Springtime means spring cleaning. Whether you want to declutter your home or your resume, now is the perfect time to tackle these projects. The job market changes regularly, just like the seasons, so it‘s important to be prepared. If you want to dust off your resume and spruce it up a bit, here are some tips that can help you clean up your resume fast.
Gather Supplies
First, evaluate what you already have. Employers look for three primary things including hard skills, soft skills, and accomplishments. Hard skills are your actual experience, soft skills are your helpful personal traits, and accomplishments are what you’ve done in your previous career to benefit the employer.
Declutter the Language
Have you gotten into a lot of technical language on your resume? It’s important to know that often the first person to look at your resume isn’t an expert in your field. Recruiters or HR managers may know what they’re looking for, but if you hide the details in a lot of jargon, they may pass it over. Make it approachable and readable for all audiences.
Toss What’s Not Working
A good rule of thumb for your resume is to only go back 10 years or just include the most relevant experience. You don’t have to list every job you’ve ever had. Customize your resume for each new job listing so you target exactly what they want to see in your background.
Give it a new Coat of Paint
Make your resume pop. This doesn’t mean you should go overboard with graphics, colors, or fonts, but you can add a little personality. Some job seekers are creating a visual resume such as an infographic. Or you can create a supplemental online resume.
Scrub the Typos
Take a close look at your resume to make sure you’ve not missed any spelling mistakes or grammar errors. It helps to read your resume out loud to catch things you might miss when you skim with your eyes. You can also ask a friend or family member to read it over.
Are you ready to kick start your job search this spring?
Contact the team at Nextaff to see what we’re working on today.
