As more AI, bots, and advanced resume checkers are released to handle recruitments, interviews, far lesser time is spent on assessing, analyzing, and digesting applications.
On average, if there is a need for a human review of your application, the HR officials hardly spend 40 seconds glancing at your resume or cover letter.
So it is important to prepare a concise, catchy, and “relevant” application to help you stand out during reviewing. To do this, you will need to imbibe the culture of first impression, seduction, captivating sentences, and more.
Here are some tips that will help you produce a captivating and impressive resume in your application
- Use simple, relevant keywords
Whether it’s a human or a bot, keywords are more important in the application. They are the sole representation of the resume. For humans, anytime they see the keywords, a spark ignites in the brain. And mashing up these keywords beautifully in the application is nothing short of artistry.
For bots or algorithms, keywords are what distinguish your resume from a “spam” letter
It shows the employer or recruiter that you know what you want and well-informed of the job role and demands.
- Break up information into easier bits
No matter how impressive your uses of language or certifications are, no one wants to read a jammed document. Separate important milestones or skills or topics on your resumes using long lines, different header fonts, and so on.
Keep your introduction as professional, interesting, and short as possible. The first few topics should capture 70% of your work history and relevance to the role.
As a guide;
- Divide all sections with bold headings and borders
- Make sure resume profiles is in few short paragraphs
- Describe milestones/activities with bullet points
- Use a simple, clear, and professional font throughout.
- You can highlight particular information using a different color.
- Keep the Resume to Two pages
Although your resume should describe your work history, it should hardly qualify as a prologue of your biography. Keep it as short, simple, inspiring, evocative, and accentuating as possible. Most recruiters or HR personnel will spend under 30 minutes perusing your resume, and if it is too long, it will be too onerous to read and cause some certifications to be lost in the “epistle”.
You should expel unnecessary parts or repetitive information that elongates the resume.
Remember short, evocative, and relevant, and proper keywords.
- The introduction does 90% of the job
Compare an introduction like
“An IBM certified programmer and computer wizard, deft in all major software with a decade of experience across the Silicon Valley”
To
“I am passionate about computer systems, and I managed a team of 5 people in my last employment. I can get the job done”
Well, I will let you be the judge of that.
Always remember that the introductory part of your resume gets 90% of the concentration and perusal. Therefore, it should be an unofficial summary and representation of the resume.
A top, catchy introduction fused with the right keywords will make your resume stand out among the heap on the recruiters’ desk. This skill on your resume is called “optimizing your top quarter”
- Prepare a dedicated resume if you are applying to different roles
Most people are careless and maybe “foolish” enough to submit the same resume for different job roles. However, it becomes downright ludicrous if both roles are offered by the company. When this occurs, the supervising bots may immediately mark the resume as spam or as a malware attack.
In the eyes of your future HR, you may earn the” unprofessional” tag way too early in your recruitment for submitting the same resume for different roles.
Far from the above, it will be impossible for your resume to capture all the keywords required if you prepare them for a more general purpose.
It should be different resumes for different job purposes.
- Prepare your application for human perusal
Even if you think your resume may end up being reviewed by an AI, you should still prepare it to a “human” standard. When you add the keywords, don’t do it unnecessarily or distastefully; sneak them deftly into sentences accentuating your skills.
A human targeted resume can scale through an AI review algorithm but not the other way round.
- Submit your applications early
“The early bird gets the best worms” is a saying that will never wear out. Submitting your resume early enough might prevent your application from being lost in the late scramble of applications. Submitting earlier also gives your resume a more marginal time for review compared to those who submit their resume later.
Asides from the late scramble, early submission reflects your professionalism, dedication, and efficiency to the employer.
All these guides listed above will help your application scale through the first 30 seconds of application. However, where there is a tie or indecision in applications, other parts of your resume may be revisited in detail. To avoid missing out in this “lap”, here are some things to correct in your resume before submitting it.
- Submit your resume to an editing app
Editing apps online help you check for grammatical errors, poor sentence construction, poor use of tenses and words, and so on. Ensure that your resume does not have less than 60% on the “readability” score or less than 90% on the grammatical error score.
- Your Name should be bold on the header
Your full name, contact info, mail, and addresses are the information that should be prominent at the header of your resume. It can be very confusing for recruiters if they have to search further to find your name/contact information.
- Use keywords abundantly
Except where it is unnecessary or impossible, include all the keywords in the job posting. It will catch the attention of the reviewing algorithm, and make it attractive to the official perusing your application
- Avoid ambiguous words
Technical jargon may be permitted to some point, but it should not extend the scope of the profession. Using Political terms in an Engineering application may not be appropriate in the resume.
- Confirm submission to the right mail
If you are submitting via electronic mail, you should confirm that you submit to the right mail. Double-check the mail before submitting, and confirm submission after sending the message.
Conclusion
If you have prepared a strong resume and confirmed all submission channels, you should wait patiently for the company’s reply. Don’t spam the company’s mail nor bug them with excessive calls. Except you, if asked to call to follow up your application, do not place unsolicited calls.
Lastly, avoid emotional blackmails/guilt trips on your resume.
Keeping all the guides in mind, you are good to go. Break a leg!
