What your resume should look like in 2017
Posted: 30th March 2017
When you’re on the hunt for a new job, your resume is your only chance to make a first impression. As such, you need to ensure that it sells your skills, sparks the interest of a recruiter and is tailored for the job you want to land. As with everything, there are trends that come and go in the world of resumes, so if you want to land the role of your dreams in 2017, we have some top advice to help you polish your CV.
First, think about how you are going to format your resume. This isn’t about style over substance, but having a distinct look can really work in your favour. Have obvious section breaks so that it is easy to find key information fast. Equally, you don’t want to over-design it, as the person reading it doesn’t have time to hunt through unnecessary elements to find what they are looking for. A clean document with an easy-to-read modern font (think something like Calibri rather than Times New Roman, for example), section headers, key personal information and no large chunks of text is perfect. You can add a little personality with a pop of colour to help your resume stand out.
Next, you need to start populating your resume with information. Get the most important information as close to the top as possible. If a recruiter is going through a lot of documents, they won’t always have time to read everything on a first pass and what you have in the first third of the page is what needs to show you are right for the job. Your contact information needs to be in the header, so it’s easy to get in touch with you for more details. Skills and relevant qualifications should be near the top too, so that you can prove you meet the criteria for the role being offered straight away, and make sure that these are real, tangible skills not just things like ‘hard worker’, which will be repeated across so many resumes.
In this digital age, you can take advantage of hyperlinks within your CV. So, if you are linking to a personal website, LinkedIn account or email address, you can have a one-click way for recruiters to get more information. Also, use keywords in your resume that relate to the industry you are looking to work in. These can be easily searched for by an automated system, or by eye if a recruiter knows what they are looking for. Save your resume as a PDF, as that is universally acceptable and there is no chance of your beautifully formatted layout being broken.
Follow these tips and brush up your CV to make sure that you are on top of the pile when you start applying for your next job.
