9 Questions to Ask Before Sending Your Resume

From the Personal Branding Blog

Finding a job is tough. It takes time and effort. You need to pay attention to tiny details, especially in your resume, and make sure everything is flawless. StandOut CV has recently put together a great infographic for candidates searching for a job. As a candidate if you want to look professional and get noticed among others, you must pay attention to the below 9 points in your resume.

• Be Professional: If you want to show that you are professional, your resume should reflect this. There shouldn’t be any grammar mistakes or a funny email address. Also, you should use a simple and readable font.
• Create Impact: Use the keywords that are on the job description and highlight your key skills and successes. Make sure you have a persuasive profile and a recruiter can quickly match your profile with the job.
• Easy to Read: Your resume should be easy to read. Use bullet points, bold headings and clearly divided sections. Recruiters generally only scan resumes and don’t read them. They spend less than a minute in one resume.
• Right Length: Your resume should be in the right length. It shouldn’t be too long or too short. In this infographic, it mentions that it should be under 2 pages long. However, for the US, your resume should be 1 page long unless you have a Ph.D or at least 7-8 years of experience.
• Requirements of the Job: If your skills, knowledge and experience don’t reflect the requirements in the job description, then, you need to revise your resume. Don’t send the same resume to all of the jobs, tailor it according to the job description and responsibilities.
• Structure: Having a structure is important in your resume. You should have a summary section which mentions your key experiences and job roles. Also, don’t forget to add your key achievements to your resume.
• Show Your Value: Employers want to see the return on investment. Therefore, your resume should reflect your value to the potential employer such as “I did this and the process improved” or “I did this and the costs decreased”.
• Include Numbers: Include numbers in your resume such as I worked with a team of 10 people or I managed a budget of $500.000. In this way, recruiters can have a benchmark point.
• Be Easy to Contact: Be reachable and don’t forget to include your cell phone number, email address and mailing address at the top of your resume.