McLean Mills — April 26, 2019 — April 26, 2019
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In the eyes of recruiters, job applicants are defined by what they say they are on a sheet a paper – and yes, you’re right, I’m talking about your resume. A masterfully-written resume can be the difference between landing an interview versus having your application thrown out in a matter of mere seconds. While the majority of job seekers know the basics of how to include their work history and job skills on their resume, few have in their arsenal all the tricks and know-how necessary to take their resume to that next level. With that being said, here are 5 resume tips that will help you land that dream job you’ve always wanted.
1. Don’t include your address if you don’t currently live near the job location
Applying for a job in New York City when you live in California? If so, then do yourself a favor and leave your address out of your resume. Why, you might ask? Because some employers are going to prefer hiring people from around the area for a number of reasons. They might be worried about relocation fees or practicality issues. Some might simply want to hire someone from around the area because they feel more comfortable with it. On the other hand, if you’re applying to a job in the area close to where you live, including your address as you normally would can give you an edge over those who are applying from far away.
2. Consider a two-page resume
A 2018 resume study covered by Business Insider found that job recruiters might actually prefer two-page resumes over one-page ones. Crazy right? The study consisted of a hiring simulation in which 482 hiring professionals participated. According to the data, these hiring professionals ended up being 2.3 times as likely to go with resumes that were two-pages in length as opposed to those that were only one page long.
3. Use an online resume template
If you haven’t done your research, you might be thinking, “Golly geez, I have to write my resume entirely from scratch on a blank Word document!” However, the truth is, you’re one quick Google search away from finding some stellar resume templates that are completely free to download and use. So instead of doing it all from scratch and making life hard on yourself, decrease your chances of making any silly margin or spacing mistake and just go with a professionally-designed resume template.
Be careful not to choose an overly fancy resume template though! Resume templates that rely on super complex design techniques might be hard to parse by applicant tracking systems and aren’t worth the risk.
4. Get professional help from a resume writing service
One of the things that never really dawns on any job seeker is that you don’t actually have to be the one who writes your own resume. There are professional resume writing services out there with experienced career professionals that can do the work for you.
It is important though to choose the right service. Just because you opt to hire a professional doesn’t guarantee yourself a top-notch resume. In fact, a whole CNBC article was written detailing what you should know about resume writing services before choosing one.
5. Abuse the applicant tracking system algorithms
In today’s business world, almost all major corporations use applicant tracking systems in one way or another to screen your resume during the preliminary stages of the hiring process. However, because these applicant tracking systems primarily score your resume based on how many matching keywords they can identify, there’s a trick you can employ that will allow you to score extremely well.
Usually the keywords these tracking systems look for are the very keywords mentioned in the description of the job opening. So, if you’re willing to put in a little extra effort to make sure your resume uses the same terminology and phrases as those in the job description, you can bet that your resume will earn a top score.
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