Tiny Resume Changes You Should Make For a Big Impact

1. Choose your words carefully. Your resume isn't the time to be vague, our expe
rts say. For example, don't say you're proficient on Microsoft products if your
potential employer is looking for a worker specifically savvy with Microsoft Exc
el, warns Joyce. "Use the specific terminology in the job description," she says
, so that your resume is littered with keywords from your current job description
to your skill set that align with what they hiring manager desires.
If you're not sure which keywords to use, head to the website Wordle, recommends
Dawn Rasmussen, certified resume writer and president of Pathfinder Writing and
Career Services. Copy-and-paste the job description into the site, and it will
generate the most-often used words in the blurb in a text-based image. "Hint: Th
e bigger words meaning they are used the most often are keywords," she says.
2. Show off your non-college education. It's important to call out the skills yo
u've honed over the course of your career, says Rasmussen, who suggests nestling
a leadership sub-header beneath your education section. Here, you'll discuss an
y professional development i.e. conferences, workshops, trainings, certifications,
conventions, webinars, and seminars that has added to your body of knowledge. Exp
lains Rasmussen, "The best employees are ones who are continuously learning and
adding to their skill sets."
3. Brag your awards. Don't bury that employee-of-the-year award at the bottom of
your resume. Instead, says Rasmussen, list all your awards in the top one-third
of the page. "Too many times, job seekers don t know what to do with their awards s
o, surprise! They are listed last, as if they're an afterthought," she says. By
adding your awards to the top of your resume, you show potential employers that
others have recognized your skills and abilities and encourage them to do the same
.
Of course, you don't have to have won an industry-wide award to have a resume-wo
rthy proverbial trophy. "Awards and notable achievements can include plaques, ce
rtificates, awards, industry certifications, speaking engagements, patents, bein
g quoted in a publication, or writing an article," Rasmussen says.
4. Scrap the objective section. We're taught that the top of our resume is the s
pace to tell a hiring manager what we want. But adding an objective is unnecessa
ry and when it's done, it's often done incorrectly, says Joyce. If you can t stand t
o scrap it entirely, it's important to give it a few quick edits.
For example, let's say this is where your objective stands now: Professional see
king an administrative position in a fast-growing company that will utilize my b
achelor's degree in finance. It's time to simplify, Joyce says, and replace it w
ith a much simpler objective the title of the job you're seeking at the company wh
ere you're seeking the job, i.e., administrative assistant at Glamour. Yep, that
's all you need.
5. Rethink how you discuss work experience. Only listing your job duties is so l
ast resume. Rather than write out your experience in list format, Rasmussen says
, tell a story instead. "Stories are memorable, and stories can tell the value,"
she explains. Give your potential employer the so what angle, she says, with sh
ort, bullet-pointed stories that show off how you helped your company by saving
them money or time, or bolstered their business.
Consider framing each story using the CAR principle, says Rasmussen. "What was t
he challenge you were facing? What action did you take to fix it or make it bett
er? And what was the end result to the company?" Rasmussen prompts. "Try to quan
tify results whenever possible, but be careful about revealing potentially confi
dential or proprietary information. And remember, going through staff reports, p

erformance reviews, recaps, and emails can help you remember specific examples so
always keep a file on hand containing information that documents your performanc
e."
6. Get rid of fancy formatting. Unusual fonts and bold designs may seem to spruc
e up an otherwise boring document. But Joyce says added details as simple as bor
ders and underlines can put your resume in a slush pile, stat and it has nothing t
o do with a difference in design taste between you and a potential employer. Res
umes are very often scanned by machines before they reach human eyes, "and graph
ic elements can confuse the technology," Joyce explains.
7. Show engagement in your work community. To save space, you may have sliced yo
ur professional affiliations from your resume. But listing the organizations of
which you're a part and how you're involved really pays off, says Rasmussen. "Ha
ving a reputable industry organization on your resume adds weight and gravitas t
o your credentials," she explains, "and shows that you take your career seriousl
y."
8. Swap your work email for a personal one. If you're seeking a job outside your
current company, don't give the contact information you disclose on your resume
the chance to negatively impact your job, says Joyce. "Be sure to protect your
current position by using a non-work email address and non-work phone number on
the resume," she says. "Employers are not happy with employees who are job hunti
ng, and people get fired or have to have very uncomfortable discussions with their
managers for this."
Finally, says Rasmussen, it's always a good idea to have another set of eyes on
this important paper before you send it off. "Errors such as spelling, grammar,
usage, capitalization, punctuation, and structure errors can kill your resume,"
she says, who adds you can ask them to proofread from the bottom to the top of t
he document. "Your eye isn t used to that progression, so you ll be more likely to s
pot errors than skimming top-down," she explains.