A Foolproof Strategy On How To Write a Resume That Gets You Noticed

We’ve studied the surveys, spoken to hundreds of hiring managers and heads of recruitment and asked them – what makes a resume stand out?

Here are the results.

The best resume is the one that gets you noticed. Your resume has one goal… to get you noticed so you can move to the next stage in the hiring process, which is to be shortlisted and offered an interview.

I won’t cover interview techniques in this blog. To sharpen your interview skills here are 6 persuasive phrases to use in an interview so you get the job and common interview mistakes everyone makes and how to avoid them.

In the first instance your resume will be skim read by a hiring manager. Or depending on the organisation you’ve applied to, it may not be read by a human at all, it will be ‘read’ by applicant tracking software.

This means your resume needs to be written so it will be shortlisted by applicant tracking software then pass the skim read test by a hiring manager.

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The way applicant tracking software works is it looks for keywords in resumes. A hiring manager enters the keywords and phrases they want the software to search for in applicant resumes, then it shortlists resumes based on the number of keyword matches.

You’ll find many of the keywords an organisation is targeting in their ad. So if you reflect the words from the ad in your resume, you have the best chance of the applicant tracking software (if the organisation you’re applying to use is using it) as shortlisting you as someone who should be considered further.

In the first instance, your resume will be skim read by a hiring manager. This means your resume needs to be easy to skim read

A good resume is uncluttered, simply laid out and displays the information a hiring manager is looking for so it gives you the best opportunity to be offered an interview.

A top resume will display the following in order from top to bottom:

Top – Your name, photo and contact details (phone and email) at the top

Next – A brief paragraph that describes you, your skills and experience as they relate the job you are applying for.

The rest of your resume should display your work history. If you have been in the workforce for a while, there is no need to go back further than 10-15 years. You should display your current or latest job at the top, then subsequent jobs down from there.

Here’s more detail on how to write a resume with impact.

Here is a a good resume example

Here’s how to write a cover letter that gets read & here’s how to write a 4 sentence cover letter that works!

When you’re applying for your first job, instead of listing previous jobs as described above you can list:

• Your school and the year you are in
• Any awards of achievements you have earned (sport & academic)
• Any experience you have that related to the job you are applying for

If you have a teacher or some other adult you can ask to give you reference` (not your parents ideally) then you can add their comments to your resume.

Take a look at these jobs for teenagers

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