Resumes are documents that communicate their recipients’ professional experience, skills, and qualifications to potential employers. A great resume should be easy for readers to navigate.
Stay away from fancy formatting like tables and diagrams; these types of formatting are often disregarded by applicant tracking system resume scanners or read incorrectly. Stick with text with standard font size instead.
How do I create a resume?
Writing a resume can be time-consuming and laborious work. It would be best to format it accurately, ensure compatibility with applicant tracking systems (ATS), and be easily read by hiring managers. Luckily, there are tools to assist in this task – the best ones offer professional templates to customize with personal details for real-time editing. In contrast, others may require payment or have subscription models.
Resume Genius offers professional templates that are clean and discreet yet still stylish. Their templates also include sections for certifications and awards to make it easier to emphasize them. Furthermore, there are multiple formatting options, such as changing font size or adding background color; it includes a list of keywords you can add to help boost their ranking on applicant tracking systems.
Novoresume is another top resume builder known for being highly intuitive and offering plenty of personalization options to tailor content specifically to you. For beginners in resume writing who need step-by-step assistance, Novoresume also has free and premium plans with templates, cover letters, color themes, resume scanning capabilities, resume scanning reports, and advanced features – perfect if you need an easier way to build resumes!
Word-based resume-building tools such as Microsoft Word can be more complicated and may cause headaches, as they’re not as ATS-friendly or read easily by hiring managers. Enhancv is one such ATS-friendly visual editor which makes changes easier to see and provides improvement suggestions in real time.
The free version of this app offers most of the same features found in its competitors, such as an extensive library of templates, shapes, and design assets. Furthermore, you have access to publishing your resume online and creating PDF versions – but unfortunately, without a spellchecker and its tendency for excessive white space usage making this an unsuitable choice if creating one-page resumes is an objective you have.
How do I edit my resume?
If it has been some time since you updated your resume, now may be an opportune time to review and edit it. As it’s easier to identify errors on paper than in digital files, consider printing your resume before editing or using Grammarly to detect mistakes. Take your time reading slowly to identify glaring mistakes; having someone read over it also provides another set of eyes to review its final product.
If you are switching industries, your work experience section must reflect what the new job requires of you. For example, when applying for marketing positions, it would be beneficial to remove course descriptions that do not pertain to them and update dates of employment from present tense to past tense for previous positions.
As part of your resume update, ensure your keywords remain relevant. When using an applicant tracking system to review your resume, ensure you’re not including outdated or irrelevant phrases; also, avoid overusing words or using buzzwords that appear less professional, as this will tarnish its overall impression.
Review your formatting and font choices carefully as well. A clean, legible resume is more likely to be accepted by hiring managers and recruiters and also easier for an applicant tracking system (ATS) to read. Avoid using slants or unusual fonts; stick with standard formats and fonts instead.
Ensure your education section is current, with no gaps left unaccounted for. When listing education experiences, start with your highest level and work your way down. Finally, don’t forget any certifications or licenses pertinent to the position you seek; don’t include old or irrelevant courses that don’t support your career goals.
How do I save my resume?
Once your resume is ready to download, there are three formats you can select for download – PDF, Word File, and Text File. Choosing PDF will keep the premium design theme used when editing; Word files provide another great choice as they can be edited using any word processor and sent via email or posted online as attachments.
Keeping your resume accessible wherever you may be is easy with your phone! Doing this allows for quick edits while on the go and applying for positions as soon as you hear of them – plus, it enables you to tailor it specifically to any job opportunity as required.
Remember that while your smartphone can be an invaluable resource when job hunting, it should not replace a computer. Some employers require applicants to submit their resumes directly into an applicant tracking system (ATS), which may be extremely picky about formatting and keywords. If an abbreviation appears that an ATS doesn’t recognize, your resume could be rejected before reaching the hiring manager’s desk.
For optimal resume storage on a computer, Adobe Acrobat is an excellent PDF document reader with a free trial that you can download onto your computer. Once it is installed on your system, click and drag your resume file from your phone into Acrobat to transfer it, or connect via a charging cable for direct file transfers. Afterward, view it through Acrobat on either platform before opening it on either phone.
How do I share my resume?
If you want to share your resume with employers, you can use various methods. One option is the “Upload Resume” button on your dashboard, which allows you to upload it into the Featured Media section of your profile for anyone to view. Another method would be creating a post with links back to it on LinkedIn that makes your resume available publicly – although make sure any contact info that doesn’t belong there doesn’t make its way onto public pages like LinkedIn!
Emailing your resume as an attachment can also be an effective way of sharing it. Be sure to abide by any employer instructions regarding whether or not a cover letter should accompany it and what format it should take (i.e., Word document or PDF). Also, ensure the correct file type and name when saving your document – HTML tags, emoticons, or colored fonts in the file name can make reading difficult and may not display correctly on their computer screen.
Finally, another way of sharing your resume is by creating a public link on a website. This option works exceptionally well if your resume is already in PDF form, ensuring it can be read appropriately across platforms and devices. Add any keywords specific to the job application when creating this public link.
Resume creator websites such as Monster or LinkedIn allow you to build your resume or CV quickly and for free, though some may not be ATS-friendly and read by applicant tracking systems (ATS). If you need assistance creating an ATS-friendly resume, consult with your career center or professional resume writer; professional formatting will increase the chance of your success when job searching.
