13 Tips To Build a Strong Resume For a Jobseeker

If you are a jobseeker and struggling to make a good resume, this article is for you. Learn how to build a well structured, eye-catching, and powerful resume, that will gaurantee your selection in your dream company.

The first step to get into any company is a strong resume. Hiring managers and recruiters receive thousands of resumes for every single job posting. Therefore, they don’t have the time to read through generic ones which are rejected immediately. That’s why yours must be eye-catching enough to force them to pay attention.

If you are a fresher, this task becomes more difficult because you compete with people who might have years of experience. So to solve this problem, here are 13 tips to help you make a powerful resume that will set you apart from your competitors.

STRUCTURING YOUR RESUME

Having a proper structure for your resume is crucial to grabbing the attention of the recruitor to your strengths and skills. Having a good framework also makes your resume ATS friendly, increasing its chances of getting selected.

The chronological resume is one of the most efficient methods of writing a resume. It lists down all your work history in an anti-chronological order. Therefore, it starts from your most recent job and then moves backwards. So, here are the sections which are used in a chronological resume-

1) HEADER	4) EDUCATION	8) LANGUAGES
2) SUMMARY	5) SKILLS	9) REFERENCES
3) EXPERIENCES	6) CERTIFICATIONS	10) Your Philosophy

Though all sections are not equally important, this is the basic format followed by professionals around different fields. However, many countries have their own structures, and its essential to follow them for your utmost success.

1) HEADER

A header includes your name and your contact details. It links all your important handles like your email, linkedin, website etc. Make this section to the point and dont over burden the recruitor with irrelevant details. Only mention your active acccounts and have professional names in them. Furthermore, build a strong linkedin account and keep it updated at all times.

2) PERSONAL SUMMARY

Your personal summary is very important in creating a strong first impression on the recruitor. It should be a short description of your complete resume and connect your skills and goals with the job you are applying for.

Here is a comparison of a bad personal summary with a more effective one-

1. I will work diligently to help the company grow and accomplish new heights
2. My passion as a digital marketer is to relay the vision of a company through its digital mediums. Having a keen interest in the field of SEO search work, content creation, and data analysis, I wish to create impactful campaigns that will make a difference.

As you can see, the first one is a generic claim, made in thousands of resumes. It doesn’t set the candidate apart, and becomes a passive statement without any evidence to prove it. The second one however, not only gives us the vision of the candidate, but also introduces us to his skills. Additionally, it also tells us how he plans to implement them for the betterment of a company.

3) EXPERIENCES

Here is where many think the disadvantage sets in. Your competitor might have years of experience to boost here, whereas you might have none to speak of. But this gap can be easily filled by using other forms of activities that can prove that you have the right skills to be eligible for the job.

Use your internships, relevant projects, coursework, lab work etc here. Also, double down on what you achieved, what skills you applied to achieve that , and what you learned. Googles XYZ framework of resume building is a great way to showcase your achievements and skills.

Additionally, always try using action verbs while describing your work and use numbers and statistics to quantify your achievements. The harvard guide on action verbs is a great source.

For Example-

1. I had led the social media campaign for a small business
2. Led a team of 10 individuals to launch a small business on all digital platforms, generating a 5 percent increase in revenue in addition to a 20 percent hike in viewer engagement.

As we can see, the second one displays the skills used in this project as well as a percentage to depict the results. This is crucial to include in every experience you potray.

4) Education

In this section mention your college degree and the year of graduation. Though some people recommend not to mention the year of graduation, in the case of a fresher, it explains your absense of experience. Mention courses and projects relevant to your job description. Additionally, include any honors or certificates related to your job. Furthermore, if you had great grades, you can also add it here.

5)Skills

The skills section is very important in a resume so focus on aligning them to the mentioned job description. Thoroughly read the job descriptions and use the skills mentioned in their “required skills section.” In addition, while using the same skills as given in the job description, also match it with your experience section. Your experience section should be an expansion of how you applied those skills. For example-

REQUIRED SKILL (in the job description)	Experience section
Google Analytics	Used Google analytics to crack the user trend and generated a 20 percent increase in engagement rate.
Video editing (Adobe)	Edited quality Youtube videos for an Ad campaign which generated 100k views.

This is how your skills section should be vindicated by your experience section so that the recruitor sees evidence for your claims.

6) Certifications

There are various courses online that can enhance your skills and make you more desirable in the eyes of a recruitor. Some examples of such courses are Google, Meta’s courses on digital marketing, data analytics etc. These are especially good for freshers who dont have any job experience. Mention these courses as well as the skills you learned, and how you have implemented them in other projects.

7) Languages

Languages can be a great addition, especially if you are applying abroad. You can divide these languages on the basis of working proficiencies or international grading systems like your IELTS scores etc.

8) References

References are extremely important to set you apart from your competitors and catch the eye of the recruiter. Because you are a fresher, getting a reference might be difficult, but it is still a crucial element to a good resume. If you have a referral from a person already working in your desired company, your chances of getting selected increase drastically. You can also get a referral from your Professors, or other industry specialists.

Furthermore, you can also use networking websites like Linkedin to contact people who are already working in these companies and ask for their referrals. Dont ask for one blantantly, but you can first talk to them about their experience and build a connection after which you can ask for a referral.

SOME FINAL TIPS

9) Customize Your Resume According To The Job Profile

Always customize your experiences and skills in accordance to the requirements of a company. This makes you not just a more desirable candidate becuase you tick all the boxes, but your resume also become more ATS friendly. This will increase your chances of getting selected to the interview round.

10) Show Your Willingness To Learn

Because you don’t have any experience, a good way to prove that you are a future asset to a company is by showing them your willingness to learn. Show them that your hunger to learn compensates for your lack of experience.

11) Limit Your Resume To a Single Page

As recruitors receieve 1000s of resumes for every job listing, they will only look at one resume for an average of 6-8 seconds. Considering this, you should limit your resumes to a maximum of only two pages. Be to the point and precise.

12) Your Personal Philosphy

Setting yourself apart is very important amongst the thousands of resumes you compete with. You can do this by having a small section mentioning your personal philosphy which you can align with the company. For example, if the company supports diversity and inclusivity, you can mention it as a part of your personal philosophy. This will make your resume unique and it will leave a lasting impact on your recruitor.

13) Use Bullet Points, Check for Grammar Mistakes, And Proof Read Your Document

You can use applications like Grammarly to fix your grammar mistakes and make sure that all the spaces between your sections are even. Use bullet points to make your resume more neat and easy to read. Additionally, proofread your document. You can do this yourself or get help from companies like Hireyy who help in creating strong, ATS friendly resumes.

And that is it! Even without having any work experience, your strong resume will have the capability to impress any recruiter. If you want more tips on how to ace an interview being a fresher, you can check out this blog.

If you want expert assistance on your resume, you can check out the Hireyy ATS package. With the help of industry specialists, this package will make the perfect, ATS friendly, resume for you in addition to enhancing your Linkedin. It also gives you 1 on 1 mock sessions with industry specialists from big companies like Deloitte and KPMG. The Hireyy ATS package also gives a 2800 percent gaurantee that you will get an interview call, and the job of your dreams in just 18 days. So if you are looking for a great job and want to be guided by industry experts, the Hireyy ATS package is for you.

Penned by Kritika Pant