In 2024, Here Are 16 Ways to Improve Your Resume
Your CV showcases your skills and expertise. Tips to make your application stand out.
Your resume showcases your job experience, credentials, and skills to prospective employers. But at one page, you need to make sure you submit the most powerful resume possible.
Here are 16 resume suggestions for your next job application. From formatting to job experience to the often-underused talents area, this article will help you write a great resume.
Resume formatting
A resume’s structure is crucial yet sometimes disregarded. This section covers resume formatting ideas to keep it effective.
1. Design simply and scannably.
It’s tempting to customize your CV with flashy visuals and odd layout, but simpler designs are usually preferable.
Hiring managers only read resumes for a few seconds before moving on, so a simpler design makes it easy to access the most crucial information. According to a 2018 research, recruiters spend 7.4 seconds on a résumé, largely glancing at job names and section heads [1].
The experts recommend formatting resumes simply with strong job names and clearly indicated parts to make them more powerful. Clear typefaces and bullet point lists below job titles with white space are also advised [1].
2. Get ATS-ready.
Additionally, ensure sure automated applicant tracking systems (ATS) can read your resume. If your resume is graphically heavy, these automated tools will convert it to plain text, which might cause issues.
To prepare your CV for ATS, do this:
-Keep it basic with distinct parts.
-Send your résumé in Word or PDF format.
Work experience, talents, and professional summary resume keywords should match the job description. Use keywords only when appropriate. Keyword stuffing might get your CV rejected.
To beat the ATS, use the right resume keywords.
3. Create a professional overview or goal.
A professional summary quickly describes your job experience, credentials, and talents to hiring managers, whereas a resume objective focuses on your career aspirations. These sections may provide recruiters perusing your CV an easy-to-read summary of your career and employment readiness.
4. Use professional email.
Email invites prospective employers to contact you online. Thus, a professional, memorable email is essential.
Use Gmail or another popular email service to establish a professional email address using your name.
If your complete name gets taken as an email address, try a variant. You might place your last name before your first or use a period, such as “[email protected].”
5. Leave references out.
Previously, resumes included references, but not anymore. The line “references available upon request” is unnecessary for your resume.
In this stage, most hiring managers don’t have time to contact references, thus a references section is unnecessary. Instead, utilize the additional space to include relevant information like your professional experience.
A recruiting manager will likely request references before or after your interview.
Work experience list
Your resume’s job experience section should showcase relevant experience. Below are recommendations for writing a compelling work experience summary.
6. Reverse chronological sequence.
Your most recent job is most significant to many companies. On your CV, mention recent positions in reverse chronological order to promote them. This lets recruiters assess how your recent jobs prepared you for the job.
7. Customize bullet points for job applications.
The bullet elements in your job experience section describe your obligations for each position. Instead of listing every former duty, customize your work history to meet the job description’s abilities and expertise.
This will demonstrate your fit for the job by identifying important duties that overlap with the offered role.
8. Simplify technical language.
If you work in a specialist field, you likely have technical knowledge that the general public lacks. This will boost your ability to accomplish certain jobs, but it may disguise your skills to hiring managers without the same knowledge.
You should explain your technological skills in straightforward words so recruiters and hiring managers may grasp your experience. Focusing on plainly understood job results may keep things simple.
If you invented a digital project management system that needed database skills most don’t grasp, you may emphasize that hundreds of your former coworkers utilized it.
If a job description specifies a technical talent, include it in your resume and cover letter. Despite not always understanding it, hiring managers want this type of information.
9. Highlight accomplishments.
Work is about making things happen. Our workday behaviors contribute to future results, ideally satisfying employers.
Emphasize your tangible accomplishments to show recruiters how you helped your prior employers. A salesman may mention that they made daily calls to new customers and increased firm revenue by 150%.
10. Use actional terms.
Action words on a resume convey your obligations in powerful language. Use action-oriented verbs in your resume to assist readers relate to your prior tasks.
You may claim you “managed” a four-person team instead of “led” them. Active language helps recruiters see your work and you in the offered job.
