There are, of course, the old standards that everyone should have on their resume no matter what year it is—things like pervious jobs, where you got your degree and when, your skills, etc.. But with the advancements in technology, there are now a lot more things to consider when sprucing up your job experience and contact info on your resume.
Luckily, Money Magazine’s Kristen Bahler has given us six things she thinks are imperative for resumes in her article “What Your Resume Should Look Like in 2018,” and she has experts weigh in on each one.
Without further adieu, here they are:
1. Resume design matters. A good resume is eye-catching without being an eyesore.
Bahler: “Don’t be too heavy-handed with italics, bold, and all-caps — use them sparingly, and for emphasis. The best resume fonts look good on both a screen and on a sheet of paper, so choose a modern style, and do a test print before you send it off to employers.”
Expert: Debra Wheatman, President of the New York-based Careers Done Write says, “if content is king, then aesthetic value is queen. “I would stay away from Times New Roman. That’s the sweatpants of font.”
2. Format your resume so they juiciest parts are up top.
Bahler: “Instead of a mailing address, a good resume tip is to add your LinkedIn address next to your name and contact info. And while you’re at it, make sure your LinkedIn profile is as robust as it can be, and an accurate reflection of your candidacy.”
Expert: Amanda Augustine, TopResume’s career expert, says, “the overwhelming majority of professions use LinkedIn. So your profile not only has to exist, it also has to support your resume.
Additional Tip: Objective statements on your resume are a thing of the past. “This is a marketing document, not a Dear Abby letter,” Augustine says. Use a summary statement instead, which is basically just an elevator pitch for why you’re the best person for this job. Also, change the title on your resume to match how it’s presented in the job listing. “If the company is looking for a Marketing Communications Director and you meet the qualifications, it’s in your best interest to use a title like Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications,” she says.
3. Beat the resume bots.
Large companies don’t have time to parse through the numerous resumes they get for every open position, so they get applicant tracking systems to do it for them. “When you upload your resume to an online career portal, an ATS scans it for keywords applicable to the job you’re applying for,” Bahler writes. “The main function of these programs is to whittle down candidates, so the majority of resumes are swiftly eliminated.”
Bahler: The key to passing the bot test is tailoring your resume to include some of the keywords or skills from each job posting. If you’re unsure of which words to choose, try pasting the text from the ad into a free word cloud app, which will tell you which resume skills, technologies, and qualifications the posting references most frequently.
Expert: “Normally, over 75% of candidates are taken out of consideration before a human ever sees their resume,” Augustine says. “So you have to strategize your resume based on a piece of technology. You want to make sure whatever you’re listing is matching up with whatever they’re asking for, That’s the greatest insight you have as to how they’ll evaluate your application.”
4. Find a balance.
Bahler: “To give the eye some variety, use a mix of paragraphs and bullets throughout the resume body. The same principle goes for the actual content. When you’re deciding what resume skills to add, technical and other expert-level know-how should definitely get first dibs.”
Expert: “You want to be avoid being overly fluffy,” Wheatman says. “Employers are looking for concrete skills. If they’re filling an engineering position, they don’t care how ‘outgoing’ you are.”
5. Walk the walk.
Bahler: Avoid the temptation to stuff your resume with responsibilities. Employers care far more about your successes, and how you can mirror them at their company. Be specific, and provide relevant statistics wherever you can. Revenue wins, client growth, and budget savings are easy to quantify — and are resume gold.
Expert: “Underneath the text, there’s a story,” Augustine says. “Find a way to connect the dots.”
Additional tip: Don’t have any numbers-driven examples? Bahler suggests to your skills section and think about how to validate that section. Are you the go-to resource for new hires, or for customer queries? Do you specialize in increasing efficiencies, or decreasing defects? Have you ever acted in a leadership capacity, even if it wasn’t in your job description? There’s always something that will make you stand out.
6. Be selective.
Bahler: “The more crowded your resume looks, the less likely you are to hold a recruiter’s attention. Instead of cramming every entry-level job and internship you’ve ever had onto one sheet of paper (two sheets if you have more than 10 years of experience), pick and choose the roles most relevant to the one you’re applying for.”
Expert: “Reading a resume is a boring, tedious thing,” Wheatman says. “Think about the most compelling things you want to share with your audience, and move along.”
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