Four Ways to Optimize Your Resume For Success In the Job Market

Hiring managers often suffer today from resume overload. They are tasked with looking through dozens or even hundreds of applicants to try to find the best one for their company’s position. As such, they’re constantly having to make split second decisions about those applicants who should be denied an interview and those who make the cut. Optimizing your resume improves the odds that they will see all the necessary information more quickly, which gives you the advantage of maintaining their attention longer than many other applicants. There are five basic steps for optimizing your resume.

Remove Excessive Noise From Your Application

Cut anything that creates a disruption in the flow of the resume. This includes getting rid of graphics, images, and nonstandard fonts. Basically, you want to create a document in which all the information is relevant to the job for which you’re applying. Format the resume in a traditional manner, ditching any fancy borders. Anything which is flashy simply makes the resume look unprofessional or clutters up the page, preventing the important passages from being read in time.

Place Contact Information At The Very Top of the Page

You don’t want the hiring manager to forget your name. As such, you want it to be at the very top of each page, along with a way of contacting you if necessary. You’d be surprised how many people go through the process of writing a beautiful resume only to forget to include this basic information.

Tailor Each Resume To The Specific Job Which You’re Applying

Having your resume filled with generalities and tired cliches will get you no where in this hyper competitive job marketplace. Instead, try actually saying something substantial, such as how you can do the job in a better way than the other applicants given your unique talents and experience. As always, back up such claims with documented proof whenever possible. Use words directly from the job description, which proves to the hiring manager that you at least read it. That will impress them much more so than all the business jargon you can possibly muster to fit into a paragraph.

Look For Grammar and Spelling Errors

While simple errors in spelling and grammar shouldn’t be held against anyone, sometimes hiring managers are just looking for reasons to exclude one more applicant from the pool. You definitely don’t want to get on their bad side by having your resume filled with numerous mistakes. Look over the document several times before you send it. If possible, have a friend look over it as well. You can never be too sure about these things.

Job seekers today have to take advantage of everything at their disposal in order to gain a competitive edge over other applicants. Resume optimization is something which can be accomplished often in less than one hour which will greatly improve your chances of landing a new job interview.