5 Quick Tips to Freshen Up Your Resume for 2018

5 Quick Tips to Freshen Up Your Resume for 2018Be Clear-Cut and SpecificWe live in a time where specialization is demanded. If you have a heart schwierigkeit you go to a cardiologist, for example, instead of a general physician. Have you even seen a job description that read Were looking for a jack of all tradessomeone who can do 10 things fairly well versus one or two exceptionally well? Of course you dont see that. Because in our society we demand experts. Its no different when it comes to job searching. Employers want to hire the most-qualified expert available.Be clear about the stelle you want (name it at the top of your resume, in bold font, for everyone to see), the industry (dont be afraid to list them) and how your past experience, accomplishments, and results align with both the position and industry. Every sentence, bullet, and keyword in your resume needs to support, prove, and position you as the best fit for the industry and job youre seeking. Its fine to keep a master resume at home to reference as you work on a targeted one that you will use when you apply. Do bedrngnis use your master resume to job search with youll just be spinning your wheels and going nowhere.Write to Your AudienceYou need to know who (what companies) youre targeting, which industries, AND their greatest pain points, needs, and problems. To get to the bottom of defining your target audience you need to ask yourself a few questions* Are there specific companies Im interested in? * Am I aiming to secure a position in a particular industry?* What advantage does this position bring to the business?* What will the company be lacking if theres no one in this position?* What struggles and obstacles do the employer and/or industry face? Make a list of the most-critical ones and reflect on times youve confronted similar challenges. Once youve answered these questions you can look for the ways youve benefited businesses in similar roles, and how youve overcome struggles and obstacles to deliver results. Use this to prove to the employer that YOU are the resolution to their greatest pains.Use a Modern and Visually Appealing Resume DesignWe are a visually mediated society. Were inundated with social media, TV, videos, and screens everywhere. Visually appealing and modern design will matter when it comes to the effectiveness of your resume to capture the eye of the employer. Color can be incorporated into your branding and has been shown in studies to draw the eye into the resume. Dont be afraid to use it.If youre getting only six seconds from the employer before they make a fit/no fit decision, then it makes sense to use a resume design thats pleasing to the eye, helps the content flow, and makes important information like contact information, position titles, company names and employment dates easy to locate. The most important point to remember is that you dont want the employer to have to invest time searching for the information theyre trying to scan. Use bold type to draw attention to position titles, key metrics, keywords, or important accomplishments.Use color to bring the eye in to the resume. Text boxes, shading, and borders all help to segment information and draw the readers attention.Incorporate graphics and visuals that tell your story. sale numbers are great to use in a graphic, but if you dont have those, consider creating a pie chart with industry-specific keywords to show where your greatest strengths lie. Not koranvers if your resume design is modern or visually appealing enough? Split-test it against another design to see which version people prefer. Ask them which resume design they like and why. Youd be surprised what information you can gain by polling only five people. Put the winning design to the test and see what type of response you get from employers.Authentic to YouResumes are meant to be a genuine reflection of who YOU are, not everyone else. If it reads like a worn out line youve heard before or something that could be put on someone elses and it would describe themthen its not authentic.A practical way to be more authentic is to remove adjectives. Especially multiple adjectives in a row. Replace adjectives with accomplishments. Your accomplishments are unique to you and compelling to employers.Dont use canned, overused phrases from templates because you think thats what employers want to see. On the contrary, they want to get to know the real you and the unique promise of value you offer. So, how do you define your unique promise of value?Start by asking yourself some questions to uncover the distinct benefits you offer the employer. * What benefit or contribution do you add? * What key accomplishments or successes have you delivered time and time again? * What would you say is unique about you and how you do what you do?Ask others what they think about you. * Ask others what words they would use to describe you. * Read through your LinkedIn recommendations and past performan ce evaluations and look for themes. * When you put similar words and phrases together what picture do you get? * What do others say are your greatest strengths? * What do your boss, team, or direct reports come to you for on a regular basis?Use the answers to your questions and the questions that you ask others to help you clarify your personal brand. Once youve discovered your brand you can incorporate it into your resume and it immediately becomes a distinct document. Remove Fluffy Sales Talk and ClichsWhen we write resumes for our clients, part of the process is listening carefully to our clients and the words that they use so that when we write their resumes were using their own words, personality, and voice. You want your resume to be a reflection of yourselfand not a random resume found on the Internet that thousands of other people are using.STAY AWAY FROM TEMPLATESTemplates and fluffy sales talk, clichd phrases, and overused terms are glanced over when employers scr een resumes. You know which ones Im talking aboutbecause when you read them, you say to yourself, What does that even mean?parte of being authentic in representing your brand is proving who you are and the accomplishments youve achieved. You can validate your personal brand by writing about accomplishments with tangible results. Here are a few ways to do thatNumbers are very persuasive and hard to argue against. They provide tangible proof that you provide real results. Use numbers throughout your resume. We all have quantifiable accomplishmentsyou just have to know where to look. Heres an article I wrote a few years ago to help you do just that. Using Metrics in a Resume When You Have None.Testimonials are third-person endorsements. What someone else says about us can be even more impressive or impactful than what we say about ourselves. Its having someone else validate your brand and successes.LinkedIn can be a great resource to support and validate your brand, career successes, a nd what others have to say about you. Its hard to argue with recommendations, and now endorsements have become a vital part of your job search and personal brand.Recommendations Be proactive about requesting recommendations. Be specific about what youd like them to share in their recommendation. Perhaps theres a certain theme of accomplishments you want to highlight or facet of your personal brand you want to bring attention todont be afraid to ask your network to recommend you for those topics.Endorsements Endorsements show employers key strengths. Employers are also able to see any mutual connections you share and which skills they endorsed. When you apply to positions on LinkedIn it automatically culls any endorsements youve received that match the keywords for the position and alerts the hiring manager to how many skills are a match. This is another way to prove youre a great fit.If you enjoyed this article, your network might too please feel free to share it.Feel free to send m e an invite on LinkedIn, I enjoy networking. If youre struggling with your resume and think you want expert help, check out my website Great Resumes Fast where you can also find lots of hope, encouragement, and inspiration for your job search on my blog.

Resume Tips for Engineers

Resume Tips for Engineers Resume tips for engineersDid you know you can engineer your resume to be a powerful marketing tool? While engineering jobs encompass a broad range of specialties, effective resume strategies are applicable across disciplines.Here are seven pieces of advice from the experts to keep in mind when writing your engineering resume.Think precisionPrecision is paramount when it comes to engineering projects, and the saatkorn holds true for engineering resumes. Failing to proofread and correct all errors on the resume is a common mistake engineers make, according to Daniel Mullin, VP at Carroll Engineering, one of the largest consulting engineering firms in the greater Philadelphia area.Its imperative that you have a well-prepared, professional resume with no spelling or grammatical errors, he says. Triple-check it and have other people go over it as well to make sure its perfect.Be conciseDuring his career recruiting and hiring engineers, Andrew Naslund, HR coordina tor for consulting firm Mazzetti Associates in San Francisco, has observed a tendency among engineers to go into information overload on their resumes. His advice? Dont.Resumes get accepted or rejected in 30 seconds or less, so you must be concise, Naslund says.Skip Black, principal/owner of Minneapolis-based mechanical, electrical, structural, civil and environmental engineering firm Double Eagle Group, suggests creating a resume that is crisp and to the point. Look at your resume with an editors eyejust because you think the information is important doesnt mean the hiring manager will, Black says.Ditch the objective and add a summary Do not write an objective, Black says. Not only does it consume valuable space, but it can also hurt your candidacy. Ive seen hiring managers disregard otherwise solid candidates because their objective did not match the specifics of the sttte opening, he says. Naslund agrees, but with this caveat If you are changing careers, then an objective is war ranted. Otherwise, leave it out.Replace the objective with a qualifications summary. Within a few hard-hitting sentences, your career summary should spotlight your most marketable qualifications. The idea is to pique the interest of the hiring manager, Mullin says. Heres an example summary for a mechanical engineerInternationally experienced mechanical engineer with 15 years of experience and a strong background in Kaizen, ISO and automotive manufacturing. Qualifications include Six Sigma Black Belt, Advanced Pro-E license and PMP-certification. Tailor the resume to the job opportunityI strongly recommend adding personal touches to the resume every time you send it out, Naslund says. If its obvious you have mass-posted and havent responded to me specifically, the resume will probably be trashed.Customize each resume you send to the specific role and engineering specialty you are targeting. If you see a Monster ad for a project engineer, for example, bring all of your project managem ent experience to the forefront on your resume, Naslund says.List key accomplishmentsUse bullet points to make your resume easier to read, Naslund says. When writing bulleted accomplishments, keep the text to a few key points and quantify the results so employers understand the significance of your work. Here are examples from various engineering disciplinesConducted process mapping studies to improve throughput by 36% and ensure compliance with customer specifications.Regarded as one of consulting firms most highly requested mechanical engineers, maintaining 89% or higher billable utilization for the past 4 years.Co-developed material for cooling radiators that saved $300K/year.Add a project list Depending on your engineering specialty and years of experience, you may find a dozen or mora key projects should be included on your resume. When this causes your document to overflow onto a third page, a separate project list sheet is an effective solution.If you can get your vitals on a page, thats perfect, Naslund advises. If you need two pages, thats OK. For any more than that, split the document and add a project list. List projects by employer or client, and give a shorteven one sentencedescription of what you did. Most importantly, dont forget to include your project outcomes.Be honestYour resume should be compelling but never misleading or deceptive. Dont be lulled into thinking that embellishing your resume is OK, Naslund warns. Never put anything on your resume that you wouldnt tell your grandmother.Give your resume a boostTo be considered for top engineering jobs, a comprehensive resume will go a long way in attracting hiring managers. Want to ensure your resume is a cut above the competitions? Get a free resume evaluation today from the experts atMonsters Resume Writing Service. Youll get detailed feedback in two business days, including a review ofyour resumes appearance and content, and a prediction of a recruiters first impression. Let the experts at Monsterhelp you design a resume that will get you a step closer to an awesome new job.