Writing a Winning Resume

When it comes to writing a resume, we can often inadvertently put a lot of pressure on ourselves. In areas where jobs are scarce, or there is high demand for a particular role, getting your resume to stand out can be challenging.

There are lots of job providers who can help with this, as well as tools and templates online, but regardless of where you pull your design from or are starting from scratch, follow our practical steps to avoid your resume being disregarded on sight.

• Ensure vital Contact Information is easy to pick out and up to date. Preferably located at the top of your resume, it should include;
  • Name;
  • Contact Number;
  • Email should be professional. If like me, your very first email was created when you were 12, a potential employer reading badass@ isn’t going to create a model employee persona. You may need to consider setting up a new email with something more mainstream, for example, your name;
  • Suburb where you live – no need for full address; and
  • LinkedIn Account details if applicable to role.
• Personal Summary or Personal Profile, should succinctly sum up your career objective and work ethic. For example, if you are applying for a role in hospitality, but inform your prospective employer that your dream job is to work in construction, this suggests that at the earliest opportunity, you will leave the hospitality role to fulfil a career in construction. Alternatively, it may also be an opportunity to let the recruiter know that you are returning to the workforce, after having a break, say because you have been raising a family, travelling, or taking sometime to fulfil personal goals. It’s okay to be working towards something else, so focus on your skill set and capabilities. For example, ‘I am a highly driven individual who enjoys interacting with customers in fast paced environments’. Here, the example could be used for a variety of roles.
• Professional/Work Experience should be listed with most recent first. In your description of the duties you fulfilled in that role, keep it to the point and be sure to include examples of your daily tasks, as well as periods of responsibility. Employers like to see that employees can take initiative as there will be times when your supervisor or manager is not always available to ask for direction. If you have lots of experiences, listing all roles might suggest you cannot hold a job. In such cases, list what is most recent but also relevant to the role you are applying for. You could even summarise, e.g., ‘prior to 2011, I studied at University whilst working casually in the hospitality sector, in roles such as waitressing and serving customers’.
• Education and Training, again, most recent first. Be sure to also include any tickets, licenses or any other achievements outside of school. Primary school and anything before this is not necessary.
• Summary of Skills is an optional inclusion but can really assist recruiters in identifying what your skills are at a glance. You can choose to include this as a bullet point section next to your personal profile, or at the end.
• References can be provided on request, but whether they’re listed or not, always aim to include references for your most current or recent job. Be sure to also list the reference position title, or at least the position they held when you worked with them
• Keep Formatting Simple and Consistent. A whizz bang, fancy pants resume may look the part, but unless you’re applying for a role in media or design, it’s really easy to see past the bright colours and images when you start reading the content. Text should be easy to read and in a font size 11-12 for the body of the text. Too small makes it difficult to ready and too large, suggests you’re just trying to fill space. Use bold or underlining to highlight headings.
• Spelling and grammar. If you’re not good at this, perhaps ask a friend to review your resume before sending out. You can also make use of Microsoft Word to provide alternative descriptions, so that you’re not using the same words over and over again.