If you haven’t written a resume in a long time, but are considering seeking a new position in 2015, it’s important that you are up to date with the latest trends in resume writing and styles. Recruiters are set to focus on quality of hire in 2015, so your resume needs to be top notch, reflecting both your best skill set and an expert understanding of your field.
In this first of a two-part series, I detail two of the five techniques that top candidates will be using to get potential employers’ attentions this year. The second part will detail the remaining three techniques.
Value Proposition
Make a statement with your resume right the at beginning. What makes you a valuable asset to this company? What’s your big selling point? A concise, evidence-backed sentence that illustrates to the employer why you would be worth having on its team is the perfect way to open your resume. For example, a marketing professional might start with:
With 10 years of digital marketing experience, I have the creative solutions to increase engagement and get clients noticed. In one month, I can boost social media followings by 25%.
A sales executive would opt for something along the lines of:
Proven track record of increasing annual sales by 40% and consistently beating sales goals in all of my previous positions.
It’s likely that your value proposition will have to be adjusted slightly for each different employer. Remember, not every company is looking for the same thing: they want to know why you will be valuable to them. Make sure you’re clued in on the company vision and culture so that you know exactly what to propose in your headline.
Professional Layout
What is the purpose of layout? To make it easy for the person reading it to find the relevant information from the resume. A dense wall of text won’t get you very far, but neither will a resume that is all style and no content, unless perhaps you are working in a creative industry. If you’re struggling to format your resume in Word, try using online resume builders such as KickResume and VisualCV.
Generic resume templates aren’t going to cut it in 2015. The average time a recruiter spends reading one resume is just six seconds, so you really need to make those seconds count. While sticking to black and white text is still a good rule of thumb, your headings need to be bold so they jump out when a recruiter or employer is scanning through. Make them stand out with a subtle shade of color, a stylized font, or even graphics. This resume, from Hongkiat, is a good example of both creative font and color, while this resume on the other hand might be considered too much style, too little substance. Be careful not to go overboard here, as outlandish designs and crazy colors can get your resume thrown into the bin without a second glance.
Modernizing your resume is vital for making an impression on a potential employer. It could be your ticket to getting to the next stage of the hiring process.
To learn three more resume-modernizing techniques, keep on the lookout for part two of this series!
About the Author: Ron Stewart has worked in the recruitment industry for 30 years, having owned companies in the IT, construction and medical sectors. He runs the Jobs4Group, and is CEO of Jobs4Medical.
photo credit: flazingo_photos via photopin cc
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