The perfect resume: Simple and easy steps to secure your dream job

Keeping your resume up to date is like flossing your teeth, we always mean to do it but somehow it always gets pushed aside. Whilst this may not seem like a big deal, if your dream job became available tomorrow, you wouldn’t want to miss out because your resume needed editing! After all, the early bird gets the worm!

Whether you’re unemployed, employed or seeking a new challenge, the job application process can be a long and tiring one. Having your resume ready to go and up to date means there is one less thing that you need to worry about.

 

 

So, when should I update my resume?

Updating your resume can be confusing, with the question often arising, ‘What should I add to it’ and ‘How do I update my resume?’

Your resume should always be tailored to the role you are applying for. This may seem daunting to tweak your resume for every role, but doing so will dramatically improve your chances of landing interviews and shorten your job search.

To avoid adding unnecessary information or leaving out important achievements, this list aims to target relevant yet crucial material that a potential employer would want to know.

Update your resume when:

• You change to a different role or company
• Receive a promotion
• Acquire a new professional skill
• Obtain a new qualification or certification
• New responsibilities are awarded to your role
• Finish an important project
• Your personal or contact information changes
• You fail to receive a response from employers despite sending multiple applications
• Your resume hasn’t been edited or updated in over 6 months

 

 

What does a winning resume look like?

Sometimes you think you’ve done everything to entice a potential employer and you still manage to come off second best to a competing candidate. Take it from a recruiter who reads numerous resumes daily, there are small and simple ways to update your resume to help separate your application from other candidates.

Take your resume to the next level with these simple, yet effective, tools and make your next application a successful one.

 

1.    Tailor your resume to the job you’re applying for

So, why shouldn’t you send the same resume out for every job application? Even if you’re applying to similar roles, the job you are applying for may mention different skills or the language they use may be more professional or casual.

Start by looking at the position description, typically stated at the beginning of a job ad. From this section, you can get a rough idea of the how formal you need to be in the language you use in your cover letter and resume. This section will also highlight the main responsibility of the role. Make sure your resume is heavily focused on this responsibility.

Add Relevant Keywords to Your Resume

Look at the key skills and responsibilities that have been mentioned in the ad. Tweak your skills and experience to fit these role requirements and include language that has been included in the role advertisement. Remember the company has used specific wording for a reason. If a specific skill or some type of experience has been mentioned many times in the ad, it is likely to be a keyword. Incorporate keywords from the job description and any other words that may be related to that word or type of experience.

Adding keywords to your resume will help you get through the first stage of the screening process. Either a hiring manager, recruiter or ATS will scan your resume. Regardless of whether it is a human or a machine looking at the resume, both will look out for keywords that align with the job they are hiring for. If your resume does not contain key words that they are specifically looking out for, chances are, your resume will get tossed in the trash.

 

2.    Keep it simple, clear, and concise

Employers will not necessarily read your resume cover to cover. Long and detailed explanations of every aspect of your career so far won’t do you any favours on your application. Many hiring managers won’t even bother looking through your resume if it looks like a mission to read. Simple and concise resumes will make it easier for hiring managers to skim over.

A simple, clear, and concise resume assists recruiters in their search to locate key information and helps to position yourself as a favourable candidate.

To ensure your resume is as compact as possible, follow these tips:

• Ask yourself when looking at the experience you’ve listed, is it relevant to the job I’m applying for? (If you are applying for a role in marketing, your work at a cafe from when you were 15 is probably not super relevant)
• When discussing previous employment, focus on responsibilities and achievements that are relevant to the role you’re applying for – not everything you did in that job may be relevant to the next
• Utilise bullet points to make your resume shorter and easier to read. Long-winded sentences are unnecessary and counterproductive
• Read your resume out loud. By doing this, it helps you to catch errors in spelling and grammar as well as edit phrasing that may be stunting its flow

3.    Iron out grammatical errors and proofread

This one is simple and shows you have attention to detail.

Reading anything that is filled with spelling and grammatical errors gives us headaches – definitely not the way to impress the hiring manager.

This is an aspect of your resume that is completely within your control. Asking someone to read over your resume or utilising tools such as Grammarly can ensure that potential employers are not sitting there pulling their hair out because you’ve confused them by using incorrect punctuation and grammar.

Reading your resume out loud is also an effective way to uncover any errors that may be hiding in plain sight!

 

4.    Format your resume for easy reading

When constructing your resume, keep the important parts at the top. Whilst you could argue that it’s all important, experience, qualifications and achievements will take precedence over your references and skillset.

Format your resume in a way that is appealing to someone reading it. Employers are often looking for something specific when reading a resume and if this can be easily found, this encourages them to keep reading. Here are some basic guidelines:

• Section your resume into different parts and use headings
• Bold all headings and make the font size larger than regular text so that these sections stand out
• Use two font styles at most – one for your headings and one for your text. Otherwise, keep it plan and simple and only use one font
• Limit the number of colours used to two. Colours can help certain details pop or stand out
• Use a font size that is easy to read – no smaller than 11pt and no larger than 14pt
• Limit your resume to one page if possible. Two at most!

 

5.    Update your online profiles with your latest resume

Online profiles include anything about you that can be found by recruiters or hiring managers on the internet. These include:

• Social and professional profiles like LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and the like
• Job seeking platforms like SEEK, Indeed, CareerOne
• Your profile with recruitment agencies like Fuse – click here to create an account with us if you don’t already have one!

Tip: Do you have an embarrassing photo of your drunk self at a party back in 2016 on Facebook? Chances are, hiring managers or recruiters could accidentally find those by doing a quick Google search on your name.

Clean up your social media, or make your profile private if you don’t want hiring managers to see what you’re posting online.

LinkedIn

First and foremost, get your LinkedIn profile up to date, and if we may encourage you – keep it up to date!

If a hiring manager is interested in learning more about you after reading your resume, they may look to get a better understanding of who you are by searching on LinkedIn.

We live in an age where recruitment occurs predominantly online, and candidates are often head hunted through tools such as LinkedIn. This short synopsis of your employment history and accomplishments provides potential employers with a professional image of yourself.

You Online Job Seeking Profile on Platforms like SEEK and Indeed

Hiring managers and recruiters will most likely have licences that provide them access to the backend of platforms like SEEK and Indeed. If you’re using these platforms to look for a new job, they can see your profile which often includes a copy of your resume, your recent experience and insight about the types of jobs you are applying for. If you’re updating your resume, it’s a good idea to make these profiles align with your new resume.

Your Profile with Recruitment Agencies

Before posting job ads, recruiters will often search their own database to find candidates for the roles they’re hiring for. Why? Because sometimes posting a job ad can be expensive and time consuming.

Recruiters will favour candidates who have recently been searching for a job or who have recently updated their profiles because these candidates are more likely to be open to new roles. If you have a profile with a recruitment agency and you’re looking for a new role, get your latest resume in their database so they know you’re looking and can consider you for roles that land on their desks.

 

Writing a resume can be stressful and overwhelming at times. By implementing the above tips, we aim to make your journey to future roles an easier experience.

Now that you’ve crafted the perfect resume, upload it to the Fuse Recruitment database or start searching for jobs now!