By: Kandi Mensing, SPHR, MBA
In my career as a professional recruiter, I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates, and hired hundreds! It seems like most applicants don’t put much time into their resume. The typos, the inconsistent formatting, the grammatical and punctuation errors all reflect negatively. In fact, when I’m looking at applicant resumes, I circle these items with a red pen. The point of your resume is to get the interview, not necessarily to get the job. It is the interview that determines whether you get the job. Today, we share with you 5 resume tips to get the interview.
In my career as a professional recruiter, I’ve interviewed thousands of candidates, and hired hundreds! It seems like most applicants don’t put much time into their resume. The typos, the inconsistent formatting, the grammatical and punctuation errors all reflect negatively. In fact, when I’m looking at applicant resumes, I circle these items with a red pen. The point of your resume is to get the interview, not necessarily to get the job. It is the interview that determines whether you get the job. Today, we share with you 5 resume tips to get the interview.
Consistency. Lack of consistency is the number one reason resumes get kicked out of consideration. Some people don’t get chosen for an interview simply due to lack of consistency on their resume, especially if the job requires strong grammatical skills, attention to detail, or handling company correspondence internally or externally. Ensure your information is all formatted in the same way. If you have your job title first, then your company, format it the same for every job. Same with dates. Too often I see some jobs only have years, and some have months. Be consistent
Objective. An ‘Objective’ is often listed as one of the first things on a resume. Why? What is the point of the objective? Did you google “resume objective” and then choose the best sounding one? Yeah, so did everyone else. We see the same objectives all the time! Stop using objectives. If you insist on an ‘intro’ use a summary or a skills section instead. Objectives are not serving you.
Your name. Make sure your name is large, and obvious. When a recruiter is looking at your resume, your name should make impression in their mind. All too often I see resumes that have the candidate’s name seemingly hidden in the text. This is YOUR resume; own it!
Education. If you have a degree from a higher education institute, make sure it is listed first on your resume. The fact of the matter is that only 30.4% of the US population over the age of 25 holds a bachelor’s degree or higher (source: New York Times). The second component is to use the word “Acquired” next to your degree. If you just put dates, for example 1996-2000, that doesn't necessarily tell the recruiter that you obtained your degree, but rather that you attended that school for those years. Don’t short sell yourself. Make sure they know you have that degree. And, you don’t necessarily need to put the year you acquired the degree as much as you just need to make sure they know you have the degree. You will fill in the year on their application. Remember, the resume is intended to get you the interview.
References. Stop using the phrase “references available upon request” on your resume. We all assume you’re going to give us references if we ask. Substitute that phrase for a quick “thank you” to the recruiter. You could say something like “Thank you for reviewing my resume. I look forward to interviewing with you” or anything that is friendly, thanks them, and speaks of you personally and the way you would talk with them. Let your personality come through. Another thing, don’t take up valuable space on your resume listing the references. Wait until we ask for them.
Formatting Example: Be Consistent
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