Blog
May 14, 2024
A How-to Guide for Building the Perfect Resume – Tips from a Recruiter
Crafting a strong resume is a crucial step in every career journey. Your resume is your first impression to a recruiter or hiring manager and serves as a snapshot of your skills, experience, and qualifications for the position. The current job market is wildly competitive, and a well-crafted resume is ultimately the key to moving forward in the hiring process. There is no “one right way” to craft your resume, but you can think of it like a great sandwich—highly customizable, but requires a few key ingredients in order to make it appetizing. Let’s review those resume ingredients.
Step 1: Choose Your Bread
The first thing you’ll need to do when creating or revising your resume is to choose the format, or the bread of your sandwich. Use an online resume-building tool, work off a template, or start from scratch. Whichever option you choose, make sure to keep it simple. You’ll want to use a format that keeps your name and contact information front and center. The last thing you want to do is make your email address and phone number hard to find.
My personal recommendation? Use an online resume builder. Many of them are completely free or very low cost and include a wide variety of templates to choose from. Additionally, these tools typically have built-in grammar and spellcheck, ensuring that your resume is free from errors.
Step 2: Choose Your Protein
The next element of your resume sandwich is the protein, or your work history. Arguably one of the most important parts of both a resume and a sandwich, this is where a recruiter will spend the most time when reviewing your resume. In this section, you’ll detail your most recent positions and include bullets that demonstrate how your experience is relevant to the role you’re applying for.
Each job entry should include:
- Employer name
- Job title
- Dates of employment – month and year
- 6 – 8 bullets explaining duties of the position
When writing your bullets, start each entry with a strong action verb, such as supervised, developed, collaborated, or distributed. You’ll also want to quantify your bullets when possible, showing the direct impact of your work.
Tip
When writing your bullets, start each entry with a strong action verb, such as supervised, developed, collaborated, or distributed. You’ll also want to quantify your bullets when possible, showing the direct impact of your work.
For example, instead of saying “Crafted website page layouts,” include data to illustrate the impact, such as, “Crafted website page layouts that increased website traffic by 15%.”
If there’s not a specific or relevant number that quantifies your experience, give more detail that describes the overall value. Rather than “Facilitated communication and coordination among staff,” consider “Facilitated communication and coordination among staff which resulted in early project delivery.”
Another great way to enhance your resume is by incorporating keywords from the job description. If the job description references a particular qualification or skill that you’ve exhibited in a previous role, be sure it’s listed by name.
Remember—this is the most important part of your resume. Spend time writing strong, detailed, data-driven bullets that really make you shine.
Step 3: Choose Your Cheese
Another essential part of a good sandwich is the cheese, or in this case, your education history. List any and all degrees you’ve obtained. If you’re in the process of completing a degree, include it! Just be sure to include an expected graduation date.
In this section, you only need to name the university, the degree obtained, and your graduation year. You may choose to put additional information such as your GPA or relevant coursework, but this information is often unnecessary. Best practices advise against listing your GPA unless it was 3.5 or higher. Remember that any information you provide on your resume is up for judgment so if it doesn’t showcase your accomplishments, leave it off.
Step 4: Choose Your Toppings
The final thing your resume sandwich needs is a few toppings. These are the extra details that make your resume shine.
You’ll want to feature both hard and soft skills. Hard skills are technical abilities, such as possessing knowledge of programming languages, being bilingual, or understanding SEO marketing. Soft skills are valuable personality traits in the workplace, such as organization, communication, and problem-solving. Choose a few of each to highlight.
- Hard skills: Technical abilities (e.g., possessing knowledge of programming languages, being bilingual, or understanding SEO marketing)
- Soft skills: Valuable personality traits in the workplace (e.g., organization, communication, and problem-solving)
Next, you’ll want to note any certifications relevant to the position you’re applying for. This could include certifications in IT, human resources, languages, software, and more.
This section is a delicate balance. You want to add in a few extra details, but not so many that your resume is hard to swallow.
Would You Like Chips and a Drink with That?
Of course, with any good sandwich, we love some extras. You can add more to your resume if you choose. Some choose to lead with a professional summary, include a headshot, or list references. These additions are optional and truthfully, may or may not even be looked at. Some recruiters will tell you a professional summary is essential while others won’t take the time to read it.
The Last Bite
As you finish crafting your resume, there are a few last-minute things to keep in mind:
- Check and double-check your spelling, grammar, punctuation, and formatting multiple times. Any errors in this area are a big turn-off for recruiters, hiring managers, or anyone else looking at your resume. You want to be as polished as possible.
- Save your resume as a PDF, not an editable document. Editable documents can display differently from device to device and can even be accidentally altered. A PDF will always maintain the quality and format of your resume.
- Send your resume to a few close friends, trusted colleagues, or mentors for their review and opinion. They may catch an error or be able to give you advice on strengthening your bullets.
Just as there is no one-size-fits-all sandwich, there is no singular approach to creating a resume. Rather, it’s about finding the right ingredients and balancing them effectively to create a compelling final product.
Ultimately, the key is to craft a resume that showcases your strengths and qualifications effectively, leaving a lasting impression on recruiters and hiring managers alike. So, as you embark on your resume-building journey, remember to choose your ingredients wisely, and don’t be afraid to add a personal touch to make your resume stand out in a crowded job market.
Attain Partners – Talent-sourcing Expertise
Your organization is only as good as your people. At Attain Partners, finding and placing extraordinary team members is what we do. Leverage our talent services to take your institution to the next level. Learn more about Attain Talent.
About the Author
Hannah Lutz is a former teacher turned recruiter, who joined Attain Partners in July of 2022. Her passion for education inspires the work she does each day. She currently lives in Virginia with her husband and two spoiled cats. Outside of work, Hannah enjoys reading, working out at her boxing gym, and paddleboarding the Virginia waterways.
