Killer Resume Hacks

Don't describe just what you did, but how you did it. This will give you credibility and back up your resume statements.

Photo by Paul Roberts/Flickr

Nobody's interested in what you did back then. Bonus benefit: you avoid being age discriminated.

Photo by erin m/Flickr

Everything about your past positions should be in past tense.
Your current responsibilities should be in present tense.
Finished achievements on your current job should be in past tense.

Photo by Paolo Ferrarini/Flickr

Unprofessional e-mail address will result in rejection in 76% of cases (BeHiring study).

Photo by Loving Earth/Flickr

Not all data is verifiable, but you don’t want to risk your dream job by failing a background and references check. Have in mind that you can still express yourself in a way which highlights good items in your resume and diminishes bad ones.

Photo by Juliogmilat Fotografía/Flickr

Don't write blocks of text. It's much easier to read information sorted in snippets of text then to grasp the whole paragraph at once.

Photo by Richard Roberson/Flickr

In today's job market it's an absolute must to have references. That's why this sentence is just a fluff and a filler. Furthermore, it wastes precious real estate.

Photo by Rob Friesel/Flickr

Nobody's going to take the absence of a physical address as a disadvantage. On the other hand, you avoid identity theft concerns and discrimination due to commuting issues.

Photo by Alex/Flickr

This format takes best from chronological and functional formats and combines them into an honest statement of what and when you did, but emphasizing your positive sides before the gap comes into consideration.

Photo by M 93: „Dein Nordrhein-Westfalen“ / Flickr

You're not writing a novel but a resume. You don't have to use full sentences. Much better impression will be made without I, me, he, she etc.

Photo by Nathanael Hevelone / Flickr

Your resume could easily get lost in hundreds of the same or similar filenames on a recruiter’s hard drive. Not just that, but your resume could be replaced with another one, named exactly like yours.

Recruiters and hiring managers already know WHAT you did by your position title. You need to show them HOW you did it by showing relevant numbers (for example: increased sales by X%, decreased costs by Y$, etc).

Photo by Aleyo V. on Flickr

Be sure to explain that you increased, improved, founded, strengthened, achieved, expanded, revitalized, built good things and decreased, reduced, resolved bad things.

Photo by Maria Georgieva on Flickr

You don’t want to make a recruiter dig through your whole life story to find important stuff. You shouldn’t leave out anything crucial either. Keep it to one or two pages if you want to stay on a safe side. Just make sure to be concise.

Photo by Ciara McDonnell on Flickr

It’s simple. Stay away from Times New Roman and Arial. They are overused and boring. Always use fonts that can be found on every computer. Helevetica and Garamond are good solutions. Don’t even think about anything fancy.

Photo by Philippe Put on Flickr

In an ancient battle of Summary vs. Objective, former is a clear winner for the last couple of years. Employers are not interested in your goals but how you can contribute to fulfilling their’s. Objective section is a pure waste of space.

Photo by Louis K. on Flickr

This is applicable only if your employment gap doesn't stretch to two calendar years. By listing only years for dates of employment, you can mask a gap.

Photo by Earl McGehee on Flickr

Before hiring manager, your resume has to pass ATS, a recruiter and HR person. Neither robots nor humans will understand your industry's specific abbreviations if they aren't programmed/specialized in that field.

Photo by Christophe Porteneuve on Flickr

Doing this shows proof of your previous excellence which may be transferred to the job you're applying to.

Photo by Brad.K on Flickr

Headers, indents, columns, fonts (type and size), bolding, italicizing etc. should be applied by the same rules in all sections of your resume.

Photo by Arrhakis World on Flickr

It shows absence of commitment and lack of orientation to details. It's just sloppy and irritates recruiters. Very often these mistakes send your resume directly to trash can.

Photo by Carol VanHook on Flickr

If you were an entry level programmer at Google, write "Google, Programmer, dates". If you were a CEO in some small company, write "CEO, some small company, dates".

Photo by Marc Kjerland on Flickr

If you miss to match keywords which ATS is looking for, your resume may never come in front of the human eyes. Identify keywords in the job ad and incorporate them into your resume.

Photo by sacks08 on Flickr

Your sexual orientation, religious or political preferences could align with recruiter’s or not but they are also grounds for potential discrimination lawsuit. Most recruiters dismiss resumes with this data in order to stay on a safe side.

Photo by Ben Sutherland on Flickr

Nobody’s interested in your primary or secondary school if you’ve got bachelor degree. However, if you’ve got higher degrees from bachelor, include them all.

Photo by Texas A&M University-Commerce Marketing Communications Photography on Flickr

Listing Microsoft Word or fast typing in your skills section is like you listed that you know how to eat a soup with a spoon. If everybody knows how to do something, it’s not worth mentioning in a resume.

Photo by Quinn Dombrowski on Flickr

No recruiter’s going to point a smartphone to a QR code to go to the website you want to show him.You may think it’ll present you as a tech savvy but it’s only irritating and a waste of space.

The focus of your resume is not you. It’s what you can do to solve problems of the employer. Act accordingly.

Painting by Edvard Munch

The purpose of a resume isn’t to get you a job, but to land you an interview. Inspire recruiter’s genuine desire to find out more about you.

Photo by Lies Thru a Lens on Flickr

No matter how fancy your resume looks like, if you failed to deliver a substance of relevant information on it, you’re not going to be called for an interview.

Photo by VFS Digital Design on Flickr

Make a master resume which consists of EVERY single piece of information you've ever put on your resume. When you need to customize your resume for a specific job application, just copy and paste relevant info.

Photo by sw77 on Flickr

If you're a recent graduate, put education in front of your work experience. If more than two to three years passed from your graduation, put work experience first and education after that.

Photo by University of Colorado Boulder Alumni Association on Flickr

Remember that recruiters are reviewing your resume only for 6 seconds first time? Even if that’s an exaggeration, the time frame is very short. You need to impress recruiter as soon as possible if you don’t want your resume to end in the trash can.

People associate word “hobbies” with something nonserious. You don’t need that kind of associations with your resume. Instead of “hobbies” write “additional activities”.

Photo by Ben Stephenson on Flickr

Recruiters are going to check it. HR people are going to check it. Hiring Manager is going to check it. Make their lives easier.

Photo by Nan Palmero on Flickr

You may be tempted to decrease or increase the size of fonts on your resume to fit the number of pages you predefined. Just be sure never to go below 10 or above 12 for font sizes since it may become hard to read or unprofessional.

Picture by jm3 on Flickr/Flickr

When you have an event to attend, you dress appropriate for the dress code expected at that type of event. The same is with resumes. You need to customize it in accordance with the job post requests. Every. Single. Time.

Photo by Michael on Flickr

Avoid including negative information in your resume such as reasons for leaving your previous job, why you didn't like your ex-boss etc.

Photo by Surian Soosay on Flickr

Don’t forget to mention that you’re finishing a degree course, even if you just started.

Photo by Luftphilia on Flickr

If it happens that you need a hard copy of your resume, check if your ink levels are full and if you've got some ink spots or faded text on your resume. It must be a very clean and professional looking document.

Photo by David Masters on Flickr

No, seriously. Just don't.

Photo by Kevan on Flickr