What Are the 7 Simple Steps to Writing a Perfect Resume?
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There’s no single way to a perfect resume. But there are seven rules you should incorporate into your every resume writing.
Here are seven key steps for you to follow to write a resume:
- Decide on the resume format.
Study which format suits your life circumstances best and make an informed decision. The most popular one among the recruiters and applicant tracking software is reverse chronological. If you decide to go with a template made in a resume builder, you can be pretty sure it’s properly formatted. But if you start from scratch, focus on the readability by introducing simple fonts, bullet points, and enough spacing.
- Highlight your contact information in the heading.
Create space for your contact details, such as full name, email address, phone number, and optionally city and state. Never give out information about your age, date of birth, religious beliefs, or marital status.
- Write a resume summary or career objective.
Depending on your experience level, write either a professional summary or an objective. This is for you to summarize your greatest wins in the related field and to tell your employer why you’re the best candidate for the position. Use your resume profile to drop a few more keywords from the job description into your resume.
- Describe your professional achievements.
Summarize your work experience by responding directly to the job ad’s requirements. Mark and choose the qualities and qualifications you have in your portfolio. Enter your previous positions, and under each, create a bulleted list with relevant accomplishments demonstrating desired skill set. Single out your key achievements for higher impact.
- Include the highest level of education on your resume.
Provide a full overview of your qualifications with the highest degree you completed. List the name of the school, degree name, and dates of attendance. If it’s relevant to the position, mention your extracurricular activities and academic accomplishments.
- List relevant skill set.
Choose skills based on the job requirements mentioned in the job posting. A mix of both soft and hard skills works best against the applicant tracking software. Use singular keywords as well as full phrases and take a look at “nice-to-haves.”
- Consider additional sections.
Make a final punch by adding extra information to your resume. It can be language skills, volunteering experience, internships, or something so simple as hobbies and interests. The key is to remain relevant.
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