How to write the perfect resume
Your resume needs to provide a succinct summary of your career, professional experience, skills and achievements to date. The key is to provide enough information to spark your employer's interest so they want to obtain more information via an interview.
It can also be beneficial to write a short Personal Profile or Executive Summary to outline your career goals and what you are looking for in a new position.
Pay particular attention to using the same words that appear in the job description or job advertisement as these are the words resume scanning software will be looking for.
It is usually not a good idea to include personal interests on your resume unless they are relevant to your employment. If you are applying for a role as a Software Engineer, your recruiter doesn't care that you like to swim and can play guitar. If you are passionate about game development and maintain an project on Github in your spare time that could be considered relevant though.
Any information that might expose you to potential discrimination should also be excluded. For example, your race, age and religion should be excluded.
The key is quality over quantity. Recruiters usually have a very high number of applications to assess so keep it succinct. If you can, keep your resume to one page. If you have 10+ years of experience in multiple roles across various industries then it would be appropriate to push it out to 2.
Rarely, would you require 3 or more pages.
If you feel you need to provide some context or explanation - perhaps there's a 3 year gap in your employment - put that in your cover letter.
Many recruiters use Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) to scan and auto-reject resumes based on certain criteria. One such criteria is the signal-to-noise ratio. Using less text can increase your chances of getting to the interview stage.
Yes. Absolutely. Every role is different and recruiters will be looking for different attributes in their candidates. Your resume should address all the criteria in the job description. Preferably, in the same order.
Ensure you carefully match the keywords in your resume to the key words used in the job advertisement and job description. This will help you get through the automated screening process used by many recruiters.
Make a note of the keywords used in the job description, requirements and qualifications section. Application Tracking Systems will scan your resume for these keywords so be sure to make good use of them. If there are words that can be interchangable but have the same meaning - like "programming" and "coding" - refer to the advertisement and use your recruiter's terminology.
If something isn't factual and can't be substantiated then it should not be included in your resume.
For example, saying you were the best salesperson in your office is just your opinion. Showing that you won two awards for best salesperson is a fact that can be proven (by including certificates, awards, etc) and should be included.
Would you expect your recruiter to determine your suitability for a position based on your appearance? Of course not. A photo is usually an unnecessary inclusion so it is best to omit it.
Any information that might expose you to potential discrimination should be excluded from your resume. This includes your age, race and religion.
For some professions, physical appearance may be important and this advice can be dismissed. Generally, it is discouraged to include a photograph.
Using a professional email address is important to increase your recruiter's perception of you. This applies to all business interactions.
Note that email addresses are not case sensitive so you can capitalize your name to increase readability. Compare the following:
Both of these are effectively the same but the second looks and reads much better on your resume.