Resume Building Ideas

Whether you are looking for a career change or have recently been laid off due to COVID-19, resumes are the first step for starting your job search. The first glimpse a Recruiter has into who you are and what you have to offer the job is your resume.  Having your experience, skills, and accomplishments carefully displayed on your resume is important, but the way you outline makes all the difference. Recruiters look at hundreds of resumes a week, so making strategic changes and getting creative with the format will take you far.

Let BLEND360 provide you with a few resume tips and ideas to incorporate into your resume to help you stand out from the crowd.

1. Create a Cohesive Layout

Incorporating complimentary color schemes, providing proper indentations, and adding bolded sections into the resume will provide a strong platform for a Recruiter to read. It will create an easier document to navigate and be more visually appealing than plain text on a page.

If you need suggestions on a thoughtful layout, check out Microsoft Word’s Resume Templates.

2. Your Experience/Education

This will be the bulk of your resume and should include important responsibilities and accomplishments from each position held. A good point of reference is to include 4-6 bullet points for each role, and make sure to highlight your main tasks and achievements. Starting each line with an action word will make the resume flow better and be easier to comprehend. For your previous positions, make sure you use past tense language. Only your current role should include present tense.

Make sure to highlight the degrees you obtained and if comfortable, put the completion date. Depending on the position, a degree may be required, so it is important that the Recruiter can easily locate the Education portion of your resume.

Tip: Do some research on sample resumes specific to your industry to gain insight into which styles and formats have been successful for others in your field.

3. Skills/Certifications

Somewhere on your resume, create a section for your skills and certifications. Include all systems and tools that are relevant to your industry that you can leverage into the position. If you have certifications, include completion date.  If a position requires a certification, it may be beneficial to list them near the top of your resume, to ensure that they immediately stand out to the Recruiter.

4. Spelling and Grammar Check

Check and double check your spelling and grammar before applying to opportunities. Any errors will lead a Recruiter to believe that it was rushed, and you will most likely not be contacted for the job. Have a trusted friend proofread and edit your resume. A second set of eyes never hurts!

5. Extra Enhancements

If you want to get more creative with your resume, consider adding a professional photo of yourself or adding the company’s logo next to each position. Adding extra details can make your resume pop, but make sure that it does not distract from your experience.

Tip: Depending on the layout, the resume can be distorted when submitted online. Consider having two copies of the resume, one with images and one without. Use the one without images when submitting online, and use the one with images when you send directly to a Recruiter.

If you have extensive experience, consider adding a “Highlights” section to the top. This will display your top accomplishments up front instead of requiring the Recruiter to search your entire resume. This is especially useful in illustrating how your accomplishments align with the responsibilities of the role you are applying for, so it never hurts to revise this section based on the specific job you want.

Tip: Make sure everything on your resume is accurate. Exaggerating previous responsibilities will eventually come out in the interviews or reference checks.

Taking time to enhance your resume will demonstrate to the Recruiter that you take pride in your experience. After you have a thought-out and well-prepared resume, consider applying to our current Marketing openings at: www.careers.blend360.com or send your resume over to us!

BLEND360 understands the complicated job market we are in due to COVID-19, but this too shall pass, and we look forward to that day!

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