Your resume is the first chance you get to make a good impression with the hiring team at the company you’re applying to. 

And while it can be difficult to:

• identify what employers are looking for
• describe your skills and experience best
• know what mistakes to avoid

While you’re writing your resume, these are important factors to consider! Here are Balance Staffing’s 5 universal tips attention-grabbing resume writing that will make you stand out from the crowd:

1. Cover the basics

2. Identify strong keywords

3. Do your research

4. Be clear, concise, and quantitative

5. Customize and review

Cover the basics

Be sure to include:

• your name
• phone number
• email address 
• and links to your website, LinkedIn, or other applicable social media profiles

Next, you’ll want to give the person reading your resume incentive to keep reading by clearly outlining your experience, skills, and expertise in an objective statement or paragraph. 

Years ago, it was a common practice for resumes to include an objective statement just below your contact information that outlined your goals in job searching as well as a high level overview of your experience. 

Today, it’s more common to include a short, inclusive paragraph that reads like a profile or an elevator pitch to the hiring team. 

Use 2-3 sentences to:

• summarize your experience and training
• highlight specific skills
• expand on your qualifications for the role you’re applying to

Identify strong keywords

As you’re applying to jobs and writing your resume, be sure to:

1. read each job description carefully
   • so you’ll be able to understand exactly what the employer is looking for
2. identify keywords that show what skills or training the employer is seeking for this role
   • so you’ll know exactly what to include or exclude in your summary, resume, and/ or cover letter
3. include applicable keywords in your resume where they apply
   • so you’ll be able to grab the employers’ eye as they’re scanning your resume

You can use an online keyword finding software, or try to analyze the description to identify keywords that highlight a specific program, language proficiency, team dynamic, or particular skill.

Utilizing keywords can help your resume pass through an applicant tracking software (ATS) system, a system that many companies may use to track and sort candidate information.

Do your research

• Review company information, including their mission statement, values and beliefs, and other information shared in the About Us section of a website
• Review company information
  •  including mission statement, values, and other information shared in an About Us section of a website
• Align your experience, keywords 
  • from the job description that you want to highlight into your resume
• Break through writer’s block by reviewing  other resumes in your industry 
  • try this to get an idea of how others describe similar skills and experience

Be clear, concise, and quantitative

In 2017, LinkedIn published research that revealed employers spend an average of 6 seconds reading an individual resume. Here are a few tips to ensure those 6 seconds are as impactful as possible:

Be clear:

• Choose a simple layout
• Choose a font and a font size that is easy to read (Arial or Times New Roman, no smaller than 10 points)
• Include relevant information and objectives in your introduction paragraph

Be concise:

• Keep each section short and only include key information
• Add a “skills” or “awards and achievements” section if you feel your resume needs more

Be quantitative:

Use numbers; employers are highly responsive to metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs) because it allows them to better understand your value and what you’re bringing to the table.

For example, one point under the experience description for a retail sales associate reads, “Established strong relationships with clients and drove store sales with an average of $150 average sales per transaction (AST) and 4.5 units per transitions (UPT).

Try to include only the most relevant work experience, achievements, education and skills. You can identify these attributes by closely reading the job description. Once you identify important information, prioritize this information higher on your resume to draw attention to these key skills and achievements.

If you’d like to see how other resumes describe your role or experience, try searching for free resume writing online services to understand how to write in a professional manner, accurately describe your expertise, and what information to include or exclude.

Customize and review

• Proofread to double check spelling and grammar
• Run your resume through a free text to speech tool to hear how your writing sounds aloud
• Be sure you included all relevant information

If you’re looking for pre-formatted resume templates, or if you know your resume will be run through an Applicant Tracking Software (ATS) and will need a Word document version, check out Microsoft Office 365’s Resume Templates for different options.

These tips for resume writing will help you establish your professional writing voice and craft a high-quality resume. The more and more you practice, the easier and easier it will become to write and update your resume. Ultimately, employers want to hire high-quality candidates and having a strongly written resume is one of the best ways to ensure you close the window on securing an interview.