Resumes How to Make Your Resume Stand Out

Resumes How to Make Your Resume Stand Out Are you applying for your dream job?   Do you know how to stand out from your competition?   At my job, I look at a resume for 30 seconds and can tell you if I think you should come in for an interview, scary huh? Photo by Caitlin Regan Scary Facts: A recent survey of 2,500 employers  found that  38% of HR managers said they spend less than a minute reviewing a resume, and 18 percent said they spend less than 30 seconds.    48% of HR managers surveyed by CareerBuilder say they typically review up to 25 applications for open positions.   These statistics show how important it is to spend a lot of time perfecting your resume. ~Great Ways To Stand Out From Your Competition~ Should I submit the same resume to each job?    My advice is to not submit the same resume for each job that you apply to. Look at each job description and  think about how your experiences match the qualifications and requirements.    Most likely, your  resume will go through Human Resources  first  who may not be familiar with the actual job  but they do  know all the keywords to look out for. How many pages should my resume be?   I am a big fan of the one-page resume.   Think you  have too much work experience to fit  on one page?   You might want to think again.    If you are including  3 pages of  information that doesnt apply to the job you are applying to, you may want to  leave  it out.   Just because you did it, doesnt mean you have to put it on your resume.   I dont care about everything you did in college and high shool  unless you tell me how it applies to your job.   Make your resume short and sweet and remember that  quality is better than quantity. What are some  other tips that can help my resume stand out? Use a professional email address (not your college nickname). Show impact like cost savings or increased productivity.   Dont sell yourself short if you rocked your last job! Have someone  review   your resume and provide you with feedback.   I just had my career counselor at school help me with my resume and she offered very valuable feedback.   I then passed it over to my mentor and he  made  great recommendations  as well.   Dont be afraid to ask for help!   Often, people are very happy to help you out! I recently learned that Human Resource departments are carefully checking applicants online  profiles to find history on applicants.    Take a moment  to review your online activity and check your privacy settings on your social media accounts.   Try googling your name and see what comes up.   Better to find out  what comes up  before your future company does! For  additional resume advice, check out monster.coms advice on  How to Write a Resume. What is your advice to make your resume stand out?