What Makes a Good Resumé?

Every day, several people apply for the same high-paying white-collar job hoping to be the lucky new employee. While everyone can’t get the vacant position, employers barely even spend time on applicants’ job resumé as some of them look too generic, while others require unnecessary brainpower to comprehend.

For this reason, this article will give you the upper hand in the job race by helping with essential tips and elements that make a resumé stand out. However, if you aren’t ready for the hassle of creating the document yourself, consider using our resumé builder for putting together a resumé quickly and professionally.

Nevertheless, below are some essential elements and putting together a resumé.

1. Using the Correct Formatting

Word processors possess various tools that enable you to present your document in the best style; however, this availability doesn’t permit you to choose inappropriately. For example, business people are exposed to a concise list of fonts – usually, Times New Roman, Arial, and Cambria – and their fast-paced lives make adapting to new fonts a hassle.

Therefore, the smart option would be to employ fonts commonly used for business documents, making the paper look more professional and straightforward for the employer to comprehend.

It’s worth noting that formatting goes beyond font style and font size, including page margins, line spacing, and more. Below are bullet points that emphasize our preferred format for CV writing:

• One-inch margins on all four corners.
• Font 11 or 12
• Use 1.15 line spacing
• Create a header format for your contact details
• Separate your resumé into different sections, which are contact info, work experience, skills, education level, summary
• Use bullet points on previous jobs.
• Put an extra space between each heading.
• Be consistent with your formatting throughout the document
• Avoid using photos except required in the job vacancy ad.

Formating is crucial for effective resumé writing as it makes the document easier to read, thereby raising your chances of landing the position.

2. Keywords

Each niche or industry has specific keywords to identify specific elements, and using them appropriately raises your value. It’s also worth noting that modern corporations use sophisticated software called applicant tracking systems (ATS) to uncover how many keywords were used in the job resumé.

However, while keywords are essential, you shouldn’t make your first resumé based on keywords but centered on your work experience, skills, and other factors that make you a worthy asset for the corporation.

3. Relevant Skills

Employers spend very little time reading through your resumé, and if you formatted correctly, your relevant skills and previous accomplishments in other jobs should be easy to find. Note that this section shouldn’t contain unnecessary information but precise details about skills and elements that make you an asset to their already-existing team.

In other words, you should mention every promotion or accomplishment you ever got throughout your career; instead, highlight factors from previous experiences that the recruiter will find relevant.

Even if you’re switching industries, inspect your skill and previous accomplishments that indicate you’re a team player with soft skills that push the company forward.

Using a Resumé Builder

As previously mentioned at the beginning of this article, doing a resumé for the first time is a hassle that most individuals cannot handle. The job comes with choosing the right font style and size, design, and categories, which are tricky to accomplish, primarily if they barely operate a word processor.

Fortunately, you don’t have to handle these factors alone as a resume builder like ResumeBuilderPro is an ideal option. ResumeBuilderPro is online software that helps you build a resumé by giving you ideas and guiding you through the process.

Subscribing to the app presents you with over 4000 resumé templates, which helps with resumé building as most people don’t know where to start when confronted with a blank page.

Additionally, ResumeBuilderPro saves you several hours of formatting and designing as all you need is to tweak the template, insert your information, proofread and submit. The process may take less than an hour compared to the few hours required to build a CV from scratch.

Ultimately, if you have no background in document creation or don’t know how to put a resumé together despite reading several tips online, ResumeBuilderPro is for you.

4. Confident Communication

While not sounding condescending or unnecessarily proud is a resumé best practice, you should stoop too low and appear timid. Companies want confident individuals who can communicate to their team and superiors and possibly offer solutions when problems arise.

For this reason, while emphasizing or highlighting your skills and abilities, convey them confidently, showing the employer that you’ve worked and are proud of your achievements and plan to do more as time progresses.

*Note: Feel free to brag about your achievements and skills but ensure it’s not condescending or insulting to your previous co-workers

5. Length

Composing a resumé that’s easy to read requires many factors, and one of these elements is the document’s length. While most people can highlight why they’re a valuable asset to a company in over 20 pages, this is not a business plan; the goal is to keep it at an optimal length.

Ideally, the best length for an intelligent resumé is one to three pages, as the recruiter won’t spend more than a minute reading the paper. Therefore, limit your content to what is necessary and articulate every paragraph using fewer words to express a point.

This rule pairs with the third tip, which requires you to present only the relevant skills: therefore, feel free to sacrifice revealing some things like some unrelated work experience and achievements to conserve space.

6. Proofread for Errors

Like how recruiters use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to check resumés for keywords, other software exists to check for errors and incorrect sentences. In fact, errors are some of the primary reasons recruiters reject resumés, especially for competitive jobs.

For this reason, you should strive to compose an error-free resumé by proofreading the document several times. If you’re not confident about your English skills, you can employ online grammar checkers like Grammarly, as millions of corporations use them to proofread their documents before sending.

*Note: Following the correct format, length, keywords, and other best practices will be worthless if your resumé is riddled with errors.

7. Summarize

Instead of following the traditional path used in most resumés, consider including a two-sentence summary on top of the document to capture the employer’s attention and signal to them that you are a worthwhile fit for their company.

This summary must articulately lay out your most essential skills and expertise. In other words, summarize your professional profile and career into a few sentences and communicate nothing but competence.

It would be best if you aimed at hooking your reader into reading more and discovering what you’re bringing to the table upon assuming the new position.

Conclusion

Being qualified to handle your dream job doesn’t directly translate to you getting the role, as the employer needs to be convinced that you are a worthwhile fit for the company. The best way to accomplish this goal is with a simple but professionally written resumé, and the tips above are guaranteed to help you compose one.

However, if these tips make composing a resumé look tedious, consider using a resumé builder like ResumeBuilderPro. The templates and guidelines will help you create a resumé within a short time and with little energy.