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Industry insights for job seekers and employers.

Personal Marketing – How to Craft the Perfect Resume Around Your Current Skills

Missing out on a great job opportunity because of a botched first impression is not a risk you want to take. If you want to get a recruiter’s attention, you’ll need an eye-catching resume. The problem is that, even though everyone has written a resume at some point, very few people know how to do it well. If you haven’t updated your resume recently, now is the time to rethink everything you thought you knew. What does it take to craft an attention-grabbing resume?

The #1 resume trend for 2017? Speed

 

Studies show that hiring managers tend to overestimate the amount of time they spend studying each resume. Though most claim they spend several minutes reviewing each candidate’s CV, the real amount is shockingly low: just 6 seconds per resume, in fact. Of course, the candidates who are most desirable will get more attention than this, but this leaves us with one crushingly powerful insight: if you want your resume to stay out of the trash pile, you have just seconds to make your case. If your best qualities – the qualities that make you stand out above other candidates – are not clearly obvious at a glance, your application will be passed over. How can you make sure your resume makes it past the speed round?

Reorganize your resume content

Many classic resume templates open with an objective statement, a summary of what you hope to achieve at your new job. Most experts agree that this is a dangerous move. Hiring managers in 2017 are most worried about your skills, experience, and seriousness. In place of a long-winded opening statement, dedicate the bulk of your resume’s real estate to your job history and experience, making sure that your dates are correct and that there are no voids in your work history. Gaps and flaws in this area will make readers think that you are not professional and career driven.

Trim the fluff

Don’t fall into the trap of trying to tell your whole life story. Non-critical information, such as hobbies and personal interests, will burn up those vital six seconds without presenting a compelling reason to hire you instead of others. If the reader is impressed by your professional history, you will have a chance to wow them on a personal level during the interview.

Don’t be afraid of white space

They say that it’s better to stay silent and have people assume you are stupid than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. The same principle applies when you are preparing your resume. When some people are confronted with empty space on their resume, they feel compelled to fill it with irrelevant data as they would fill an awkward silence with meaningless chatter. Remember, only the best resumes will get more than a few seconds of attention. It’s better to have a relatively sparse but impressive resume than one that is cluttered and confusing.

If you’d like to learn more resume tips or to hear some more expert insight into your local job market, we’d love to help. With over two decades of experience as a job placement agency in Pennsylvania, we know exactly what local businesses are looking for and what you can do to get their attention. Contact us now to learn more about our services.

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