Whether you are a fresh graduate or an experienced professional having a great resume is the key to getting your dream opportunity. Job portals have become the primary tool of job hunting with the majority searching for better work opportunities throughout the internet. However, registering yourself and uploading a resume is only half the task. The efforts should be directed towards crafting a resume that grabs the recruiter’s attention, instantly. Here are some tips for the same.
Nobody likes spending a multitude of hours to undergo a cumbersome process like building a resume. But do we have other options? Resume is the currency on which job search industry works. You create a resume to sell yourself, and it is more of a marketing and advertising document than anything else. Now, as it is with every marketing document, there are certain key points or action plans which need to be taken care of in case you want to attract the best customers, which are the best companies looking for a talent out there.
Internet has ushered in a revolution in every industry and recruitment is no exception to this. So while people used to email resumes to random HR email ids in yesteryears, the innovation known as job portal has changed this practice, to the extent of abolishing it. Professionals looking for a new job now head over to job portals and get the opportunity to apply to a number of jobs at the same time. By uploading their resume on these portals they also give recruiters a window to contact the jobseekers. But that is only possible if the resume is good enough to get the maximum views. Yes, it all depends on how optimized your resume is, so that it features in maximum search results when recruiters search for a particular profile on the portal. If you feel your resume isn’t getting the attention that it should this article will help you out.
First let’s understand the concept of keywords in context of job search. Most resumes are stored in a database of some sort: here, in the resume database of the job portal. Now to be really useful, those resumes need to be “find-able” when someone types in their search terms. You call these search terms keywords. So what is the most relevant keyword for you? For obvious reasons, keywords most relevant to your job search are the words and phrases someone would use to describe your next job. The whole exercise of creating a perfect resume doesn’t complete without including these words and phrases, wherever appropriate.
Here are the keywords that you should be focusing on:
Job Titles
Examine the job postings on the portal to find the most effective terms that employers are using, for the kind of job you want next. For instance if you are looking for a SEO job, a little bit of research on the web will reveal that the world calls this job with names like Digital Manager, Search analyst, Search Engine Specialist. However, the most common remains, Search Engine Optimizer. Therefore, your job title should be what is most prevalent. For the same, you can modify your employer’s version of the job title with what the rest of the world uses most often.
Skills
Examine the job postings on the portal to find the most appropriate and common terms so that you can include them in your own resume. Continuing with the SEO example, a most common skill that these professionals use is Google Analytics. You can simply list Google Analytics but that wouldn’t be simple enough. Doing some research into what employers are using in the JDs, one finds:
Google Analytics is the most common skill, followed by Google Adwords. However, if you know list Google Analytics and Adwords together the number of job opportunities will increase exponentially as against to listing a single skill. When employers search through a resume database, they can analyze both the resume and the job that you are applying for. You can implement the same strategy for your LinkedIn profile as well.
In the real time scenario the keywords you include in your resume should always be customized to the job you are applying for because that is when we use resumes most often now. The days when one-size-fits-all-opportunities resume were prevalent. These days, resume customization has become a necessity. Unless we include exactly the right terms in our resume which are the keywords that make the resume most searchable, you can kiss the chances of scoring that next interview goodbye. Without the right keywords your resume will not be found in the search results.
So talked above are the important keywords to be focused on that makes the resume more visible to the recruiters. In order to further optimize you should follow the following:
Streamline and Make it Functional
It is always better to keep your online resume functional. You should use an easy text tool to copy and paste the text of your resume wherever required, to an online job portal or to the body of the text.
Organically Insert Keywords
You have learnt about the keywords that you should give importance to when creating an online resume. The next thing is to learn to place them organically. Try inserting them in your resume in a way that it makes sense increasing your visibility.
Stay to the Point
It is always better to eliminate fluff and keep your resume to the point. When online, the chances of getting visible is even less and hence it is important to take every step required to increase your visibility. Adding a summary at the top always catches the attention of the hiring manager. Your summary can include your educational details and work experience in brief.
Maintain Readability through Basic Formatting Tools
Create a document that is formal and easy to read. A resume that is simple and easy is more useful than a one having a lot of information not formatted neatly.
Proof Read Once Before Submitting
When you have seconds to create the first impression on the employer, any typo errors or spelling mistake can be the biggest turn off for a recruiter. So make sure, before you submit the resume you proof read once and correct if required.
Anshuman Kukreti is a professional writer and a keen follower of the global job market. An engineer by qualification and an artist at heart, he writes on various topics related to building a right career path with the help of perfect resume samples and online job oriented courses.
Leave a Reply