The economic recession has made job-hunting harder in recent years, but a good resume can still go a long way towards increasing your chances of landing the right gig. Whether you are looking for a new job or not, though, it’s a good idea to keep your resume up to speed, so that it represents your experience and skill levels accurately and in the best possible light. Here are five things that every resume should include.
1. A Clear and Focused Objective
If you’re resume objective seems vague or unsure, chances are that you’re potential employers will likely pass on you. A vague or passively-worded objective will be taken as a lack of initiative and/or direction, so you want to make sure that your resume includes and strong and clearly stated objective. A good objective statement is one that sounds dynamic and focused and that is specific. Instead of writing your objective to be “to get a job in marketing that pays well”, try something that’s more like, “to obtain a marketing position that makes effective use of my expertise in the field of human relations and project management”.
2. Specific Accomplishments
Potential employers will be more impressed by your resume if it explains (succinctly) how you accomplished something at your previous job than if you simply list the accomplishment on its own. List your accomplishments using bullet points. An example of a good accomplishment statement would be, “increased company profits 80% for three consecutive quarters by implementing a new data tracking system”. You can put these statements in bold to make them stand out, if you wish. A good way to structure these statements is by stating, in order, a problem, the action taken, and the result (a strategy popularly referred to as “PAR”). For example, “transformed messy and inefficient human resources office into a smooth and efficient operation by re-designing the office layout.” Listing your accomplishments using this method will look vastly more attractive on your resume than simply putting down, “managed marketing office for two years” or “redesigned office layout”.
3. Relevant Personal Attributes
The key term here being, “Relevant”. Employers do want to know what personal skills you bring to the table, but those skills must have some significance (i.e. a way that they can be applied) to the job position you are applying for. It’s good to pepper your personal attributes section with some good resume power words (i.e. words like, creative, hard working, innovative, strategic thinker, high energy and dedicated) but make sure they are used in the context of something that your potential employer would be interested in knowing about. If you have some doubts about what to include or not include, try to picture what you would look for if you were the employer, and keep all things that relate more to private or home life away out of your resume. Being a “good family man” or “an active church member” are good attributes, sure, but your professional resume is not the place to list them.
4. A List of Work Experience That Shows Development
The easiest and most common way to list your work experience is in chronological order, as this allows employers to see how you’ve progressed professionally. This is especially good if you’ve been working in the same field for several years and have been upwardly mobile. However, if you’re changing fields you might want to use a Functional format instead of the Chronological format so that you can highlight transferable skills. The goal here is clearly show growth, i.e. that you have been learning new, applicable skills and have the ability to continue moving upwards and learning more.
5. References Upon Request
At the end of your resume you should have a statement saying that references are available upon request. Also, if you have worked in a field that required you to have clients, owned your own business or been a private contractor, be sure that you offer to provide customer references upon request too. Customer satisfaction in addition to previous employer satisfaction is one of the most important indicators for future employers of who you are as a worker.
As you can see, there’s a lot to think about when putting together a good resume, which is why it’s good to start working on it (i.e. building good references for it) before you have to look for a new job.