Resume Tip #1
A simple thing you can do to make your resume stand out
When a recruiter or hiring manager looks at your resume, the first thing they look at is the top part of the page (you know, where your name is written in a large font that draws the eye). This header creates that crucial first impression about you as a candidate. Take advantage of the space and make a quick impact by stating what your specialty is.
Recruiters spend on average 5–7 seconds looking at a resume. You don’t want them to spend 5–7 seconds reading an unoriginal objective statement they have seen three times already in the past hour. Many recruiters skip right over the wordy paragraph about how great the applicant is because it takes too much time to read. Instead of writing a summary or objective statement about how you are looking for a job (duh, that’s a given) or how you want this job (also a given), come up with a two or three word skillset that relates to the specific job the application is for (eg. front-end engineer, technical writer, AWS architect). Keep in mind, this skillset probably should match or relate to the job you are applying for.
Instead of writing an objective statement, break that space up in to two columns and list out 10–12 high level skills that demonstrate how you have been successful in your main skillset. It could be buzzwords that you saw in the job posting and you feel the recruiter would be looking for in a candidate (make sure they are truthful skills of yours). The goal is to be one of the resumes that gets more than the 5 second glance and keeps the recruiter interested in reading your work history.
If you haven’t had much luck with the typical summary statement, I challenge you to give this a try!
