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What Your Resume Says vs. What a Hiring Manager Sees

It takes a long time to sculpt the perfect resume. After all that work, you want to make sure it’s being read properly. Follow these tips to win over the next hiring manager.

Use the Right Length and Design

Humans are naturally visually oriented, so having your resume look the right way is incredibly important. Even with comprehensive knowledge and skills, your chances of landing an interview are slim if your resume looks “messy.” Ashley Watkins, Career Coach and Nationally Certified Resume Writer, has plenty of direct experience reading resumes and says, “Anything longer than two pages and containing wall-to-wall text, jumbled design techniques, or functional formatting didn’t make it far.”

This means you’ll generally want to keep your resume at a max of two pages, include plenty of white space and avoid complicated design techniques. That way it’s easily scannable, and a recruiter can quickly find the information they’re looking for at a glance.

Include a Career Summary at the Top

Your entire resume is important, but the top third is most important of all, according to Watkins. So you’ll want to make sure that you’re using this area to fully “sell yourself” as a candidate. To accomplish this, you’ll want to remove the traditional objective statements, which are now considered old fashioned and include a career summary instead.

This “should clearly communicate who you are, what you do, and how you add value to the team or organization.” It should also contain relevant keywords that relate to the job description, and be sharp and concise.

Double Check Your Contact Information

It may seem obvious, but it’s essential that your contact information is 100 percent accurate, so a recruiter can easily get in touch with you. “I paid close attention to the candidate’s contact information. I needed to know who I could be speaking with, their location, and how quickly I could reach them (via phone or email, etc.),” Watkins writes. So you should be meticulous when proofreading this area.

Besides that, it’s recommended that you have an email address that shows you’re up-to-date on current trends. For example, if you have a Hotmail address, you’ll want to switch it to Gmail instead.

There’s a lot that goes into creating a well-written resume, and you need to craft it in a way that’s appealing to recruiters. Following the tips mentioned here should help you fine-tune your resume so that it gets more attention and increases your chances of getting an interview.

Looking for a rewarding job in your area? Get in touch with Axiom Staffing Group today.

 

 

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