How do I Write a Stand Out Resume

Your resume is the first impression you give to potential employers. It is important that it is as polished and comprehensive as possible. Crafting the best resume you can entails a process of evaluating what qualities about yourself and your education you want to highlight and then determining how to format them in a way that will grab the attention of the people in charge of hiring you. The perfect resume is not written in one hour or even one day. It should be a process of multiple drafts and revisions. 

The following sections will break down the individual components you should include in your resume. While these recommendations are a great jumping off point, make sure to make your resume reflects who you are. 

Header/Contact Information

The very first thing you should put on your resume is your pertinent contact information. One study found that “one in four applicants either forget to include all of the necessary details or fail to format them in a way that can be detected by the software employers use to organize and manage their inbound applications.” You don’t want to make this mistake and potentially lose out on potential interviews because your application got lost in the shuffle. 

• Start with your full name. If you have a common name, it might be a good idea to use your middle initial to help your resume stand out from the rest. 
  • It is perfectly acceptable to use your preferred name instead of your given name.
  • You may also include any suffixes or credentials you may have earned (ie. RN, MBA, ESQ)

• Email address: make sure that your email address is professional. If it has been a while and you are still using an old email address such as Hotmail or AOL, this might be a good time to think about updating your address. There are plenty of free domains such as Gmail. 

• The last item that you must include in your resume is your phone number. A word of warning - do not list your current work number. You never know who is going to pick up the phone nor can you guarantee that you will be there to answer the phone if a future employer does call. On that note, make sure that your voicemail is set up, your mailbox has been cleared, and your voicemail message clearly states your name.

• At one time it was appropriate to include your mailing address in the header of your resume, however this has fallen out of practice. 

• One item for you to consider including in your resume header is a link to any relevant social media accounts. Be very selective about the accounts that you include. You don’t want your social media to sabotage the professional look you are going for. Including the link to your LinkedIn profile might help hiring managers make a final decision as to whether they are going to call you in for an interview or not. 

Header Examples:

Professional Summary 

The first 15-20 words are the most critical words of the whole document. This is your chance  to hold the hiring manager's attention, so you want to make sure that you use it wisely. This is where you should give a brief explanation of your expertise (you can expound upon it later -  remember, you need to keep the summary short). Think of this as your elevator pitch that says who you are, and why you are qualified for the job. This is also one of the sections that will change depending on the job you are applying for. You can and should use the opportunity to include descriptor words from the job description in your professional summary. 

Here is an example:

Healthcare executive with over 25 years of experience leading providers of superior patient care.

Accomplishments 

Instead of jumping directly into your work or education history, capitalize on the remaining attention span of the hiring manager reviewing your resume and list the accomplishments that make you stand out. Think about what it is that you have done that would make a reader think “I want to hire this person, not because of who they are, but because of what they have done.” 

• If you are making a mid-career job change, this is a good way to bridge the gap between the job you are leaving and the job you are applying for. It puts the focus on what you have done in your career, versus just listing the specific job that you are leaving which may or may not hold any importance to the hiring manager. 

Experience 

A note regarding experience - be selective in the information you include. It may be tempting to include every job that you have ever held, but that's not necessarily the best practice. Your resume should be a fine-tuned representation of who you are and what you bring as a future employee. 

As you describe each job, be sure to keep the description brief and to the point. Share your accomplishments, not your achievements; give tangible, concrete examples. 

Education

Your stage in your career journey should dictate how far back you should go in describing your education history. If it has been over 20 years since you graduated high school and you have completed postsecondary education, you can leave it off. 

Formatting tips 

Almost every resume is submitted, processed, and sorted electronically. You want to be sure to stick to the most common fonts and avoid fancy layouts that may confuse the tracking system. Aim for simple, clean, and elegant.

• Avoid cramped text and repeating paragraphs that look too similar in length.
• Think about the amount of white space you are leaving. The goal is to include enough white space that the hiring manager wants to continue reading. 

Don’t sweat gaps

Most hiring managers in today’s workplace don’t see gaps in your work history as a red flag. If you have a gap that is work related, you can address it in your cover letter, as long as you have a brief positive explanation. 

Sources

https://www.topresume.com/career-advice/resume-format-contact-info

https://hbr.org/2014/12/how-to-write-a-resume-that-stands-out