Making Your First Impression

A resume is your potential passport to a new job or career. In fact, it’s usually the minimum price of admission just to be considered for a position. But resumes look different, depending on how far along you are in a career, how much overall experience you have, what industry you’re applying in, and what kind of organization you’re looking to join. If you’re searching for your first “real job,” your resume will look different than someone who’s a mid-level manager with 15 years experience. Or perhaps you’re trying to take a military resume and translate that valuable experience into a relevant civilian role.

Fortunately, you won’t have to reinvent the wheel or start from scratch—there are many free templates out there, often tailored to your specific industry, to help you get started.

Resume design matters and there’s great variety in the structure and layout of resumes. In choosing a design, you’ll want to prioritize readability so that an HR or hiring manager who’s reviewing a lot of these can quickly discover what you’re all about. That said, getting the words on your resume right is perhaps even more critical. This is particularly important in this age of artificial intelligence, as different types of programs or Applicant Tracking Systems use natural language processing to sort through resumes. Such resumes will score a resume by searching for keywords and linked phrases within the resume itself.

Some industry buzzwords are good, while others are not. It’s always better to talk about what you achieved in previous jobs, rather than simply a list of responsibilities. Best way to do this? Use active verbs. Also, you’ll want to figure out the most effective ways to include any certifications you might hold or highlight volunteer work you’ve done, or even call attention to your hobbies and interests.

While there are many more tips and tricks to be found (see links to the right), you should certainly make sure that your resume is error-free. This means that you may wish to have one or several people you trust review and proofread your resume before you send it out.