Expert reveals top resume tips that will make you stand out

Writing a resume is never easy as you might fall into some big mistakes. An expert reveals some tips on the best ways to avoid them.

They’re the key things that could secure the first interview to land your dream job. Your CV and cover letter are essential to showing who you are, and why that company should hire you.

An expert reveals the mistakes you need to avoid, and how to stand out.

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RESUME AND COVER LETTER?

“A resume is something that is going to outline your skills and experience,” Indeed career coach Sally McKibbin told news.com.au.

“A cover letter is something that is going to speak to the person hiring and really introduce yourself and why you might be good for the role.

“If you are looking to write a cover letter or the recruiter/company is asking for a cover letter, it is very important to make sure that you’re talking about the specific role that you are applying for and making sure that you’re addressing that organisation.”

HOW DO YOU WRITE A COVER LETTER?

Ms McKibbin said when you consider writing your cover letter, you would want to address the person listed in the job advertisement/recruiter/hiring manager.

“Say that you are looking to apply for this specific role advertised and the reasons why that you think that you would be good for that role,” she said.

“Make sure that you sign off that letter as you would a letter.”

Your CV and cover letter are essential to showing why that company should hire you. Picture: iStock

THE SECRET TO WRITING A GOOD RESUME

According to the career expert, the secret to writing a good resume is to summarise your relevant experience.

Other tops tips include:

• Market your strengths and demonstrate why you’re the perfect person for that role.

• Make sure that you have a great updated resume

• Use strong action oriented words such as what you’ve achieved, improved, established design

• Make sure you list your relevant skills

• Don’t include buzzwords such as go getter, proven track record and results oriented

• Use keywords on your resume that mirror the language in the job description or in your field/area of specialisation

“Most of the recruiters or people will be scanning your resumes for the appropriate experience,” she said.

“Using those keywords will help you stand out from those other job seekers and make sure that you’re listing your relevant skills.

“If you think about the goal of the resumes to sell yourself as the perfect candidate for the role, but we still want to keep it concise and list only skills that are relevant for that role.

Ms McKibbin advised that if you’re looking to make a career shift into a different role to make sure that you highlight any transferable skills that you may have.

“There’s examples of your professional strengths so we want to list characteristics that meet that may demonstrate why you’ll be a good culture fit.” she said.

“Things like motivated, outgoing, natural leader, and then evidence that you’re understanding the organisation and that could come through in your cover letter.

“You also want to be really authentic and put your best self forward. It’s easy for recruiters to identify inauthentic resumes.”

The secret to writing a good resume is to summarise your relevant experience. Picture: iStock

IDEAL RESUME DESIGN

According to Ms McKibbin, your resume should be visually appealing. The alignment and the formatting need to be consistent throughout the document.

What should you not include in your resume?

“You don’t need to add big bright colours or font designs. We don’t need you to add any pictures,” she said.

“Leave off any personal details. You don’t need to include things like your birth date or hobbies interests, or any sort of headshots on your CV.

LANGUAGE AND TONE

Ms McKibbin suggested matching the language of the advertisement.

“Using some of the keywords that are already in that advertisement will really elevate your CV,” she said.

“You still want to make sure that you’re being authentic to yourself but still professional.

“There’s a level of professionalism that’s going to need to come through on both of those things.

“Just keep it very simple and to the fact. Keep it very concise, and use professional language and mirroring some of those keywords that are on the job advertisement.

“Anything around the company if you understand their values, their mission, those types of keywords can help on your CV or your cover letter as well.”

An example of a perfect cover letter. Picture: Indeed

An example of a perfect resume. Picture: Indeed

COMMON MISTAKES

Ms McKibbin said there’s so many mistakes jobseekers make such as grammatical errors, bad formatting, typos and different fonts.

“I worked in recruitment for many years and I’ve seen cover letters come through with the wrong company name on it,” she said.

“The thing is you’re typically applying to more than one role in many instances so it’s just pure laziness.

“Addressing the wrong type of role. The wrong person’s name or the person’s name spelt wrong.”

To avoid those mistakes, Ms McKibbin recommended you proofread your resume or cover letter or get somebody else to proofread.

Another common mishap is lying on your resume.

Research from Indeed indicated one-in-ten Australians lie on their CV.

The survey found 28 per cent say they have embellished a CV in the past to increase their chances of getting a role.

Around 10 percent admit they go a step further and include false information while 20 percent say they simply ‘upsell’ their skill sets on their CVs.

BEST ADVICE

Ms McKibbin said the best advice is to not embellish your resume.

“Including false information is not a good idea because you often then get the job and then not be able to do the task that you are meant to be doing,” she said.

“You could say something about being a quick learner and open to learning new things if you don’t need all of the criteria.

“The other thing that really shocks me is that people feel so stressed about providing their CV

“Just update all the time so that we’re never in a position where we have to put it off when we actually need to find a job and making sure that it’s clear and concise and easy for that person to read.”