When you haven’t updated your resume in a while or your resume just isn't landing you any interviews, it can be hard to know where to start.

Photo by Austin Distel on Unsplash

Beyond the basics, these 4 tips will make your resume stand out above the rest.

  1. Use Active Language

  2. Create Focal Points

  3. Use Numbers

  4. Match Keywords

1. Use Active Language

Active language can make any experience description more impactful.

When you are adding job descriptions to previous experiences, use power words such as “achieved,” “earned,” and “accomplished". Here are a few examples to start job descriptions with active language:

  • Increased team production by 10%.

  • Led a team of 3 on a special project.

  • Surpassed sales quota by over 15%.

Click to learn more about how to write:

Resumes with little to no relevant experiences

Resumes for entry level jobs

Resumes for mid level manager jobs

Resumes for trade jobs

2. Create Focal Points

The hiring manager is typically flooded with resume applications. So you only have about 2 minutes of their attention span.

Here are some ways you can draw their attention to the important things:

  • Put the most relevant experiences at the top, don't worry about chronology.

  • Bold the important parts. Don't go overboard here.

  • Use numbers and awards to draw attention.

  • Remove irrelevant experiences.

See examples of resumes with the best focal points.

3. Use Numbers

Ever heard of the term "A Picture is Worth A Thousand Words"? Well, numbers are worth a thousand words on Resumes.

Here are some ways you can use numbers:

"Consistently outperformed sales targets by 10%"

"Supported over 4 functional areas with financial analysis"

"Increased customer satisfaction rating to 8.6/10"

"Raised over $70,000 in the ABC fundraising campaign"

Click to learn more about how to use numbers:

For entry level resumes

For mid level management resumes

For senior management resumes

For trade job resumes

4. Match Keywords

You will notice job descriptions will often have a lot of buzzwords or keywords on different skills or software requirements.

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Hiring managers will scan your resume to see if you match any of those keywords and sometimes in higher demand positions, they will do this through a bot.

  • Take and add keywords from the job description to your resume.

  • Create a skill section and put some keywords in there.

Click here to see some examples of how to borrow keywords and add it to your resume

Take Action

Go ahead and give these tips a try. Remember to just keep it simple and do your best to keep it to just 1 page. Remember the hiring manager goes through countless resumes and probably has the attention span of a 4 year old, so makes yours stand out!

ALSO READ:

Create a Master Resume

How To Prepare For a Job Interview

How To Match Your Experience to Job Descriptions

Adding Numbers to Your Resume To Get The Job

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