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Elevate Your Resume and Tailor To A Job Description With These Expert Tips

Elevate your resume

Are you starting a new job search? Take the first step in your journey by ensuring your resume is compelling, engaging, and following today’s standards.

A Resume That Will Land You the Job

Whether you’re writing a resume for the first time or need to update your resume, these quick tips will help you feel empowered and inspired to refresh your resume with ease!

Use Keywords Throughout Your Resume

It’s important that your resume represents today’s ever-changing digital landscape, and integrating keywords featured across job descriptions for similar roles will do just that. So, how do you decide what keywords to use? When executing your job search, be sure to note responsibilities and qualifications that are repetitive for related opportunities across various companies and industries. Understanding the purpose of the standard role and skills needed to be successful in the position will allow you to integrate key responsibilities and skills throughout your resume. For example, a Social Media Coordinator is responsible for supporting social media communications across digital platforms, such as Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter.

Tailor Your Resume to the Job Description

Read the job description carefully! What are the important skills and responsibilities? A Project Manager job description, for instance, would list that the role ensures projects are completed on time, accurately, and within budgeted hours. Note these items and how you accomplish these tasks in relevant professional experiences. Necessary skills are to be proficient with project tracking software and possessing great communication and follow-up abilities. Integrate such qualities throughout your work experience and technical skills. Research the company you’re applying for and customize your resume to speak to their mission and purpose. For instance, if the organization values creativity, innovation, and setting trends, talk about how you bring these qualities to your every day. Stay current with emerging industry trends and updates by reading trade publications and news. With the latest information and stories in mind, you will be able to incorporate additional relevant responsibilities and abilities into your resume.

Resume Guidelines for Success

In addition to using keywords from job descriptions, it’s equally important to follow standard resume guidelines. Highlight your important professional experiences in a positive light and incorporate strong verbiage and sentence structure. Be consistent—begin each sentence with a verb and use past tense for prior roles and present tense for current opportunities. Showcase more than your work experience! Highlight education degrees and relevant extracurricular activities if you’re a recent college graduate, such as leadership roles. Also feature technical skills, including computer program proficiency or industry-specific abilities. Organize your resume layout in an easy to read format and use bullets to keep copy concise and easy to follow. Also, keep your resume under one page in length unless you’re an executive with extensive professional experience, may need to exceed two pages. Review your resume several times to ensure your content is error-free and accurately represents you.

It's OK to Be Creative (depending on your industry)

If you work in a creative field, such as marketing, advertising, or design, you have the exclusive opportunity to be creative with your resume! For instance, are you a Graphic Designer or an Artist? Stand out with a one-of-a-kind layout design or a hand-drawn or digitally rendered logo that separates your resume from the rest. Define your personal brand with visually compelling content aligned with your brand aesthetic. By incorporating keywords, guidelines, and creativity, you’re ready to take the next step in your career and continue your job search.

Contact your nearest 24 Seven location today to help land your next opportunity or browse our open positions here!