The best ways to improve your resume

Your resume is your one chance to showcase your skills, qualifications and work experience to potential employers. Your resume is their first impression of you so it has got to make the most of your unique selling points and help you stand out from the crowd in a very competitive market. We’ve come up with some helpful tips on ways to improve your resume and give yourself the very best chance for the top jobs:

Ask for feedback

A good starting point is to send your resume to friends or past colleagues for feedback, particularly ones who might be involved in professional recruitment or selection. Ask them to let you know if your resume stands out, if it’s easy to read and if the first section was interesting enough to catch their attention. You can then make any changes before you start sending it out to potential employers.

Make your resume look professional

The presentation of your resume makes all the difference. Check that it’s printed on good quality paper and that the text is printed clearly. Choose white or cream paper so that the black type stands out. If you are taking your resume along with you to interviews, then its well worth having some copies laminated beforehand. This not only makes your resume look much more professional, it will also protect your paperwork if you’re stuck in a downpour on the way to your interview!

Have your resume professionally typed

If you’re not too hot on word processing software then get someone to type up your resume for you – they can make sure that the formatting is consistent and easy to read. Your typist can also do a thorough spell and grammar check while they’re typing it all up. Nothing will put a prospective employer off more than spelling or grammar mistakes so take care to have your resume checked before it gets sent off.

Check the layout of your resume

Your potential employer will only have a few minutes to read your resume, so it needs to skim read well and get the point across quickly. Choose a typeface that’s easy to read, make sure your font is big enough to stand out clearly on the page and keep an even spacing between lines so that the text isn’t too close together. Sections for “Education”, “Work Experience” and “Skills” should be highlighted in bold. You need to be sure that your prospective employers get enough positive points about you within one minute to make them want to keep reading.

These tips will help make sure that your resume celebrates your very best selling points and gets you in front of prospective employers for the jobs that you want. Once your resume starts getting you those interviews, take a deep breath, dress to impress in your favourite suit or outfit and go for it!