Stand out and let recruiters know you belong to the cream of the crop. Here’s how your resume should look like in 2019!
There’s always competition, right?
Psst, come over here, I’m going to let you in on how to land your dream job!
(I have a small gift for you at the end of this post!
Okay now don’t skip to the end right away, read the rest of the post too! Please?)
You go to a supermarket, you reach out for a can of cola, but then right next to it you see another brand of cola which says 20% extra and you naturally get that instead.
It works the same way for our employer as well!
You can’t keep holding on to old procedures and expect to survive now. You have to move, you have to adapt and evolve, you have to hustle! If you don’t keep up with the rest of the world, you get left behind.
This is with every field right? So how do you up your ante? The placement game has completely changed. Recruiters no longer want to see your plain old boring resumes. The time of the curriculum vitae is long gone. It’s the dawn of the Instagram ready resumes! So are you Instagram ready?
It was the final semester in college and everyone wanted us to get our resumes done, so I was this guy who didn’t want to have just any old plain boring Curriculum Vitae. So I went out of my way sat and created a decent looking profile.
So what does your profile do? On your recruitment journey of landing the job you want, your resume is the first thing the HR sees. So shouldn't you have them say WOW?
I had a few laurels under my belt and I put it together in the best way I could. A lot of people were against me, they said a resume should be black and white and formal, but like I said yours truly felt otherwise! I added colourful footers, added images with my pug, think of everything else that shouldn’t be on a resume and I had that! I wanted my resume to stand out, be unique, didn’t want it to be one among the pack and hopefully show that I was creative, and guess what, I kid you not, the HRs loved it!
Nine out of ten interviews I attended, the first question would be, “Can you tell me why your resume is like this?”
When I answer with everything I mentioned above, it would set a positive vibe to take things forward from there!
My ego dictates everything I've said so far is 100% true, however, we live in the digital era.
When you send your resume over to a company, especially in the case of Multi-National Corporations, the first round of screening is by pesky little bots, we call them Application Tracking Systems (ATS).
These bots are pretty stupid and are not as smart as us Humans, I mean of course! Otherwise, we wouldn't be on top of the food chain anymore! Let's analyze how to get through the first round of screening, get past the gatekeepers as we call the first point of contact in the sales world. Well ultimately, you are selling yourself!
It's still okay to be creative, make sure you have clear columns and headings! Just like with Keywords for Search Engine Optimization (SEO), the Application Tracking System (ATS) looks for keywords relevant to the job and domain you're applying for. Let's take this blog, I'd probably look at adding 'getting your resume recognized', 'how to get your dream job' or something like 'free resume template' for our lovable bots over at google to recognize what this particular piece is about! (You see what I did there? *wink wink*)
Let's boil it down to very simple terms! Basically, use words that are relevant to the role you're applying for. If you're applying for a sales role, look at adding experience that is related to sales, look at adding words like 'Effective Sales Cycle Management', 'Negotiator', 'Outbound/Inbound Prospecting', 'Customer Relationship Management', you basically get the picture right?
So make sure you have:
- Clear rows, columns, and headings
- Relevant keyword-rich content
Get both these boxes checked and you should be good to go!
Believe it or not, now it’s all about having an innovative and creative approach to everything. Generation Z is taking over and we millennials and baby boomers have to gear up!
They’re more skilled, tech-savvy and are up to date with the current trends than ever.
You’ve been a sweetheart and read through this entire post and made it all the way here, here’s something that’s going to beef up your arsenal!
(The layout changes with Google Docs, kindly download it and edit it!
Disclaimer: What I've said above is true, it's time for us to have a new and creative approach to things. However, the reason I have my resume here is to show you what I did, make sure you customize and personalize it to suit you. At the end of the day, your resume should represent you! You can always use this as a base. Happy job hunting!)
Let me know what your HR says after they see your modified resume!
All the best with your job hunting. May the force be with you!
