You’ve spent time crafting what you thought was a pretty darn good resume, you’ve taken it out around town and online, putting it to the test. So why are you not being flooded with calls and requests for an interview? Believe it not your resume might be getting passed over without so much as a glance, just because it is not meeting the expectations of hiring managers.  How can you make your resume stand out from the crowd?

1 – Be Concise
You don’ have to be clipped and overly brief, but do keep things simple and uncluttered. Your resume doesn’t have to contain your life story in narrative format! The bitter truth is that in this early stage of the hiring process, the person reviewing resumes does not care about the applicants at all. They have no interest in how your history shaped you into who you are today. So give them what they need to know you’re the best candidate for the job, and save the rest for your first face-to-face interview.

2 – Avoid Vague Action Words
What do words like “Successful, exceptional, problem-solver, etc” have in common? They’re empty and vague. They do not tell someone exactly what you have accomplished, merely that somehow you have accomplished something. Hiring managers do not want to read descriptions of you, but rather descriptions of what you have done.

3 – Don’t List Everything
Instead, only list what you need in order to make yourself look amazing. Forget that long list of job duties and responsibilities, just pick the ones that are the most relevant and put you in the best light and go from there!

4 – Measure Everything
Want to show everyone how much of a rock star you are? Show them the numbers detailing what you have done, when you’ve done it, and why it rocks. Your resume needs data to prove your points, and numbers are a great way to go about giving people the information they need to hire you.

5 – Don’t Sell Yourself Short
Be bold, be confident, be yourself! Act like you think you’re awesome, regardless of how you feel this exact moment in time. Blow everyone else out of the water and secure the top spot for yourself. You don’t have to be mean or rude t stand out, all you need to do is be you and be awesome!

A resume is a combination of all the great promotional gigs; there’s marketing in there because a resume is like a personal press release, a billboard ad, and a letter to the editor all rolled into one. Try to look at it as if it belonged to someone else; what would you say about them to make them stand out?

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