career circumstances. A chronological resume lists your different positions top to bottom from most to least recent, and is best for those whose careers reflect a clear path to the role they’re applying for. A functional resume emphasizes relevance over recency, with different positions listed top to bottom from most to least relevant, a skills section and a professional summary explaining why you’re a great fit. This is a great option for those who are transitioning into a new field or re-entering the workforce after a resume gap. A combination resume borrows from both formats by combining the professional summary and skills section of a functional resume and the chronological work experience order of a chronological resume. This is a good way to emphasize skills and experience equally, and is a great choice for many different types of job seekers.

4 Types of Resumes That’ll Get Your Foot In the Door

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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2. Know What You Need to Include

Resumes tend to have six major components: a header and contact info, professional summary, skills section, work experience, education and additional experience. Here’s a brief rundown of what they are, and tips for how to make the most of them:

  • Header + Contact Info: The top of your resume (or whichever is the most prominent part) containing your name and contact info.

    • Pro Tip: Think twice before including your street address. It’s largely unnecessary nowadays, and can hurt your chances of scoring an interview if you live far from where the position is. 
  • Professional Summary: A brief, one- to three-sentence description that encapsulates who you are, what you do and why you’re a great fit for the job at hand.

    • Pro Tip: Avoid descriptors like “hard-working,” “self-motivated,” etc. — those terms are vague and generic. Focus instead on the skills and accomplishments that set you apart.
  • Skills: A list of the key skills you possess that will help you do the job you’re applying to.

    • Pro Tip: Can’t decide what skills to include? Look to the job descriptionto see which skills matter the most. 
  • Work Experience: A list of the different titles you’ve held, places you’ve worked and achievements you accomplished. 

    • Pro Tip: When writing out your bullet points, use the STAR format (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to not just describe what you did in a previous job, but what sort of impact it had.  
  • Education: Details on the level of education you’ve attained, where you went and what you studied.

    • Pro Tip: Only include your GPA if you’ve graduated in the last couple of years and earned a 3.0 or higher — the further along you are in your career, the more recruiters and hiring managers pay attention to experience over education.
  • Additional Experience: A catch-all section where you can add your volunteer experience, hobbies, awards, etc.

    • Pro Tip: Some companies are particularly passionate about volunteering and giving back to the community. If you’re applying to one of them, use this section to describe how you’ve made a difference — it’s a great way to show culture fit!

3. Don’t Forget Design & Formatting

At the end of the day, a well-written resume with relevant experience will win out over one that’s pretty, but light on content. However, if you combine great content with a neat, clean design and proper formatting, you’ve just hit upon a winning combination. Here are a few things to keep in mind if you want your resume to look its best:

  • Use an easy-to-read font of no less than 11 pt.
  • Add margins of at least .7 inches.
  • Make sure there’s sufficient white space between sections
  • Keep your resume to 1-2 pages max, unless you’re in a field like academia or medicine and must cite papers and publications.
  • Don’t go overboard with intricate design or decoration — touches of color are fine, but avoid any clashing or visually busy details.
13 Irresistible Resume Templates to Download Now

4. Check for These Last-Minute Items

Once you’re feeling good about your resume, don’t click submit just yet. Uploading your resume before giving it a thorough scan can result in errors and missed opportunities to make the best impression. Check off the following items to make sure your resume is ready to be seen by the world:

  • Verify your employment information to make sure that it matches what you have on LinkedIn. Any discrepancies, even if they’re accidental, might raise red flags for a recruiter
  • Use a platform like Grammarly to edit your resume. Grammarly can save you from misspellings, hundreds of types of grammatical and punctuation mistakes and words that are spelled right but used in the wrong context, all of which look unprofessional on a resume and can seriously hurt your chances of making it to the next round.
  • Save your resume with a simple file name to maintain professionalism and to simply keep better track of it in your files. You can’t go wrong with “Lastname-Resume-2018”
  • Double check capitalization on company names and titles — consistency in your resume is key.
  • Review your bullet points to make sure they’re focused on showing results, not simply listing your tasks.

Want more details on how to create a next-level resume? Check out the full Ultimate Guide to Resumes!

 

 

GlassDoor.com |   | Posted by 

Your #Career : #ResumeWriting -How to Write a #ResumeSummary That Grabs #Recruiters’ Attention…Here are a Few Tips to Keep in Mind for your Summary.

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To include a resume summary, or not to include a resume summary? The nagging question that has plagued many a job seeker.

Well, here’s some advice to clear the matter up: yes, you should include a summary. Unless you are really pressed for space, have a significant amount of description writing in the body of your resume, or you’re specifically directed not to include a summary, it’s an essential addition to a professional resume. “Most people should have a summary,” says Lynn Carroll — a career coach who writes about authenticity in the job search, gender equity in the workplace, and inclusion — who we reached out to to learn how to create an eye-catching resume summary.

Carroll distinguishes between a resume objective, which she says is what the jobseeker is looking to find in a company or position, and a resume summary, which tells a recruiter what the jobseeker can uniquely offer to a company or position. “The objective is now considered by most recruiters as an out-of-date function because it focuses on the jobseeker… The summary is considered more current and a better way to describe the relationship between the jobseeker and the company because it talks about what they can offer,” says Carroll.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind for your summary:

Keep it Short

There are plenty of opportunities to expound on your qualifications and experience in the job search process, like in your cover letter or the interview. The resume summary is a place to make the resume a bit more personalized, and to frame your resume in terms of the type of candidate you believe the company is looking for. For this reason, it’s important to keep the summary short. Carroll recommends writing a full paragraph at first, and then gradually whittling it down to two or three sentences full of powerful, important words. “By condensing — rather than on the very first pass have a short summary — sometimes you give a lot more thought to what the most important pieces really are,” she advises.

Here’s What the Perfect Resume Looks Like

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What Skill Sets do You have to be ‘Sharpened’ ?

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Tell a Story

A resume summary isn’t a place to re-hash your professional experience, or to list out your soft skills. It’s about giving the reader a brief, vivid taste of what kind of person you are in the workplace, what drives you and makes you tick, and what kind of environments you thrive in. Keep this in mind as you write your summary: tell, don’t list.  

Use Relevant Keywords

Keywords are important for several reasons. First of all, they can help you stand out in applicant tracking systems, a type of software that companies use to digitally sift through job applications. Second of all, you can show that you know how to speak the same language as the company. “If you were using the word ‘customer’ for example, and they were using the word ‘client’ in their job description, the idea is the same but they don’t see that you are using their same lingo,” Carroll says. “They might feel like you’re not in touch with where they’re at.”

64 Action Verbs That Will Take Your Resume From Blah to Brilliant

Use Vivid Language

Carroll says she always encourages her clients to use vivid, descriptive language, that brings their experience and skills to life. “If I describe a meeting I ‘organized’, that seems like I set the conference call up. If I describe a meeting that I ‘envisioned,’ or I describe a gathering that I ‘developed’, that sounds like I had more input into the content,” she says. Using verbs that have active connotations rather than passive connotations can help this, Carroll adds.

Match the Tone to the Occasion

There’s no one tone to strike in a resume summary. It all depends on the type of job you’re applying for and the kind of company you’re sending your resume off to. Carroll gives the example of someone applying to a job at a more traditional, hierarchical Fortune 500 company versus someone applying to a job at a Silicon Valley startup. At the Fortune 500 company, she says, the applicant might want to use phrases like “solid foundation” and “excellent skills” to imply stability and reliability. At a startup, however, one might want to use phrases like “creative,” “innovative,” or “dynamic.” It all depends on the job you’re applying for, and also – don’t forget! – what describes you as a candidate the most accurately.

GlassDoor.com |  | Posted by