The 5 essential ingredients to a job-winning resume

What is essential for a job-winning resume?

If you ask a room full of people, many will tell you that you just tell where you worked and what you did to write a job-winning resume. While your career chronology is important, you need much more than that to succeed in landing your new role.

  1. TARGET → What position are you targeting? Many resumes fail to target a position at all. This is one of the biggest misconceptions in resume writing. There is no one-size fits all. A resume is targeted to a specific role or the employer will not know what you are seeking. This can be accomplished by putting in a banner headline that contains the career focus.
  2. ACCOMPLISHMENTS → Are you only listing what you were responsible for – the duties? Or are you taking it to the next level by incorporating accomplishments throughout the resume? The stories, the resume stories will help create a job-winning resume.
  3. KEYWORDS → As you reflect on the next role you want to play, does your resume highlight industry keywords and incorporate those keywords throughout the body of the resume? Weaving keywords throughout your resume will create a job-winning resume.
  4. SPECIAL CREDENTIALS → Does your field require licenses or certifications or will noting specific certifications make you more valuable to the employer? Make sure you have added these when you need them. Leaving them out could cost you the job.
  5. EDUCATION → Some positions specify the college degree, make sure you have included relevant education in your resume.

How do you create a job-winning resume?

There are many more tips and tricks to crafting the resume to capture the attention of the reader but leaving out these key ingredients could easily cost you your future role.

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Julie Walraven, Design Resumes

Julie Walraven

Professional Resume Writer

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