Writing a resume [guide to writing a strong resume]

you have read thousands of job offers and selected the ones that fit you exactly.

But does your resume match the job ads exactly?

Not yet? Then you need a meaningful resume, before you send off your application in hopes of getting an interview.

. an application that makes you understand "don’t waste any more time with the other resumes, you have just found the right person!"

Wonderful, then you’ve come to the right place: with this handy guide, you’ll discover, how to write a perfect resume – simple and fast!

What are you waiting for?

And that’s what this guide will show you:

1 – The resume basics. What information should not be missing in any case? If you want to aim high, you need solid basics!

2 – Writing a resume. After you have seen, which Information you need to write in a job application, you can see now, like You need to write them. You’ll learn how to change the layout of your resume and avoid form errors.

3 – The incredible secrets that will help you get a job. No, no amazing secrets, but a few good tips, that already!

Imagine you are taking a crash course in a sport: how do you learn it?

You’ll start with the basics, then see how they are put into practice, and finally discover some special techniques and tricks of the pros as well.

This article is structured the same way: it is absolutely easy to follow it!

Are you ready to go?

The main purpose of a perfect resume

The resume is yours professional credentials: a document that summarizes, in limited space, the training, experience, and skills you wish to provide to the company.

And, of course, it must contain the information that will allow the company to contact the candidate, that is, you.

But what is it good for?

And why you need to create a perfect resume?

The main purpose of the application is to provide the Convince companies to invite you for an interview. Your resume won’t necessarily get you the job, but it will get you an interview.

And it must be perfect, because the company is supposed to call you among all the competitors.

We will now look at how to do this, step by step:

First, however, you need to be clear to yourself that this is not about telling your life story on a few pages.

Don’t forget:

The resume is a business card, but from the point of view of work.

Above all the CV is NOT a transcript of a session with a psychologist, in which you tell everything that has happened to you since you were two years old.

So, it is a business card that presents your main characteristics as a professional, with only the essential information.

Once this point is clarified, we can start with the basic rules for creating a meaningful resume!

7 building blocks to build your resume [The Basics]

The resume – regardless of the pattern used (of which later) – is composed of some basic blocks of text with information about.

This 7 information may should not be missing in your resume:

Contact details
A professional photo (depending on the type of work)
Personal description (Short profile)
Professional career
Study/training/school
Skills and skills
Hobbies and personal interests

Let’s take a look at that right now!

#1 – Absolutely avoid contact information mistakes on your resume

first name, last name, address, phone number, e-mail address.

These are the indispensable elements .

. without which the whole resume is worth nothing.

Always remember why you spend hours building your resume: You want people to call you. Therefore you need to make absolutely sure that the contact details are correct.

And pay attention to your email address: You’re looking for a job, so an email address with your school nickname is not acceptable.

If you don’t want to do anything wrong, use an email address that consists of your first and last name, this is a guarantee of professionalism!

"Do I need to include a link to my personal website as well?"

Before you answer yourself, ask yourself the following:

What additional information does the website give to your resume? Is this relevant to the job you want to get?

If the answer to this question is no, then it is better not to do it: for a graphic designer it is of the utmost importance to show his creations, but this does not apply to everyone to the same extent.

Since personal data is involved, you must also not forget to give your consent to the processing of your personal data, in accordance with the GDPR, which has been in force since 2018.

The declaration of consent to the use of data in the application process is necessary if you are interested in being included in the candidate pool of a company.

With the written consent of the candidate, companies may also store the applicant’s data for longer than six months, for example, for the purpose of future consideration for further job offers.

All clear? Then we continue!

#2 – 14 times more chances for your resume, and this is how!

" Does a photo belong on the resume?"

The answer to this is depending on the country where you live (or in which you would like to find work) different: Germany, France, USA.

All things being equal, however, there is one fact that cannot be ignored: Research from LinkedIn shows that a profile with a photo is 14 times more likely to be viewed than one without one!

But a resume isn’t exactly a social media profile: so what are you supposed to do?

If you are not sure how to choose, don’t worry: we wrote a separate article on how to choose a professional application photo for your resume!

All clear to the photo?

Then you are ready for the third building block in your resume!

#3 – Short profile on a resume: how to make a deep first impression

You want an application that makes a deep impression at first sight, in a positive sense of course?

It’s easier than you think!

What you need is a short personal profile:

A few sentences, no more than 5 lines, to present yourself at your best.

The short profile includes a few lines, but they are probably the most difficult of the whole resume: how to summarize a description that would take fifteen minutes into a few handfuls of words?

Think of what you would say if you were asked to answer these questions:

What are your strengths?
What are your Career designed?
How does your Future plans From? (professional goals)

Try writing down the answer and then read it several times:

Each time you read through, cross out the information you don’t feel is important until you get your brief profile.

Look at it from all points of view, analyze it and polish it: even if the recruiter would read only this description from the whole application, you should still be able to convince him of your value.

Actually, the short profile is not one of the mandatory elements of a resume, but it is recommended to give them.

Think of it this way: you are not forced to take a running start at the long jump, but if you decide not to take it .

. then you don’t have to be surprised if you jump less far than the others!

#4 – Discover how to present your professional career in your resume

To describe your professional experience, there is a minimum amount of information you must include in your application:

Your previous Position title
The company you worked for (Company name)
The address of your Employer (especially city and country)
The Date of the beginning and end of the employment relationship

But so few details do not say much about a professional experience.

The reason previous experience is given is not just to show what you did, but also to Prove, What you have learned, what competencies you have developed and what goals you have achieved.

Therefore, include a description or perhaps even a listing of the tasks and accomplishments of your work.

When describing your professional experiences, use specific, active verbs that express in a clear way what your operational function was.

Do not forget

You do not have to tell, but show (show, don’t tell).

List the Results on instead of the tasks, use Numbers instead of words!

"Thanks to my work, sales figures have increased" says next to nothing.

"After I was hired, sales increased 27% in the first quarter, thanks to the new appointment management system I implemented" Makes you want to hire you immediately!

Have you thought about how to present the results of your work? Very good, then we can move on to the next step!

#5 – Educational background in your resume: How to present your education in the best possible way

The more work experience you have, the less you need to talk about your education:

But in any case, you must include some information about your degree, studies, schooling and professional training in the resume.

For this information to make sense, you must indicate:

The Education degree, that you have acquired
The Institution (School, University etc.) where you have acquired it
The Date for the beginning and end of each educational program – it is essential to indicate the year, whereas you can omit the month and day if they are not necessary

Everything else is optional, starting with grades: You can decide for yourself if you want to insert them or not.

Carefully choose how much information you want to give based on the role education plays in your overall resume .

. and since the space available to you in the application is limited, you should not waste it with perhaps not so important information!

All clear so far?

Very good, then you are ready for the sixth important component!

#6 – How to state your skills in your resume

No matter how great your skills are, you can’t put them all in, you have to choose which ones to indicate.

A first rule is not to put anything you can boast about in the pub in the evening in your application.

But let’s look at what the really important information is!

1. Language and IT skills are indispensable

Language skills and Computer skills.

These skills play different roles depending on the type of work you are looking for, but are elements that you must always insert.

It is important, objective to remain.

If you are in possession of special diplomas and certificates or have completed further education courses, everything is good, because your competences are certified by an external institution.

However, should you assess your knowledge yourself, then be impartial.

Even more, relentlessly.

Also because practical evidence of language skills is among the most likely questions at an interview .

. and if you are put to the test, you will have to prove your real abilities!

Also, do not forget that Driving As a skill is considered.

You should always find a point in your resume where you indicate existing driving licenses and whether you have your own car at your disposal!

2. The skills that complete a resume

On the other hand, as far as the other skills are concerned, generally speaking, the Communication and organizational skills highlighted.

Write other "special" skills not just to fill up the lines. Look for real-life situations in which you brought these skills to bear, because one of the very common interview questions is this one:

"Can you give me an Example Name, In which you have used this skill?"

Also consider the professionalism of the accomplishments you want to cite as examples of your claims: organizing Saturday night for your friends might not be enough to convince a recruiter of your concrete ability to lead a team.

Are we done with skills?

Then the only thing missing is personal interests!

#7 – How recruiters evaluate your personal interests on a resume

Now we are at the last building block: personal interests.

You will ask yourself:

"Do I have to write my personal preferences in the application? Is it really important to indicate hobbies and interests in the resume?"

There is a single criteria to decide whether to add hobbies and personal passions:

Your usefulness.

Is the company’s idea of you influenced by your interests? And most importantly – it will influence them in a positive direction?

Consider the type of person the company is looking for and then see if that matches your hobby.

If the company is looking for energetic employees full of vitality, listing your enviable stamp collection might be a waste of space, while membership in an alpine club is a card you should play.

Each type of personal interest has potential and advantages, depending on the circumstances: choose carefully, because you will not have a second opportunity!

And so we have reached the end of the resume basics.

Let’s recap before we move on!

The ingredients for a successful resume are:

Personal and contact information (+ photo, if necessary)
Description
Work experience
Education
Skills
Personal interests

Good, then you are ready to move from theory to practice!

How to write a powerful resume [the practical structure of the resume]

What has been said so far will allow you to fill out a complete resume .

. but you can – and must – do more to stand out from the other applicants!

You’re about to see: these are the tips and guidelines, broken down by 7 topics:

The formatting
The bullet points (Bullet Points)
The Spelling mistake
The Number the pages
The tailored Drafting
The professional Expression
The resume-Format

Use these strategic points to discover how best to write each part of your application.

Let’s not waste time, let’s start!

#1 – The formatting: how to make your resume look completely different right away

Time to introduce yourself is short.

Whether recruiters have 6, 30, or 60 seconds for each resume, if you send off a poorly formatted application, you can be sure it will end up in the trash after only a cursory glance.

The classic – rating a book by its cover.

The competition is getting bigger and bigger, so by now the formal aspect is a sufficient reason to reject an applicant a priori.

You must take the same care with the layout as you do with the wording of the content, otherwise your efforts will have been wasted.

When it comes to the font you use to write your resume (the "cover"), there are 4 points to pay attention to:

The Font
The Font size
The Color
The Formatting

Let’s look at it in detail!

1. Discover the best font for resume

In the first place, the typeface (font), that is, the graphic appearance of the letters.

There are two different font styles:

Serif and Sans Serif.

The term "Serif" stands for the ornamental lines of the letters.

Serif fonts, then, have a decorative style, while the sans-serif fonts are essential, without ornamentation.

For a resume, it’s better to have a Sans Serif font choose without ornamental elements.

Helvetica, Arial, Lucida Sans and Verdana are some of the most widely used sans-serif fonts. Perhaps already too common, you could choose a more innovative font, but it should always be sans serif.

There are two advantages to using Sans Serif fonts:

You are from Recruiter easier to read
You prevent CV ParsingSoftware (Programs that some large companies use to deal with the applications they receive by the ton) misread the information and reject your resume.

The preferred font must therefore be be the most readable by humans as well as by software.

Once you have decided on a font, do not switch to another, but always write the resume with the same font.

2. The font size for the resume

There’s limited space in a resume to provide information to hiring decisions, and you can’t just shrink the letter size to save space.

Quite simply, if the font is too small, the recruiter will see your resume as unreadable and will not consider it. That’s right, that’s a diplomatic way of saying he’ll toss it in the trash without even a second’s hesitation.

The best font size for your resume is between 10 and 12.

Make sure it is easy to read, but without wasting space with a font that is too large.

3. The perfect font color for your resume

This is the fundamentally important point .

. and you will not show professionalism if you choose a different color for each line of your resume.

Do not use more than two colors: a single color is even better, at best Black.

Should you want to use a color other than black, carefully consider the outcome as well if you print the resume in black and white:

It is almost certain that recruiters will see it the same way.

Which, again, doesn’t mean you can’t highlight specifics on your resume.

And know something?

Puoi farlo anche senza usare colori: vediamo come!

You can do it without using other colors, and you can do it like this:

4. Highlight the most important details of your resume

You have three options to emphasize some details in your application:

Bold font, Underline and Italics.

Take the opportunity to highlight your achievements, the positions you have held, your best skills or most important degree titles. It is enough to highlight the right detail!

Remember though:

You should not exaggerate: if you try to emphasize everything .

. do not highlight anything!

And that concludes the chapter on formatting. Let’s move on to the next topic, outlines by points.

#2 – Bullet Point: Your resume has a 1 : 3 chance of being discarded if you don’t use this technique

Most of the recruiters consider the absence of one Skills List As such an important element that they will promptly throw out a resume without the list.

Don’t let such a detail slow you down!

The reason so much emphasis is placed on this list is because it forces the applicant to make his or her Competencies On a series of bullet points (bullet points) summarize, Which allows the hiring manager to see each element at a glance.

Show that you are proficient in bullet points: Paragraphs with 20 lines don’t get better just because a period comes before it!

They must therefore be short, symmetrical (all with the same spacing between the margins and, if possible, the same length) and written in the same way (if you start with a verb, always start with a verb).

The most important part?

Focus especially on the first three points:

Always list the elements in order of importance, starting with the most important, because this is where the recruiter’s attention is focused.

#3 – Avoid typos with these 3 simple steps

The grammar of your resume must be perfect.

End of the announcement.

And yet, 58% of all resumes contain spelling or grammatical errors (according to a CareerBuilder survey).

But do not worry!

If you follow these 3 pieces of advice, you can be sure to find all the mistakes of this type:

Read the resume several times attentively
When reading, start with the last word and end with the first word. This may sound strange, but our brains are so focused on the individual word, which increases the likelihood of spotting spelling errors.
Have others read through your resume. No matter how good you are at tricking your own mind, you have the result of hours of work in your hands that you know by heart. For this very reason, other viewpoints may reveal elements that you have overlooked.

After that!

#4 – How many pages does a successful resume need to have??

The CV may be no more than two A4 pages be long.

Exceptions are allowed for some situations (for example, for academic CVs), but usually it must be two pages.

And that’s already the maximum, because even Resumes with only a single page are very well received.

This is the space you have: very little, which is why you need to use it effectively.

Choosing what to write and what to leave out is one of the biggest challenges in creating a resume. That’s why there’s no point in avoiding it – you need to address it!

Would you like to know the best way to manage to write only two pages?

Yes, the photo shows a plane, not a file, but the concept remains the same:

Cut not just any text out, but little by little, what seems less important to you .

. until you have accomplished the titanic feat of reducing everything necessary to two pages!

Then read through everything several times, over and over, looking for an adverb in each passage that isn’t really necessary, or an adjective that could also be deleted, or perhaps a sentence you could formulate in fewer words.

Take out everything superfluous, then only the essential remains.

And that is.

You’ll see you don’t need more than two pages for an essential resume!

#5 – A tailor-made resume

When you decide how to design your resume and what elements to include, your only guiding criterion should be this:

A tailor-made structure.

You think you only have to write a resume once and then it will be good for many different job ads, maybe even all Job ads?

Attention, because then you are on the wrong track.

There is no such thing as a "one size fits all" resume (nothing "one-size-fits-all")!

If you really want to get concrete results, you need to write a resume for each individual job ad that fits it exactly: it needs to be modified and customized.

You do not know how to do it?

Don’t worry, you have a perfect model in hand: the text of the job advertisement.

If you use this text as a guide, it will be even easier for you to decide which elements to focus on from time to time.

The more one of your skills fits what the job ad says, the more important it is for that particular application.

But now do not fall into the blatant opposite: the resume and the job ad must be coherent, not identical!

Are you done customizing the parts?

Very good, but don’t conclude tailoring and fashion just yet, we are not done yet!

#6 – Following the mainstream is never an advantage: discover why

We still talk about fashion, but no longer in the sense of clothing: in this case, it’s about language fashion.

You have very little space available, so you should not waste it with words that are not very meaningful.

Swim against the current, leave the current buzzwords.

Meeting the company’s expectations doesn’t have to mean resorting to platitudes or buzzwords on everyone’s lips.

Take the word "creative" for example:

Sure, employers are looking for creative people.

And sure, yes, you are very creative.

But you just can’t manage to show that without using one of the three most commonly used words in professional profiles?

Once quite apart from the fact that this terminology has nothing to do with our everyday life .

Best, we have discussed almost everything you need to consider in order to write an effective resume.

Just one last note on resume format, then we’ll move on to refinement tips!

#7 – Everything you need to know about the resume format

The resume can take two forms: Paper form or digital form.

If you want to hand over your resume by hand or send it by regular mail, you need to choose the paper for the printout.

Of course, you could also print it on the label of a candy bar .

. but only if you are applying to a chocolate company.

Otherwise, professionalism applies.

A stylish, professional, serious resume, in a word, a meaningful resume.

All this means only one thing

White paper. Stop.

On the other hand, if you are sending the resume via email, the format is of fundamental importance.

You risk undoing hours of work just for the sake of compatibility of different programs.

After you are sure of your result, save your resume as PDF from.

PDF documents can always be viewed on any device as they have been saved. And that is exactly what you need!

With that, we’re done with the formal aspects of your resume .

. but wait a moment to get started on your application, because here are some special tips that can turn a good resume into a perfect resume!

5 saving tips for a professional resume [to the perfect resume and beyond]

After the basics and practice, now some special techniques:

These are specially selected five saving tips, to make your resume really professional!

#1 – Go beyond the resume with a cover letter

The resume alone is not enough.

Although it may sound strange – for an even better resume, you have to go beyond the resume itself.

You must use a write a letter of application.

But one really good, two sloppy lines are not enough.

You think it is complicated?

. but only if you know how to do it!

We should therefore treat this argument with due seriousness:

For this reason, we have prepared a detailed article on how to write a letter of application!

#2 – How to turn gaps in your resume into a strength

In an ideal professional career, with every job that ends, a new one begins:

In this way, the resume can show an – enviable – uninterrupted sequence of professional experiences.

Unfortunately, things are a little different in real life.

It doesn’t happen in real life, there are an infinite number of situations that all have one and the same consequence: time gaps in your resume.

Maybe your career history is about as smooth as the surface of the moon.

. but even with this can be done!

You just need to understand how to explain interruptions in your career.

If it is short interruption you can do it quite easily Cover up. It is enough to indicate only the beginning and end year of professional activity – and a gap of a few months disappears immediately.
If it is larger gap in your resume or you would rather not cover up the gap, then be honest and write what you have done!

A long trip, volunteer work, or maybe you’ve been devoted to family.

In none of these cases did you spend the time simply doing nothing: on the contrary, they were times of personal development from which you learned something important.

If you know how to communicate this in the right way, you will have turned a hole in your career into a strength .

. and are ready for the next tip!

#3 – Improve your resume day by day

Show your resume to as many other people as possible, never stop doing it.

This may seem like an unhelpful tip at first, but it’s worth its weight in gold: a simple habit that will make your resume better every day.

Each person has his own view, and what is perfect in the eyes of one, others still seems to be in need of improvement.

Writing a resume is a process of constant improvement and updating:

All suggestions should be taken into account, because this will enable you to do even better next time.

But who can give you the best tips for writing a resume?

Very simple: everyone.

your Friends, Who may have a clearer view of your skills and abilities than you do, in any case, a more objective
Your Related, Because they see you as different from everyone else
People who work in your field And who may have had some experience in your specific industry and its dynamics
And of course Recruiter, who deal with resumes from morning till night and probably still in their sleep

If the advice from all these people is still not enough, you can also turn to professionals:

There are Agencies, who are focused on Resume writing specialized in auditing and offer these services, and if you still feel unsure, it might be the right thing to do to contact these agencies.

We’ve talked so much about what to put in a resume that we almost forgot a fundamental point:

There are also topics that have no place in a resume!

#4 – 2 taboos that can ruin your resume

Two things you should NOT put on your resume, EVER:

Let’s look at this together!

1. The salary

Never state how much you earned in the previous position or how much you expect to earn in the new job!

Regarding the salary, there is an unwritten law:

Money is only talked about at an advanced stage of the selection process.

It’s too early for that in the resume, so don’t write anything about it.

2. Talking badly about previous colleagues and bosses

Also to be avoided is any negative statement about your previous employer.

It doesn’t matter how incompetent your boss, how lackadaisical your colleagues, how bad the product was: your application is about you, about what you succeeded in doing.

Always keep one positive – or at least neutral – tone when you write or speak about your experiences.

No one would accept someone into their company who so readily speaks badly about their colleagues and bosses!

And finally .

#5 – Resume samples: original or traditional?

There is no perfect template for the CV that you could take with your eyes closed. Purely Theoretically you could thus write a resume and include the information in the order you prefer.