Looking for a career and wondering if you are ever going to get a response from the hundreds of copies of your resume you’ve sent out? If you are like many job seekers, you’ve already published your resume to dozens of online job boards, send it around to the biggest hiring companies in your industry, and even given copies to your friends and family hoping to land a job soon.
5 Ways to Improve Your Resume
But if after several weeks or even months you are not getting any takers, perhaps it’s time to give your resume an update to make it more effective.
- What does your resume say about you? Consider that your resume is the very first impression you are making to potential hiring managers. Is it created using an easy-to-read and professional template? Is it full of job duties rather than achievements? Do you have a well-written cover letter to accompany your resume when applying for jobs? Take the time to work on creating a resume that highlights your professional summary, the things you’ve accomplished in your previous assignments, and that it makes sense for the kinds of jobs you are pursuing. Use a clean resume format with plenty of white space to make it easy for recruiters to read.
- Does your resume present a unique selling proposition? The resume itself is actually a form of marketing – of you! Your job is to then create a reason why a company would want to hire you out of all other candidates. Take the time to consider what you bring to the table and how you can convey this to anyone who reads your resume. Give just enough information to intrigue a recruiter, and leave the rest for the interview.
- Are you using job descriptive keywords on your resume? Review the words that you are using to describe your skills and education. Do they accurately describe what you are going after in terms of a career? Use power words and industry relevant phrases on your resume and match them to the assignments you are looking at. This helps them get past resume scanners which are used to screen resumes before they get into the hands of recruiters.
- Can recruiters get in touch with you based on your information? A lot of job seekers spend so much time on their resume histories that they forget to provide enough contact information for recruiters. Make sure you are using a professional sounding email address (nothing cute here!) and include at least 2 phone numbers where you can be reached. If you feel comfortable enough, add your LinkedIn profile URL too.
- Have you had your resume reviewed by a third party? If you are still not sure if your resume is up to snuff, then it may be time to have a second set of eyes look it over and give you feedback. Contact a career coach or resume writing service for a free resume review. Ask the recruiter at your temporary staffing agency to give you some feedback on your resume. Then make the recommended improvements for the best results.
Using the above tips, you should be well on your way to getting the right attention for your resume and that much closer to a new job. If you are looking for temp jobs in Ohio, contact us today!