Making your resume stand out from the crowd
Your resume is a very important document that can make or break the impression you give. Whenever a job vacancy
advert appears in the newspapers or on the internet, many employers receive a large number of application letters
accompanied by resumes. However, many job seekers do not realize that, many potential employers do not pay as much
attention to the application letters as they do to the resumes. Although a good application letter goes a long way
in raising your chances of being called for an interview; a good resume will double those chances.
To make your resume stand out from the crowd, there are several things that you must do to achieve this. First and
foremost, make your resume keyword rich. Many employers’ resume databases search for specific keywords in the
resumes. To choose the correct keyword, you need to recognize the right terminology for the industry you are
applying for. For instance, if it is an electrical related job you are applying for, populate your resume with words
related to the electrical field.
It is important that, you do not use the same resume to apply for all jobs. Moreover, you should not overuse the
keyword because it can make the resume clumsy. The second thing that you need to do to make your resume stand out
from the crowd, is branding it. As crucial as giving your contact information can be, you also need to give out
details of how unique you are in your resume. Many people tend to leave details like, winning a trophy in a science
fair in high school, or participation in a voluntary job in the community. These are very important details that help
in branding your resume. However, you should just give a few lines of such details to avoid overdoing it.
Another vital thing to do for your resume to stand tall in the crowd is to make it simple and easy for the employers.
Your resume should not include conversational or grammatical mistakes when uploading or sending it. The
format should be pleasing and easy to follow.
Avoid mixing events in your resume. For instance if a sub heading is about professional experience; you should not
include education background information in the same sub heading.
You should also avoid fancy fonts; instead use a legible one different from the usual Arial or Times New
Roman that everybody uses.
You should proofread your resume thoroughly and if possible, give it to another person to read it through to
check for grammatical mistakes.
The words in the resume should be chosen wisely, avoiding redundant language, abbreviations, and puns. Adding a link
to your resume also makes it distinct in the crowd.
If you have a website, a blog or you are featured on somebody’s website, make sure you include those links to your resume. This might just make your resume to stand out from the rest. However, you should make sure that the websites or blogs you link to in your resume, contain important information which cannot ruin your image or personality.
In conclusion give facts and use positive language in all instances, to make the employer have a positive attitude towards you.