Resume writing is the first and inevitable step for persons looking forward to pursuing a successful career. The competition is always hard for a few limited positions. No matter how qualified and well suited you are for the post you need to create a first impression with the resume you submit. So master some arts to plan and develop a catchy online resume to advocate yourself. You will not only need to know what makes a resume effective but will you also need to know what to avoid.
Optimize your resume with appropriate keywords: Nowadays employers are more likely to screen-out their candidates by using search terms or phrases. So it's a smart move to intentionally inoculate the resume with those probable search terms. For example- an employee looking for candidates for a post of senior medical officers may search using the term - Medicine of medical science.
Omit all irrelevant information: Resumes should be informative, that doesn't necessarily mean one needs to include each and everything he does or regarding his academic career. Only the relevant information should be presented. For jobs inside the US, you may not need to include the DOB and marital status in a resume if not asked otherwise.
Proofread for typos: An accidental spelling error can ruin a handsome resume to the ashes. A typo may also reflect the level of concentration and talk about the quality of your work negatively. So, check and double check for typological errors and spelling or grammatical mistakes before your submission. Sometimes eyes can even betray us since we aren't used to with detecting our won errors, so to be 100% sure that your resume is free of errors you can proofread it by several other people.
Screen-out factors should be removed: Screen-out factors are the factors which may disqualify the candidacy of a person. Failing to mark and omit screen-out factors is a common cause for candidates' failure. Determine carefully if any of your past incidents or experiences can be detrimental for the post you are applying for and mitigate them.
Targeting the cover letter and resume: A well polished and decent cover letter helps to build the first impression more than anything else. Make sure it looks professional. When it's about the core content always try to make the body of your resume informative and supplied with all your relevant work experience, transferable skills and nevertheless, your qualification. A good practice is adding a summery of the qualifications at the end of the letter where the relevance with the post applied for will be highlighted. So resume of the same person may vary according to the job vacancy. However, in case of applying for more than one vacancy in the same company if the resumes are different and if the company uses automatic candidate tracking system, the system may mark the candidate as unsure of goals or with inappropriate information.
Pay heed to the posting requirements: Online job boards have different requirements for resume submission. Some sites like jobanimal.com or monster.com may require a resume to be submitted in MS word format whereas others may require in plain text format. Know the requirements carefully and keep your resume in different file formats to be able to submit them according to the site's requirements.
Include your accomplishments: Now you have included all your qualifications and relevant work experiences. But there are still too many of the candidates standing on the same level sharing ground with you. This time including your accomplishment in any field related to the post will help you stand away from the crowd. Writing an effective resume demands time and a great deal of planning. Make sure you dive deep and find out all your relevant qualifications, experiences and accomplishments to enrich your resume to the maximum.
