A few pointers whilst you’re sprucing up your resumes in 2019 :
#1 Customization
More often than, have three to four versions of a resume to cater to different kinds of roles you’d want to apply for. Pay attention to what the recruiters/employers are looking for in a role/job profile and customize your resume accordingly.
#2 Title
Different regions and countries have varied nomenclature of the same role, hence its pertinent to have a targeted search for roles, employers and location and customize your resume to fit that group.
In some cases, you might have a very specific title in the current company that is uncommon or the rest of the industry might not be aware of it. In this case, make sure that the title of your current role that is displayed at the top of your resume is generic enough to warrant attention of employers who you’re targeting. Hence if you can think of a generic title that encompasses your current roles and responsibilities, in addition to something that you’ve done in the past or skills that you can apply in the future, the chances of your resume being picked up are considerably more.
#3 Key credentials at the top
Include your CFA, MBA or any other such Domain-specific credential in the top heading itself, in order to summarize your entire resume at the top.
#4 Languages, Soft skills & Extracurriculars
Unless very relevant for the role/job, Remove – “Languages”, “Soft-Skills” sections – no one looks at these. Unless you’re applying for the job of a translator or as a customer service rep with knowledge of a, b, c languages, it’s best to keep languages out of the picture.
This again depends on the context of the situation. If you’re applying for a job in North America, you’re expected to read, write and speak English. However if you’re an expat and applying for a job in France, Montreal or Japan where the national /regional language is dominant in the workplace, then you’d want to consider adding a line somewhere around the language skills you have.
Same goes with extracurricular activities — I haven’t come across any employers who are interested in knowing that you’re the President of your local Dragon Boat club.
#5 Certifications
Are the certifications you’ve mentioned in your resume relevant to the roles you are applying to? Or are they known differently in the new country vs your home country from where you received the certifications? Think about it from the perspective of your targeted employer/s – what would they want to see if they’re looking to fill <x> and <y> roles.
#6 Summary
The Summary section should have the key words necessary to go through the recruiting system blackbox i.e. the software used by recruiters to scan resumes. It filters through relevant words that pertain to the role that they’re hunting for. Hence the summary section should have all the Key words that are “popular” in the vocabulary of your industry/domain/trade/the kind of role you’re applying for. Eg. product management, leader, scrum, agile, fintech, strategy – might be few of the words specific to the role of a product manager.
#7 Work Experience
I would highly suggest to be more Quantitative in describing your work experience.
Eg.1: Managed inventories to optimize the processes of clients by 40%
Eg.2 : Maximized revenues by 30% over the course of 1 year by managing….etc.
#8 Avoid redundancy
Avoid Unnecessary words such as “In addition to ..Have contributed….Stay updated” etc. – these are all redundant words. All the sentences in your resume should start with an ‘Action’-based word Eg. Achieved, Capitalized, Drive, Led, Exceeded etc.
#9 Education
Format your education section – Education in one column, University in second column and Date/Year in third column.
#10 Contact details and links
Apart from your email address, phone number and Name, also include any blog or website that you’d want the employer to visit.
What is your resume writing style?
