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Cheating the ATS with Keyword Usage

A useful tip for creating your resume to print out the job listing from the top to see which keywords you can use. Then, see if your list includes enough of the keywords you found. Next, review your list again to confirm that your keywords are relevant to the position.

Add information to your resume that aligns with your skills and experiences. Instead of adding job duties and responsibilities, try to add personal details that provide insight into how you’ve contributed to employers’ businesses. For example, you might include a brief description of a project you completed as well as the name of the company to which you were responsible.

As you review your resume, remove any information that is no longer relevant to the position. For example, if you list your role as a project manager on your resume, you should instead list your previous job titles. Similarly, if you list your degree as a master’s degree in accounting, you should list your accounting degree instead of listing your high school.

If you are changing careers, starting out in a new industry or you have many years of experience to list on your resume, you should avoid including jobs that are no longer relevant to the new position. For example, if you are applying for a job in sales, you should avoid including your previous job as a cashier unless you have had experience working in sales.

When listing your work experience, limit the list to the past 10 years. If you have additional experience that includes the term “employed,” add it in parenthesis next to the job title. Job duties are listed in bullet points, and the description should explain what you did and why it was necessary to perform the job. Use action verbs to get the most out of every bullet point.

Many companies receive hundreds of applications for only a few open positions. For this reason, many recruiters use applicant tracking systems (ATS) to filter for the most qualified candidates. This means that if you use keywords from the job description, you may increase your chances of passing the ATS.

Make sure to write a specific keyword phrase whenever you mention a previous job title. For example, if you are referring to a manager position in a previous job, you can write “Manager of operations.” If you are referring to a job in which you were a cashier, you can write “Cashier.”

Parenting is a Strong Skill in the Eyes of Employers

A resume is a document that showcases your educational background, experience skills and expertise. A resume is often one page long and should contain all of your professional experiences to show hiring managers your qualifications. Some jobs, companies or industries might require a cover letter to be submitted with the job application. A cover letter can be a helpful context for hiring managers when you have limited work experience.

If you have been out of the workforce as a stay-at-home mom or dad, you should include this experience on your resume. Your resume can be a helpful document for other job seekers to see your experience as a parent. This includes discussing the diapers you changed, the toys you played with and the stories you told while watching your children.

If you have a background in childcare or education, you might consider adding this to your resume. Employers might consider your childcare experience relevant if you have a degree in early childhood education or child development.

You can also include your volunteer experience, which can show your commitment to family responsibilities. For example, if you volunteered at a children’s hospital, you could include that on your resume.

There are several ways you can include your time as a stay-at-home parent on your resume to make it relevant to an employer.

The goal of writing a resume is to quickly show employers you are a qualified candidate for a job. One way to do this is by listing your most relevant skills and providing a brief context of your professional experience. Your resume should include the years of work experience you have and the skills you have learned from your previous jobs.

To start, review the job description of the position you’re interested in and identify which requirements align with your experience as a parent. You can also review the job description to identify which of your skills and qualifications are most relevant to the role.

How to Add Transferable Skills into a Resume

It’s no secret that by highlighting directly related skills on your resume to your new desired role, you are essentially letting employers know that you can learn and adapt to new situations.

But wait… what actually are these so called “transferable skills” when referring to a resume? Put simply, this is when you are connecting the skills you’ve learned from previous jobs directly to the position for which you are applying for.

The most important rule of thumb to follow here is to consistently match the skills that are listed on your resume with those listed  under your potential employers’ open job description. Go straight to where they have requirements .

 

This means if you are applying for a job as a web developer, and the job description lists the need for developers who can work in PHP, you may want to include a list of your relevant programming languages on your resume.

Now lets say you’re applying for a job as a virtual assistant, and the job description mentions the need for individuals with good organizational skills…. you would want to include a list of your professional organizational skills, but dont get too lengthy (consider removing filler words, like ‘a’, ‘the’, and ‘like’. This helps keep your resume within one page).

But this is will NOT always be the same for every job title. A great example is if you happen to be creating a resume for a creative field like graphic design or advertising, then you have a hell of a lot more flexibility when it comes to style…. Often, creative interviewers view the resume as a showcase of creative skills and abilities.

…So this means your resume may include more style than function.

What to do in this scenario? Change things up a bit. Swap out your current heading and replace it with a self-assessment section. This way you can lists all of your graphic design skills without having to fluff it up.

By the same token if you happen to be in a more traditional industry, your employment background may be more important to employers.

Why is this? Well, in a nutshell your abilities would actually “transcend” your future job title  in essence. Meaning, you learned a ton of crap over the years by way of previous jobs you’ve already held. And well, if you didn’t fully understand what was “transferable”, there you have it.

means your main focus should shift toward on the work history section on your resume, which may show more experience in your field.

or example,

A good rule to follow when creating your resume is to keep it to one page. If your resume is longer than a page,

How to Add Visual Tidbits throughout a Resume

To make your resume more visually appealing, it may be helpful to alter the formatting of the main section of your CV body, which starts with your contact information:

  • Try bolding your name, changing the font color to dark gray or using a different font altogether in order to call attention to your contact information.

Instead of using a standard color, use a unique page color that relates to your industry.

  • For example, if you are a graphic designer, consider using a yellow background for your header and section headers. This will help your resume stand out and provide the hiring manager with a easier time understanding your qualifications.

 

In order to make your resume more visually captivating, you may consider using a different color palette in your headings.

Without question, your header should be placed at the top of your resume and include your full name, contact information and a link to your professional profile or website if you have one.

  • If you are using a resume template, you may consider including a link to your linkedin, instagram, personal website, or any social media profile where your portfolio is located as well.

A professional profile or website can be a helpful reference for potential employers if you have limited work experience. It can also be useful if you have been out of the workforce for some time.

  • Explain the responsibilities you held in your previous roles, and give examples of your accomplishments.

Depending on your level of work experience, you can include up to five work references in your resume. Try to include individuals who can speak to your best qualities and provide insight into why you may be a good fit for the job.

  • You can include up to three professional references per job position. Try to give the hiring manager you have a good relationship with so that they can provide you with a positive review.
  • If you have limited work experience, you can include  your direct supervisor who can speak to your work ethic, your ability to learn and your willingness to adapt to new environments.
  • If you have been in the workforce for several years, you can include an employer’s general manager who can speak to your experience, skills and qualifications.
  • You can include a personal reference as long as you have them. This can be an employer’s former employee, but you can also include a friend or neighbor.

The fundamentals of getting noticed

At the top of your resume, list your full name, your phone number and your professional email address. If you have a website, provide a link to it. Including your contact information gives recruiters a way to reach out to you. Having this information at the top of your resume makes it easy for them to find.

Start the body of your resume with a professional statement. Let’s say you’re a yoga instructor. First, write a couple of sentences about who you are and your particular yoga teaching style.

  1. You can use this space to explain your yoga training and particular focus such as Bikram or Ashtanga yoga. It also helps to explain why you love to teach yoga and what you hope to offer your students.
  2. Keep your professional statement both clear and concise.
  3. Include any relevant yoga education you’ve received through the years. For example, you can include a specific type of training program or the school or organization where you studied.
  4. Include the name of the program, the facility’s name, the location of the program, the years you studied there, your GPA and any specific projects or coursework you completed while enrolled.

Toss in a 2×2 headshot. While you don’t need a photo, you can include one that resonates with your yoga brand and personality at the top of your resume. If you include an image, opt for a high-quality image of your face or one of you doing a yoga pose. Make sure to avoid selfies.

List your education and training in reverse chronological order, with your most recent education first (if you have unrelated university experience, you can still include this on your resume at it shows your commitment to learning).

  1. Start with your most recent and relevant roles. Include your job title, where you worked, the location, the dates you worked there, your specific duties, your responsibilities and any achievements.
  2. Keep your job descriptions as brief as possible, using action words and numbers to show quantifiable results.
  3. If you have experience doing volunteer work in your community, create a section to reflect this. You can include nonprofit experience or any relevant internships you’ve had through the years. You can also include other side jobs or hobbies you’ve had.

Implementing Skills into Work History

Adding work experience to your resume is an important step to follow if you want to make a good impression on your future employer. The work experience section of your resume shows how you helped your previous employer increase their revenue. This is important if you want to stay competitive among job applicants. Employers will probably expect you to add more experience to your resume to show how you’ve contributed to the company since you last worked there.

If you have a lot of experience, you can use a functional resume to show how you’ve used that experience to impact your employer. Instead of listing every job you’ve had, you can focus on the most impactful action you took at each job. Your employer will be more interested to see your work history than the jobs you’ve held.

Oftentimes its best to include the skills you’ve learned from previous jobs on your resume. This is especially helpful if you’re applying for a new role within the same industry. By listing these skills in your resume, you show how you’ve grown as a professional and learn new skills from previous employers.

Experience section: List your most recent 10 years of professional experience. This will be the majority of your work history, so you may as well list the most relevant and important experiences you have.

  1. Get the name of the company, the city and state in which the company is located, the employment dates and the job duties for each of your positions.
  2. Make a list of the skills you used in each role, and include those as well if they are applicable. If you can relate any of your experiences to the job you’re applying for, this will help you stand out as a candidate.
  3. Make the experiences you list directly relevant to the job you are applying for. By closely matching the language you use in your experience section to the language you would use to describe your qualifications, you will be more successful in holding their attention.
  4. Be sure to include your job title, employer, city and the dates you worked at that company. You should also include volunteer experience and jobs that you did not work at for another employer.
  5. You can also list achievements such as increased sales or a higher customer retention rate than expected to show your impact. These kinds of accomplishments can show how you helped your employer achieve a goal or objective.

You might have left out relevant work experience or accomplishments, or you might have included them and they don’t relate to the job you’re applying for. You should review the job description to identify any essential job experience or skills that you should include on your resume.

  • While many applicants use the job descriptions to describe their responsibilities and how they performed the tasks, copy editors are often responsible for finding the best keywords to include within their resumes. Therefore, this is an opportunity to highlight your best attributes and show how you would be an asset to the company.

For example, if you are applying for a job in sales, you should include your experience in the sales industry to show your dedication and skill in the field. However, if you have a lot of experience in the sales industry, you might include relevant achievements such as “increasing a company’s sales by 20%”.

If you’ve been at a company for several years and you’ve achieved many achievements, it can be difficult to decide what to include on your resume. If you’re unsure about what to include, you can simply list the jobs you’ve held. This will show your dedication to the positions you’ve held, which can be a great asset on an resumes for many candidates.

Resume Icons… Friend or Foe?

While resume icons can add a unique and attractive style to your resume, they can also make your resume more difficult to read. Use a simple, easy-to-read font, and try to limit the number of icons to just four or five. Because resume icons can be distracting, you should try to only use them in the sections of your resume that directly reference your experience or skills.

Matching icons can enhance a resume and help it get past the ATS, they can also make the resume more difficult to create. To create an effective resume icon, you need to make sure you use appropriately sized icons and that you create a simple, easy-to-read resume template.

To ensure that your resume is easy to read, it’s important to make sure you have a simple, easy-to-understand resume template that you can modify for each job you apply to. While there are many resume templates that you can download online that will do a great job of showcasing your resume skills and qualifications, you may also consider using a resume template from the company that wants you to interview.

While resume icons can enhance a resume and help it get past the ATS, they can also make the resume more difficult to create. To create an effective resume, you need to make sure you use the appropriate sized icons and that you tailor your resume to the job you’re applying to.