Your professional resume is very often the first impression that a hiring manager has of you. How you structure your resume and the information you include can influence a hiring manager in his or her decision to call you for an interview, or not. While there is no one correct way to write a resume, what’s most important is that your resume reflects your professional brand and highlights your skills in a concise way.

Here are some ways to put your best foot forward with a resume.

Use an updated resume template

Your resume is a visual representation of your brand and the skills you can bring to a hiring company.  Therefore, you will want to use an up-to-date resume template when crafting your resume. You never want to “date” yourself with an old resume template that has been overused by other candidates.  Choose a professional template that makes use of organized text and plenty of white space to make it reader friendly.

Include the right information on your resume

There are some key pieces of information that you must include on your resume. First and foremost, include your contact information and your top 8-10 career skills. Secondly, include specific career experiences and accomplishments for every position that you have held. Indicate any specialized skills or knowledge that could be useful to the employer. Include your educational achievements. Emphasize any activities or community involvement that relate to your career objectives.

Save and share your resume in the right format

In any job search, you will be asked to submit your resume using a variety of methods. You may be asked to upload your resume to an applicant tracking system. Or you may be asked to email your resume to a recruiter. If you are heading to job fairs, you may wish to print out your resume and hand out copies. Therefore, it’s important that you save your resume in several formats. Number one, have a Microsoft Word format saved as your primary resume. Secondly, use a PDF Adobe Reader format as another file version of your resume.

Remember, when sharing your resume via email it may be better to copy and paste your resume into the body of the email rather than risk your email not being opened because of an attachment.

The above tips can help you to put your best foot forward when presenting your resume to potential hiring managers and recruitment agencies.

Looking for additional support with your job search?

Contact our team of skilled recruiters today for additional help and assistance!