The latest studies about job seekers are probably the best way to describe the importance of a good resume. Did you know that every job opening attracts around 250 people to apply? Among 250 candidates, less than 6 will get an interview invitation, while only one person will get the job.
The only way to grab the attention of potential employers is to learn how to make a kickass resume. Let’s imagine that only 20% of all applicants have exactly the same “characteristics” as you. They were good students, had long work experience, etc. Convincing the future employer to invite you to an interview is going to be impossible.
Marcus Buckingham said once:
“Emphasize your strengths on your résumé. It may sound obvious, but you would be surprised how many people simply list everything they’ve ever done.”
That is a piece of advice you should remember and apply when writing a resume. One of the best resume writers on our list of the best CV writing services also agrees with this statement.
Generally speaking, your first duty is to get out of the box a little. The easiest thing to do is to copy/paste the resume structure that everyone can find online. Instead of that, you should invest a bit more creativity when designing this document.
Fortunately, the tasks that are waiting for you are not too difficult. All you have to do is go through a couple of stages to reach your goal. Everything from kickass cover letters to resume punctuation is equally important. Because of that, let’s find out all the relevant stages together!
Before you even start writing details, you should try to figure out the best way to turn your idea and short biography into a professional document. After you determine the most important pieces of information you will put in your resume, the next thing is to determine the structure.
As mentioned, you should strive to get out of the box when there is enough space for something like that. However — don’t overdo it! Parts of your resume that you must not skip are:
The schedule of these parts does not necessarily have to be the same. They strictly depend on the type of job you are applying for, the requirements that an employer has, and your work experience. Let’s prolong the explanation for all these parts!
Who are you and why does an employer have to continue reading your resume? Before you start talking about details about your education, it is mandatory to write down a short overview of yourself and your previous career/education. Check out the example below!
Source: Resumegeinus.com
As you see, the overview (you can name it a summary of your resume) should not be longer than a single paragraph that contains 3 or 4 sentences. It is a place where you highlight your main characteristics (13+ years of experience), jobs you worked on (customer service, handling customer transactions, etc.), and some other details.
In the example below, the person talked about his preferences and goals. If that doesn’t work for you, then add one sentence about your achievements. More precisely, add everything that could potentially convince the employer to check the remaining part of the document.
After writing a summary of your career, you can continue your resume with your work experience. There you can add all the companies you worked for, how long you worked there, and which responsibilities you had. The example below can serve as an inspiration.
Source: resumegenius.com
As you see, the resume punctuation marks matter a lot here as well. Every job you have can be in the form of a subtitle, while responsibilities you had can be formatted as bullet lists. That will make your resume eye-pleasing.
Something worth mentioning here is one tip that a famous American professor of English William Strunk Jr. shared with the rest of the world. He said – “A sentence should contain no unnecessary words for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts. This requires not that the writer make all his sentences short or avoid all detail and treat his subject only in outline. Every word must say a story!”
Highlight only the main responsibilities and achievements that you had at particular workplaces. Keep in mind that hiring managers usually spend around 6 seconds on average to read a resume. If you don’t grab his attention for those 6 seconds, there is a big chance he will give up.
However, there is one thing that applicants often forget. They do not put shadowing on resumes! There is no reason not to mention that in your resume as well. It shows your first steps and the way you started your career. Despite that, it also provides more information about your first mentors that directly influenced your future progress.
Putting shadowing on a resume can be essential for young people as well. If you do not possess any work experience (officially), then your education and shadowing experience should be next to the summary of the resume. Check out the example below!
Source: resumehelp.com
So, do you know how to make a kickass resume now? No! Check out the next steps as they are crucial for your success!
People often do not feel comfortable putting their entrepreneurial experience into their resumes. They are afraid that someone will consider them incapable of reaching their goals.
However, that is far away from the truth! You can add a family business, personal startup, personal blog, or anything else. Of course, for each bullet you add, highlight the main tasks, responsibilities, and achievements you had.
Entrepreneurial experience only confirms that you possess certain skills. For example, it shows that you are a creative person that is ready to take responsibility.
It doesn’t matter if you failed as an entrepreneur; no one says that you have to write down how everything ended up. From the perspective of a potential employer, use the structure below!
Source: resumehelp
As you see, you do not even have to highlight the reasons why you failed. If you tried to start a business only once, the person who reads it will consider a lack of entrepreneurial experience as why you couldn’t succeed.
Still, if you truly want to learn how to write a kickass resume, we would like to share one small tip with you. Do not list businesses that you are currently running.
Other entrepreneurs will think that you only want to get the necessary experience. If you apply to a company that operates in the same industry as you, the owners or hiring managers may think you want to steal their ideas. In those two cases, adding your business experience would be unnecessary.
After explaining the things related to past work experience, the next question you probably have is “can I put future jobs on my resume?” You can, but that won’t always be necessary.
Do that only if you are already accepted for the incoming job that can confirm your expertise. In any other way, talking about future jobs is useless and it does not bring any value to your resume.
The previous steps will help you learn how to make a kickass resume. However, there are a few more tinny details that you need to pay attention to. One more thing you should add is the languages that you speak.
It doesn’t matter how well you speak a foreign language. You can be fluent, conversational, or basic level. No one expects you to be a polyglot. Keep in mind that people speak 1.5 languages on average.
Because of that, even if you know only one language, you are already above average. In case you went to language courses and schools or have some certificates to submit, adding a language to your resume would be perfect!
Do you finally know how to write a kickass resume? If you do not know how to describe your hobbies and interests, then the answer to that question is “no”. However, it is something you are about to find out!
Saying a few words about yourself is always good. For starters, check out the two examples below to see how everything should look.
Source: Indeed.com
As you see, you can use the same structure as for the work experience. Make a bullet list of personal interests and hobbies that you have. However, before you do that, there is one thing that you need to do — research the company’s core values.
Hiring managers do not only want to hire experts for their company. They want to find someone who is going to easily adapt to a new working environment. People are different, but if they have similar hobbies or interests, they will more likely function as a team.
Source: resumegenius
For example, if a company invests a lot in the environment, you can talk about your eco-friendly activities. On the other hand, if you know that the owner of a company likes sports, you can mention basketball as your hobby. All these tiny details will boost your chances of getting a job!
Do you put page numbers on a resume? Which font do you use? Does your resume have more than one page? All these details matter as well! For starters, your resume can have more than one page. One-page resumes are no longer a trend. You should also put the page numbers in the upper right corner of the resume.
Page numbers can be quite helpful for the person that reads your resume. In case your resume falls down or pages get mixed up accidentally, the hiring manager will easily “fix the problem”.
Fonts that you use in your resume will determine how eye-pleasing your document is. Some of the best fonts you can use are Arial, Calibri, Cambria, and others.
We said all the things you should do in order to learn how to make a kickass resume. However, it is about time to highlight a couple of don’ts as well. There are certain things neither entrepreneur would want to see.
As mentioned, too much information in one place is too wrong. It will make your resume less valuable and monotonous. Stick to the relevant pieces of information that will confirm your knowledge, experience, and expertise. That rule counts for all the parts, including hobbies and interests, achievements, previous job experience, etc.
Another thing you should never do is write negative comments about your former employee. When you talk about previous work experience, talk only about your responsibilities and achievements!
In the end, using passive language throughout your resume is wrong! You should focus on action words that will make your resume more engaging and grab the hiring manager’s attention. However, if you are not a content writer, the next tip will certainly help!
You now have an idea of how to write a kickass resume. However, if you are writing a resume for the first time, then the assistance of experts can be helpful. The experts will determine whether you adapt your resume to the requirements and expectations of your potential employer.
Despite that, they will check out the grammar and spelling mistakes and resume punctuation. In the end, they will suggest the best possible ways to simplify your resume and ensure it is easy to read.
There are many professional resume writers online that will improve the quality of the document for an affordable price. You should chase those websites that will connect you only with experienced editors and proofreaders for this sort of writing.
Apply all the pieces of advice that you see here. It is essential that you highlight the most relevant pieces of information about yourself that could make you different from others.
If you have tons of experience in a particular job position, highlight your achievements and responsibilities. On the other hand, if you have no experience, then talking more about education and adding shadowing to your resume will be helpful.
Your resume must be eye-pleasing! That means you should use the best font and structure the document appropriately. Despite that, spelling and grammar mistakes must not exist! If you are not an experienced resume writer, you can always hire an expert that will review the document.
by Alina Burakova 
February 5, 2024
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