How To Write A Powerful Resume for Novices and Senior-Level Professionals

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Resumes are vital for people who just graduated from college and many professionals. Your resume serves as a visual document that managers will usually only look at for a couple of seconds, which is particularly short. A clear structure and systematized content can help in making your resume to rise above others. 

So, it is essential to modify your resume according to the job you are applying for, highlighting your education, abilities, and work experiences that make you a promising candidate. But as a fresh graduate, what are the things that you should know about creating a resume? This article will guide you.

Defining a Resume

In short explanation, your resume is a specific document that gives a quick rundown about your skills, education, and professional experience. 

Recruiters and hiring managers use a resume to examine and sort job applicants and pick those that they will interview. For that purpose, a resume is, indeed, one of the most significant documents that you must create, specifically if you are looking for a job.

Choosing a Resume Type

There are different kinds of resumes, and the type of resume that you plan on picking will depend on the kind of job that you are applying for and on your background. The four different kinds of resume are: 

  • Chronological Resume
  • Functional Resume
  • Combination Resume
  • Creative Resume

Chronological Resume

The chronological resume is the most popular resume format; it begins with a career rundown, followed by job experience arranged in reverse chronological order. Education and skills are at the end. Also, a chronological resume includes a specific year and month for each previous job. 

If you have an excellent work history with a lot of work experience in your profession, then a chronological resume is the ideal kind of resume for you because it features your knowledge in your profession. 

Since it focuses on work history, it would be easy to spot employment gaps in chronological resumes, and that is why hiring managers prefer this particular structure for that purpose.

Functional Resume

This resume format begins with a summary, which is similar to the chronological resume. The next field in functional resumes is a list of professional skills, followed by work history without specific dates of employment, and ending with your education. 

The format of a functional resume does not emphasize an individual’s work history, which is why many people consider creating a functional resume, specifically when they have huge gaps in their employment. 

Its format is ideal for people who changed a career path and stay at home parents who desire to reenter the workforce. 

However, you must be careful when creating a functional resume because several hiring managers become suspicious of resumes that present a lot of work experience but has no specific date to support them. 

As an effect, they might feel that you are hiding something, so if you have this format, make sure that you explain the gaps in employment clearly.

Combination Resume

The format of a combination resume is the mixture of both chronological resume and functional resume. The format enables you to highlight your abilities and still present details concerning your work history. 

Similar to the two mentioned format, the combination resume begins with a summary statement, then a listing of skills, and followed by work history, in reverse chronological order while specifying the dates. 

A combination resume is ideal for people who have a brief, but steady work history because it features abilities over experience. For instance, students may have a very limited work history, but they may possess strong skills that are suitable for a company. Furthermore, a significant number of recruiters prefer the format of a combination resume because they can see your professional work history.

Creative Resume

The format of a creative resume is different from typical resumes, and they usually come in forms of infographics or interactive resume websites. 

The apparent advantage of creating a creative resume is that it is unique and memorable, and hiring managers will always remember it. In the congested job market, the unique one can always make a significant difference. 

If you are into web design or graphic design, then making a creative resume can be your best bet. This effect is particularly true if the resume features the abilities required for the position that the applicant is applying for. 

On the other hand, since some employers prefer the conventional kind of resumes, creating a creative resume would be a waste of time.

Write Work Experience

In writing work experience, include specific jobs as well as other relevant work experience, and arrange them in reverse chronological sequence. Utilize detailed job titles that can tell employers what you achieved through that work experience. 

  • Generally, you need to write the year and month you started and ended the work, specifically if you will use a chronological resume type. However, if you worked for a single employer for many years, then just writing the years will do.
  • If you are using a functional resume, then you must provide a space in how you add your experience. Although you do not have to write the dates of your work experience, you still need to include the length of the period you worked there.
  • Always use active verbs when describing your duties and achievements. Specific numbers tell potential employers accurately what you accomplished.

Put Relevant Certifications or Education

Usually, you will only need to put your highest degree in your resume. However, you must include lower degrees, particularly if they are related to the work. Furthermore, include any relevant certifications or licenses that you have to strengthen your background.

Additional Tips

Update your resume content to eliminate extra words and save more space.

Strong and powerful words are vital in a resume because there is a huge chance that potential employers will look at it for a few moments only. Remove articles, pronouns, adverbs, and adjectives. Use a word count tool to ensure that your resume is not lengthy.

Highlight strong abilities that make you valuable to an employer.

Even on a typical resume format, you can also include a skills section to tell the hiring manager about the skills or abilities you have that are relevant to the work. Concentrate on they can evaluate objectively, such as technical skills, languages, or computer skills.

Utilize power words properly.

Why? Because these words undoubtedly help in demonstrating your strengths and features why you are ideal for the work. Some of the most common power words are: Accelerate, Build, Collaborate, Dedicate, Establish, Focus, Guide, Innovate, Justify, Leadership, Motivate, and many more.

Make readable content.

Use headings, bullet points, shorter paragraphs, and pay attention to the fonts and font sizes. Doing so will guarantee that your resume is wonderful to read.

Proofread your piece before you submit it, and do not rely on spelling and grammar checkers.

Always read your resume multiple times to confirm that it is free from spelling or grammar errors. Although app-based checkers can help, nothing beats the intelligence of a human brain.

To Conclude

Whether you are a fresh graduate or an experienced professional, having an excellent resume is always vital for a successful job hunt. So, if you are looking for a job right now or look for one in the future, then you might want to apply some of the tips in this article to help make your resume stand out from other applicants.

Author Bio:

Jayson Antonio is an Outreach Specialist at wordcounttool.com, a site that offers useful tools such as Word Counter Tool, Character Counter Tool, Scrabble Word Finder, Pomodoro Timer and Mind Map Tool for your creative writing. In his free time, he enjoys traveling, writing and playing mobile games.

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