Resume Impressions: 5 Points To Improve Yours

Your Resume: 10 Items To Remove Immediately

Marie Raperto, The Hiring Hub

Your resume gives an impression of you. It's a quick, first-glance impression that a hiring manager makes while scanning your resume. To make it to the next step, your resume must tell the employer that you can do the job they want to fill.  Take a look at your resume for the following:

1. Does your resume clearly and concisely list your skills as mentioned in the job ad? Sending in one resume-for-all-jobs will no longer work. You must customize your resume for each opportunity stressing the matches you have to their description.

2. Is your opening statement (if you have one)in synch with the job description? If your statement reads that you are a seasoned communications professional in the consumer sector but the job description is for a public relations professional with 10 plus years in a B2B sector, you need to revise this.  You can make it more general or mention any relevant sector experience from the past. You want to highlight how you fit not how you don't.

3. Are you saying the same things over and over?  Some duplication can highlight strengths but it can also make the resume too crowded with unnecessary repeated information.

4. Do you list your skills?  If so, make sure they match what the employer wants.  If you have additional skills, you can mention those in your last bullet point under your current employment.

5. Not enough white space on your resume?  Resumes are scanned quickly and white space makes them easier to read.  In your work history, it's not necessary to list bullet points for your earliest jobs.  The employer/title/dates is sufficient and removing the bullet points will give you more room.

Listing jobs online means employers are receiving hundreds of resumes.  Make yours standout by giving the reader all the information they are seeking.