Your resume can make or break your job search, so it’s essential that you put the time into perfecting it and making sure it represents you and your professional abilities in the best light.
Although format and design may vary between industries and personal preference, there are a few standard requirements for your resume which shouldn’t really be overlooked.
This checklist, courtesy of EssayMama.com lists all of the essentials that you must include in your resume.
1) Contact info
It’s important that you include contact details on your resume, or how will employers get hold of you if they wish to invite you for an interview?! A postal address is not always necessary, but it’s a good idea to include a contact phone number and email address (a professional one – keep cool_dude1000@gmail.com for your pals!)
2) Headline
To start your resume, write a short statement that outlines who you are and what you can offer. This should highlight the skills and qualities you can bring to a job, as it may determine whether the recipient reads the rest of your resume.
It should be similar to your 30 second elevator pitch, explaining who you are, what you do and why you make the perfect candidate.
3) Experience
One of the main purposes of your resume is to share your past work experience. List your previous roles in reverse chronological order, focusing on the last 10-15 years if your career spans longer than that.
For each role you must include the name of the company you worked at, the dates you worked there, the position you held and any responsibilities/ achievements while in that job.
4) Education
When it comes to education, it is not necessary to list your entire educational history and rather that at the highest level, for example if you attended college, it is not necessary to list your high school results.
When listing education you should include the degree you completed and result, the college you attended and the year you graduated.
5) Skills
List any skills that you have that you feel would be relevant to the role you are applying for.
6) Extras
In this section you can list any licenses/certifications/awards that you have. You may also wish to include links to your social media accounts (if you use them professionally), blog or portfolio.
7) Formatting
Your resume shouldn’t be too long, so keep it to 1-2 pages. A good way to format your resume is in bullet points, as this allows employers to skim through and focus on any relevant information. By including key words within the text ATS (applicant tracking systems) will pick them up.
8) Grammar
Make sure that you have proofread your resume to check for any spelling and grammatical mistakes and ask for someone else to read it through in case you’ve missed anything. Try to avoid using slang on your resume and use plenty of action verbs.
