Recruiters receive resumes by the hundreds. How do you compose yours so that the “other side” understands that they are facing a unique, absolutely necessary specialist for the company?
Here’s how to write a “selling” resume and get an invitation to an interview.
An Effective Structure: What to Put on Your CV
Resumes have a clear structure to follow. It helps the recruiter do the initial screening faster, makes his job easier, and increases your chances of success, making everything as easy as betting via a link for bookmaker online.
Photo, Contact, and Personal Information
Be sure to include your first and last name, how to contact you, and where you live. Recruiters are increasingly looking at social media – making their job easier. Include links to your own pages – at least one in which you show yourself as a person and a professional.
Useful tips:
- A photo is a must for jobs that involve interacting with people. In other cases a good photo makes your resume more “lively” and personalized.
- Only portrait photos in business style! Preferably one that looks good even in black and white.
- The more channels for communication, the more chances that you will be contacted. A work email and a phone number are a minimum requirement.
Desired Position and Wage
Salary is not necessary, but many recruiters welcome it because the figure immediately helps screen out candidates who don’t fall within the wage range of the company.
Useful tips:
- Be sure to specify the desired position (ideally – as in the job description). Therefore, prepare several versions of the resume at once, “sharpened” for different job titles, areas of work and functionality.
- You can specify a salary 15-20% higher than you had at your previous job. But check the average market salaries: if your previous wage was high and the job market has dropped, inflated salary expectations will scare off the recruiter.
Work Experience
Looking at this block, the recruiter decides whether to put your resume aside or invite you for an interview. This block is the easiest to emphasize that you are the perfect person to work for this particular company.
Useful tips:
- Experience should be described in reverse order, with the last job first. Important nuance: if the experience and title of the last job are different from those required in the vacancy, put first the job that reflects the skills and experience relevant to that particular position.
- Formulate positions as it’s accepted in the marketplace, not as it’s written on your employment record.
- Experience should be seamless; if there have been breaks in your career, they should be explained – in this block or in the “About Me” block.
- Experience should be expressed not so much in the list of responsibilities, but in achievements, successful results, ideally in numbers.
Key Skills
This block is perfect for you to promote yourself, to present yourself in the best possible way. But boilerplate phrases that don’t say anything have no place here.
Useful tips:
- List the specific skills that are needed for a specialist in your field and that you have confidence in. If skills are listed in the job description, be sure to include them on your CV.
- You may have many credentials, but make sure your resume lists the skills which will help you get the job.
Something Else
Additional skills (driver’s license, second or third foreign language skills, etc.) should be listed on your resume only if they are required for the position.
Recommendations are best provided upon request – do not put your references’ contacts in the public domain.
The “About Me” block is for those who need to say something “from above,” for example, to explain long breaks in work. In this block, you can tell about a special achievement, which is not relevant, but perfectly describes you (marathon runner, honorary blood donor, volunteer). It’s better to write nothing than something trivial.
