Make Your Resume Stand Apart. 3 Tips to Get Noticed

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When you are sending your resumes out, your aim is to tell the recruiter that you have the required skill-set and are available for the job opening. The only glitch in this is that there are probably a few hundred more out there interested in the same job and following the same procedure as you. With a stack of resumes piled up in front of the recruiter, either online or physically in front of him, the chances of your resume being noticed and picked for further consideration are reduced substantially.

Here are three tips to help you make your resume get noticed…

It’s of paramount importance that the recruiters are able to notice your qualification and your experience easily and at the first glance

Many recruiters depend on Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to search for the correct candidates for the job. Making your resume more attractive is usually interpreted as making it more fancy and colourful. ATS is unable to understand logos, graphics, and pictures and might reject your resume out of confusion. A pretty resume doesn’t get you the job, your qualifications do, and that’s what needs to be highlighted.

Commonly used fonts are Arial, Verdana or Times new roman as they are easy to read and keep the size 10-12 with a black font. Keep the relevant experience right at the top, where it’s noticed instantly. Don’t shy away from showcasing you strengths using bold, underline and italics. If you have worked with big brands, highlight that, similarly if you want to put more emphasis on the position you were holding in your previous workplace then that what needs to stand out. Also put the right information under the right headings, for example, personal information, professional experience, academics, honours and awards. Each heading should stand out. This is crucial as it makes it easier for the person reading it to assess whether you have the right credentials or not. Write your work experience in reverse chronological order. Bullet point your information under each category specially your achievements.

Make sure all your contact details are updated. Your personal phone number and your personal email id should be mentioned on the resume. You don’t need to mention your blood group, your marital status, or your health status. Do not mention or use your official phone number and email address.

Applicant tracking system selects resumes by scanning the resumes for specific keywords and key phrases. The resumes selected by this system are then sent for human review. If the relevant keywords are not mentioned in your resume the chances are that the system might not pick your resume.

Customising your resume and incorporating terms from the job description mentioned by the company or recruiter is a sure shot to get your resume shortlisted. Also make sure your profile is 100% complete in the web portals. Avoid over use of the keywords. Spelling mistakes and grammatical errors are a strict no no! It is also advised that use of fluff phrases like ‘highly qualified’, ‘result-oriented’ etc. should be avoided. The information should be tangible, mention what you have achieved and how. No harm in mentioning all your achievements and awards. Incorporate terminologies that are industry specific; it will show that you are knowledgeable about the industry and company’s operations. Remember after the resume passes through the ATS it will be read by a human, more often than not, the hiring manager.

Don’t go autobiographical. Recruiters don’t have the bandwidth to read more than 2 or maximum 3 pages. Remove irrelevant information. If you have worked with a number of companies then it’s a good idea to just mention the company names along with the job title and the duration of the employment with them or if your job experience with a company doesn’t go with the career path you are on then it’s a good idea to just eliminate it from the resume.

Keep the language simple. Construct simple and short sentences instead of tedious long ones. Here you can use power verbs like ‘drove’, ‘identified’ and so on to give more impact to the sentences.

If you have experience in more than one role and you are looking for opportunities in all these roles then its advised to dump a generic resume and make role specific resumes. For example, if you have been a ‘project manager’ and ‘trainer’ then making separate resumes with relevant experience is a good idea.

Keep refining your resume. It’s always a good idea to show you resume to people and get their input. And this should be done with your profiles in the job portals as well. Regularly login and keep tweaking it. This helps not only in keeping your profile up-to-date but also keeps your account active, making you among the top searches when recruiters go hunting for prospective candidates.

Another good way to get noticed is to contact the hiring manager directly. LinkedIn is a good way of contacting hiring managers and HR recruiters. And there is no harm in putting in call and speaking to the personnel, if you can build a good rapport it might help your resume reach the top of the stack.