Sometimes even though your resume is good, you may not hear back from the hiring company. There are many factors that affect one’s decision that may be out of your control. However, the one thing that you can control is your resume. In this article, we have mentioned various resume hacks that will improve your resume for the better.
Embody your Achievements in the Work Expertise Section
The work expertise section of your resume is the most vital part. Employers read resumes pretty much for the sole purpose of reviewing your work history.
That’s why you need to pack this part full of standout achievements. Here’s how:
- In each entry in your work expertise section, add up to 6 bullet points. Focus solely on what’s relevant for the position.
- Begin each bullet with an associated action verb. Instead of writing you were “responsible for the design of a new payment system,” say “planned a replacement payment system.” This way, you’ll come across as an achiever, not just a doer.
- To make each sentence count, target on the business outcome of your actions.
- Quantify your achievements whenever possible. Numbers pop!
- At the bottom of each work experience entry, add a section entitled “Key Accomplishments.” Describe the proudest, most impressive professional win.
To make certain that your best accomplishments grab recruiters’ attention, use the PAR (Problem-Action-Result) formula. Let’s say there’s a job for a Software Engineer and one of the key requirements is proficiency in testing automation.
- Problem? Testing took too long.
- Action? New test automation tool.
- Result? Testing time cut by 55%.
Quantify Your Results by Frequency, Scale, or Range
Frequency
- How many times a week/month were you able to do certain tasks?
- How much work were you able to complete within a given period of time?
- How long and how sophisticated were the projects you’ve completed?
Scale
- How many people were there on your team?
- How big were the budgets you’ve handled?
- How many countries/regions were the corporate actives in?
Range
- If you can’t figure out the exact numbers, it’s okay to estimate, as long as the range you enter is well-informed
Make Your Best Accomplishments Prominent in the Resume Profile
A resume profile also called a resume heading statement, is that short paragraph at the very top of your resume, just below your contact information. It’s the very first thing your future employers will put their eyes on. It has to work as a trailer for the rest of your resume. Grab their attention, and they will read on. Fail to make a good first impression you’re not getting the job.
Include your awards won while working in a given position in your job description.
An award always warrants a mention in a given work history entry. It’s best to put it in a “Key achievements” or “Most relevant accomplishments” subsection.
Put your awards in a separate “Awards” resume section
- List all your relevant industry awards.
- Use the reverse-chronological order: the most recent awards go first, followed by previous ones.
- Include only the name of the award and the year you got it.
- List international, national, and internal company awards.
Don’t go too deep into your past.
It was most likely neat to win the foremost Outstanding 3rd Grader Award as an eight-year-old kid, but it doesn’t really need to be enclosed in your awards section on your resume.
Don’t use an excessive amount of technical industry jargon in your awards section.
Your Awards section descriptions ought to be useful, however not loaded with terminology that the hiring manager might not perceive. If you have got a bunch of awards from a knowledgeable organization you belong to, then you will need to keep the professional slang to a minimum. Describe each award within the Awards section in your resume in the same way you’d describe them to someone who had no idea what you were talking about. Just remember to keep your descriptions short.
Don’t worry if you don’t have several impressive awards.
Awards are of course a great way to stand out, but this isn’t something you should stress over. If you really want an impressive awards section but don’t have any under your belt, then go out and earn them!
Don’t lie.
Never misinform the employer concerning the awards or anything else! It almost never ends well, and if you get caught, which is entirely possible, you could not only ruin your opportunities with the corporate but among your entire industry.
