You’re fresh out of college and into the job search game. You’re feeling hopeful as you fill out your Indeed profile until you get to the part where you add in your resume. You took a few resume building seminars when you were in college but you sort of failed to take any notes.
Now you’re sitting down at your computer in front of an empty word document questioning what you should put on this thing. Lucky for you, we have all the answers you seek. Here is a complete guide on how to make your resume stand out from a sea of other applicants:
Read the Job Description
During your career search, job descriptions are going to be your best friend. Make sure to read over them carefully. Most of the time these descriptions will have a complete list of skills you’ll need to perform the job.
You may have some of the skills that are asked for but you didn’t think to put them on your resume before now.
Use Keywords
In the job description, you may also see a few words that pop up a bunch of times throughout. These are what we call keywords.
You can increase your chances of getting the job if you splash some of these keywords into your resume throughout. Some employers will actually toss your resume out if you don’t use these words as a way to weed out people who aren’t right for the job.
Add Your Volunteer Work
Any experience is good experience. Even if you aren’t paid for volunteer work there are still several reasons why you want to include it. For one, it shows that you’ve worked and have some sort of job ethics.
For another, you don’t want to have large gaps in your resume. If you haven’t worked in a long time but have participated in projects or done a few internships this can provide padding.
Keep in mind that if you do add volunteer experience it needs to relate to the job that you are applying for.
Use a Simple Design
When we say make your resume stand out, we mean with your skills. Not with flashy colors and borders. This adds a bunch of clutter and makes your resume hard to read.
Instead, it’s better to download simple and free resume templates from Adobe Spark that you can follow.
Keep it Professional
The last thing that you should take away from this is to keep your resume professional. You wouldn’t tell someone you first met your whole life story after all. Keep your personal hobbies and hardships off your resume.
When you first put yourself into the job market it can be hard to create your resume. It’s even harder to stand out in an ocean of other applicants. If you follow these tips on how to make your resume stand out though, you’ll get so many callbacks that you won’t be able to keep up with them.
Did these tips make creating your resume a breeze? Check out our career section for more pointers.
