Resumes are a lot different than they were years ago. If you don't get with the times, you'll find your application resume collecting more dust. Thanks to new conventions and the rise of applicant tracking software (ATS), employers are more strict than ever about which resumes make it past the sniff test.
Nervous? Not to worry, there are plenty of easy ways to get your resume up to date. Here are 10 tips to get you on track:
- Include a professional or executive summary at the top of your resume, followed by a bulleted list of qualifications and achievements.
- Don't use abbreviations. An ATS is unlikely to have them programmed into its list of job key words.
- Speaking of key words, it's not enough to just litter them throughout your resume. Frame them with material that demonstrates your expertise in the subject.
- Don't include any graphics, logos, or other pictures.
- Avoid the use of exclamation points or all-caps letters. Use only standard capitalization.
- Mention if you are being referred to the organization by a current employee.
- Put your contact information, including phone number and e-mail, at the top of the page. It's easier to miss at the bottom.
- Order your previous work experience by most recent. Employers are more interested in the work you have done recently.
- Your dates should be in the month/year format. Specific days are not necessary.
- The length of your resume should be based on the amount of experience you have. For example, a recent college graduate's resume shouldn't be more than a page or two.
