Mastering the Art of Drafting a Resume
Are you currently on a job search but can’t seem to land on an interview? Are you having difficulties in crafting the perfect resume that can make your application stand out above others? Are you confused about what to put in your resume? Discover expert tips and strategies for drafting a resume that stands out. Learn how to navigate Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS), avoid common mistakes, and enhance readability to boost your job search success. Dive into our comprehensive guide to transform your resume into a powerful tool for career advancement.
Consider your resume a ticket to reaching your next destination — an interview that can direct you to your next big career advancement. Like your social media accounts, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and many more, your resume reflects who you are with a strong focus on your professional background. As much as possible, you work hard to keep your socials as perfect as they can be. You should also have this mindset when drafting a resume. But the question remains, 'How to write a resume?'
Poor Resume, Poor Results
Do you ever wonder why you aren’t getting any call backs from the employers you sent copies of your resume and cover letter to? According to a statistic released by Glassdoor, one of the world’s largest job and recruitment sites, each corporate position attracts about 250 resumes. That is a tall pile of work right there! After reviewing each document, 4 to 6 lucky hopefuls out of the 250 people will be called for an interview, and only one will claim the position.
Does it really fall down to luck?
Many recruiters think that these people, who we consider as ‘lucky enough to get the job’ got the job due to hard work. So, how can you convince a stranger that you are worthy? How can you tell them that you have the skills and experience they need? The key is through your resume!
Signs of a Bad Resume
Hiring today is quite different from how it was 5-10 years ago. Today, many processes are automated, including recruitment, so your resume doesn’t land right away on the desk of an employer. This shift highlights the importance of drafting a resume that is optimized for modern hiring practices. Technology has replaced many of the manual processes that we used to have. Software, called the Applicant Tracking System (ATS), scans resumes and other job recruitment documents before it is reviewed by a recruiter, whose job is to easily spot the red flags in your resume, CV, or cover letter. Here are the top 3 examples of widely committed errors that can cause your resume to go straight to the trash.
Complicated Flow and Formatting
Your resume reflects your professional life. So, a confusing document can make hiring managers assume that you might be a confusing individual, too. Many job seekers struggle with drafting a resume effectively; they simply dump their experiences on a piece of paper without considering how they will be read by the employer. Many positions, from top to bottom, also require adept written and verbal communication skills, so when you pass a resume with grammatical mistakes, it automatically reduces your chances of landing on that job you truly want.
Untailored Resumes
We all want to feel special, even employers. We want others to sprinkle even the slightest effort to make us feel like we matter, especially when it comes to drafting a resume. Therefore, creating a generic resume is a huge no-no. Sending untailored resumes out for multiple job openings in various fields, or what is called the shotgun approach, is not wise and wastes your time. Recruiters rarely fall for that bait for a generic resume does not reveal how good you may be, but how you aren’t really willing to chip in your effort to represent the job posting’s requirements. If possible, tailor your resume to the specific vacancy for which you are applying for. Highlighting your professional skills increases the strength of your application within the ATS. Usually, these keywords are pulled out under a title for "Key Strengths" or "Professional Skills." Doing so can make you a step closer to meeting your job search success!
Poor Look
Your resume is your introduction and ticket into that company you like. Since many recruiters are hiring off their computers, whether you like it or not, your document will be their window to you. So, a tip that can make you stand out in the process of drafting a resume is, not to dress to impress but ‘design to shine!’ Resumes and a matching cover letter with a modern feel are refreshing to look at and will help you stand out from your competitors. Also, applying colour psychology to your resume can be a winning move that can guarantee you a major leg up.
How to Create a Resume That Can Pass the Recruitment Gate
Since you are now aware of the common mistakes your resume might contain, here are some tips to improve your job search and answer your question, “How to write a resume?”
Ensure your resume is Applicant Tracking System (ATS) Compliant
If you are on a job search, now is the perfect time to be technically savvy more than ever! Almost everything is done online, including both job hunting, and hiring. So, for employers to keep up, they utilise Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS). Leveraged by 75% of the companies and counting, businesses from start-up to scale-up are now filtering resumes through an ATS before it even reaches the human touch.
As soon as you hit “APPLY” for a role, your resume will be parsed, ranked, and filtered by an algorithm based on pre-selected keywords. If your resume does not include specific keywords, your resume will be automatically rejected. The ATS will email you an unsuccessful email, usually set on a delay, so it doesn’t look like a robot refused you! To ensure your application is not rejected, you also must carefully tailor your resume writing to each application to be noticed. The best place to incorporate ATS keywords is in your experience section.
Maximise the Readability of your Resume Writing
After tricking and making it past the Applicant Tracking System, the key to your successful job search is your resume’s readability, or how easy it is to read your document. Imagine having to read hundreds of documents for a living? This is what recruiters must go through, so to save their time and efforts, they first consider how convenient or hard it is to find what you can contribute to the company. In the process of drafting a resume, you need to structure it in a very easy way to extend its readability. Many recruiters do not look further than the first page. Therefore, this page needs to be uniquely engaging. You need to separate different sections and insert clear section headings. It takes an average recruiter about 6-13 seconds to glance over your resume or LinkedIn profile so avoid long boring paragraphs, use bullet points to break up text into more manageable 'bite size' chunks. Your resume writing needs to be formatted in an eye-catching and uncluttered manner. Make sure to get rid of every spelling and grammar errors on your document after you are done writing it.
Eliminate Recruiter biases on your Resume
The next step is how to use your resume in persuading a person who has never met you to pick you for the job. Many people are unknowingly affected by a hiring process mistake called the recruiter bias today despite the automation of employment processes, which was confirmed in a blog by Mya Systems, a company that provides recruitment solutions. This job search discrimination is an unconscious decision that recruiters make that is stemmed from one’s subconscious emotion, perception, and stereotypes. Recruiters, like us, are human beings who are bound to make mistakes, some might think that your age, gender, qualification or even experiences are not fit. Your resume is open to judgement. While this can be unsettling, recruiter bias is common and applied to reduce the volume of applicants to interview. You may find that recruiters will not be upfront about the unsuccessful reasons if you ask them for feedback as technically, they are not allowed to shortlist candidates based on this information. Sadly, it still happens.
The Crosscut to Improve Your Resume
Writing a resume is not rocket science! Here at The Perfect Resume, we know how difficult and frustrating crafting the perfect resume can get, especially for those who have limited information about the process of recruitment. Currently, you have a 2.6% chance of being shortlisted for an interview, which is not what a job seeker wants. Despite that, not everyone has ample time to optimise their job search, English skills, or motivational effort to make a resume that stands out from others. Another option is to hire avail a resume writing service and work with professional resume writers. The Perfect Resume team can boost your chances to 76% by improving your application and eliminating the known recruiter biases. We know precisely what managers look for in an application and we take pride in utilising various approaches, such as colour psychology.
Don’t hesitate to leave us a comment or send us an email about your feedback or even questions. We can help you craft the perfect resume, CV, Cover Letter, LinkedIn Profile, and Selection Criteria that can help you land on an interview quicker. We can offer to review your resume for you for free, provide some feedback, and recommend the packages that suit you. So, what are you waiting for? Email your resume to info@theperfectresume.com.au.
