How to Easily Edit and Optimize Your Resume for Today’s Job Market
Today’s job market is dynamically changing given the wide variety of tasks and challenges to be resolved. In such a scenario, it is recommended to continually upgrade one’s skillset to maximize opportunities in the job market.
But, what good are your skills if you can’t showcase them properly? This is where crucial job documents like a resume come into play to help you stand out from other candidates.
This post will cover the basics and advanced-level tips that you can apply to quickly edit and optimize your resume for today’s job market. So, let’s get started.
Ways to Edit and Optimize Resumes
Resumes are normally one-pager documents that contain:
Contact Information
Professional Summary
Skills Section
Work Experience
Education
Certifications/Licenses (optional)
This type of job document normally follows a reverse chronological order to list down information for each section (most recent ones first.)
With all that being said, let’s review the top tips that you can use to make each section stellar when applying to your dream position.
Using suitable formatting
The first tip we would like to give you is to use suitable font size, styling, and a sensible heading structure for the resumes. This is important as nowadays HR firms and professionals pass the job documents through ATS (Applicant Tracking Systems.)
So, if your resume isn’t edited properly with the right structure and formatting. Then, chances are that the algorithm might not fully register your information in the company’s database.
Use Standard Fonts and Formats. ATS systems can struggle with complex designs. Stick to clean, simple fonts like Arial, Calibri, or Times New Roman. Avoid images and graphics to ensure easy scannability of data.
Furthermore, be consistent with the structuring of headings. For instance, use H2 for each major section (education, skills, etc.) and H3 for their subsequent details and portions.
Highlighting achievements
Adding responsibilities to your resume is necessary but not enough. You must also tell the selection committee about the achievements you got in your education or previous workplace.
Use quantifiable results to show that you are the real deal and that you have the edge over other applicants.
Example:
"Led a sales team that increased revenue by 20% in the last fiscal year.”
As you can see, we’ve used numbers in the example to grab the attention of the hiring team and boast the achievements we have.
Secondly, we used an action verb to start the point (led.) Similarly, you should also edit your resume with words like ‘managed’, ‘improved’, ‘executed’, etc., to describe each achievement and responsibility.
This slight change will showcase the authority and command you have in the field. Thus, it will help you impress the employer.
Tailoring resume for each job
Every job requires you to do some background research about the company; its goals, mission, and value statement. But, most importantly, you want to know about the keywords associated with the position for which you’re applying.
These may include the names of courses or certifications that are specific to the job. Take a look at the example below.
Example:
“A job opening for a network engineer, specializing in CISCO networks.”
For this case, keywords like CCNA expert, LAN/WAN design, Firewall Configuration, etc., are all valid. Including these in the resume would surely increase your chances of getting hired as the ATS will quickly pick up the keywords while scanning the document.
If you’re applying to a different job in the same industry, then the keywords would change slightly according to the job description.
Keeping it concise and relevant
Resumes are short documents, mostly one-pagers for less experienced or newbie workers. More senior personnel can use two-pagers and more, but it depends from one case to another.
The best method is to make short bullet points for each section; education, skills, professional experience, etc.
List information as short sentences (no more than 15 words.) This will help the reviewers quickly understand everything about you and get to a hiring decision.
Plus, writing concise and relevant also leaves a good impression on the hiring team. It lets them know that the applicant is talented, serious for the role, and doesn’t beat around the bush too much.
Utilizing online tools
Designing and crafting a resume manually can be time-consuming, especially when applying for multiple jobs. This is where online tools come for help.
Appealing resume templates: Get them from Canva that can make your document look aesthetic, attractive, and professional in seconds.
Professional summary maker: Editpad Text Summarizer can boil down all your achievements, job responsibilities, and skills to create a compelling professional summary in no time.
Data extractor: Sometimes, proof of your past work experiences is present in printed/ handwritten documents like an experience letter. You can leverage Imagetotext.info to quickly digitize the data available in such documents. Then use the digitized information to highlight your skills in the resume.
There can be many other options for easily editing and optimizing resumes. However, we’ve listed down some of the best tools we could find on the internet according to each use case.
Final Words
Nowadays, it's tough to survive in the job market, especially when there is high competition amongst the candidates.
But, with suitable formatting, adding your achievements, and staying concise and relevant, it is possible to draft a standout resume.
However, one must always remember to tweak the said document to fit the position you are applying for to increase your chances of getting hired.