Top 5 Resume Tips for 2020

Are you concerned about the lack of interviews your resume is producing? Have you been applying to job after job without any results? Well, it’s 2020, and it takes more and more to stand out and get noticed. With the economy turning 180 degrees, and the risk of a likely recession, there will be more candidates fighting for limited open jobs. Most companies and jobs are in the process of transitioning to a culture of remote work and figuring out how to stay afloat during these unprecedented times. Though open positions may be scarce and hiring freezes are inevitable, things will change, and you will want to be ready. Getting your resume noticed among the hundreds of other candidates is the key to landing an interview. These are the 5 tips you must follow if you want your resume surfacing to the top of the stack. One of these tips will even help you make the stack in the first place.

1.) The Introduction of your resume is the first thing that is seen and read. Studies show that recruiters, HR and hiring managers spend less than 10-15 seconds on your resume initially; a strong opening should hook the reader and encourage them to read more. This section should focus on your overall value proposition and establish your personal brand rather than repeating the same accomplishments that are outlined in the experience section of your resume. What makes you unique? What kind of impact would you bring to a new position and why should you be the number one choice of a candidate?

2.) Demonstrate your worth with numbers and metrics. In your work history/professional experience, highlight key projects, initiatives, and tasks with figures. Rather than saying you managed a budget, state how large of a budget you managed. Instead of saying you increased sales, indicate by how much. Did you supervise a team of employees, how many employees did you oversee? Substantiating your accomplishments and claims increases your credibility and believability and it also gives perspective to your level of skill and responsibility. Research shows that the human eye is drawn to numerals when scanning a document. The reader will be more likely to read a sentence that has a number in it, therefore piquing interest and increasing the likelihood they will read more.

3.) Many companies utilize some form of an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to help streamline the screening process. To ensure your resume is seen by a human, you must guarantee your resume is ATS compatible. Customizing your resume to pass this computerized filter is something you should be doing for every job you apply to. Utilize a word cloud, such as www.wordle.net to identify the most commonly used keywords and align your resume accordingly. Additionally, make sure to use similar language and that the requirements outlined in the job posting are easy to find on your resume. To learn more about these types of systems, check out our blog post on ATS.

https://www.careerconnectionsllc.com/post/what-is-this-applicant-tracking-system-you-speak-of

4.) When applying for a job you are up against hundreds, if not thousands, of other applicants. Other than using ATS, hiring managers and HR staff find ways to decrease the applicant pool to make it more manageable and less time consuming. Eliminating a candidate for bad formatting is one of these ways. Make sure your resume’s formatting is clean, with lots of white space, easy to scan, and is simple. Resumes get dismissed all the time for being too complicated, too busy and too dense. You may be the best overall qualified candidate for the job, but your poorly formatted resume reflects your work and you could end up in the “No” pile. Check out our 7 formatting tips in a recent blog post.

https://www.careerconnectionsllc.com/post/top-7-resume-formatting-tips

5.) Focus on your accomplishments and achievements. Your resume should reflect what you did well in your positions, not just what you did each day. What were the results or outcomes of the work you have completed? What kind of value or impact did you have? Always be sure to read a job posting thoroughly and make note of what the company is looking for. Are you applying for a position that is focused mainly on the management and supervision of staff? Then you better make sure your resume highlights your leadership. For example, how many staff have you supervised? What is your management/leadership style? What kind of success did you have as a manager? Don’t be afraid of showcasing your personality and emotional intelligence while speaking directly to the company you’re applying to as this will increase your odds at the coveted interview. Like the phrase ‘dress for the job you want, not the one you have’, this is true of your resume. Create a resume specific to the job you want not the ones you’ve had. You will need to tie your experiences to the requirements of the job posting. Struggling with pulling out key accomplishments and achievements? Enlist the help of a resume writer to help with wordsmithing and ensuring it makes sense and flows well.

Whether you’re facing unemployment in the upcoming weeks or have been actively looking without any success, following the above tips will greatly increase your chances of getting noticed when applying for a job.