When you send your resume to an organization, you not only send the details of your work experience and educational qualification but your resume acts as a mouthpiece for you. Therefore, when a person reads your resume, it needs to be effective in grabbing their attention and satisfying their needs for the role you have applied for.
We have gathered a few points that you need to work on to help you with your resume and get you your first job!
Here are the Top 10 Resume Tips For Freshers in 2023
1. Make it Simple
The key to making a resume is to keep it as simple as possible. You don’t have to add unnecessary colors and designs to it. All you need is a space where you can add all the necessary information and structure it in such a way that it looks pleasing to the eyes. So, the first and foremost thing is your name and contact details. Make sure they are written in a clear and bold font at the top of the resume. You can also add your address if the job demands you to relocate.
#Pro Tip: Use the Google Docs template to make a fine resume. You get plenty of templates there, choose the one that suits your requirements the most.
2. Identify What’s Most Important to the Company
Before applying for a job in a company, you need to read all about what that company expects from you. Therefore, look for these things and add these to your resume:
- What responsibilities are mentioned first? What’s mentioned lower down and might be less important?
- What specific requirements for qualifications do they list?
- Are any themes repeated throughout? (like leadership, multitasking, organization, etc.)
3. Match Your Resume Content with the Job Description
You want to tailor your resume to the job description by matching the most important things on the job description with the most visible areas of your resume. Make the first few Bullet points under each previous job on your resume as relevant as possible so that the person reading it does not get confused.
4. Add a Resume Summary Paragraph
Add a Resume Summary Paragraph as it plays a crucial role in deciding your fate in the organization. In this summary add a high-level overview of your career and abilities while naming several of your key accomplishments.
#Pro Tip: Avoid adding a resume objective since a hiring manager knows that your objective is to obtain the position you’ve applied for.
5. Attach the Employment History
However, here we are talking about freshers, and everyone might not have worked before. But if you have done any kind of internship or freelancing in your college time then this section is important too. Mention all about your last job and what you learned during the tenure. As, most hiring managers prefer to look immediately at your work experience section after opening your resume, to see if you’re a fit for their job. Even if you are a fresher, you must add whatever experience/on-field/hands-on knowledge you possess for the particular role.
Pro Tip #1: Be sure to include bullet points to make this resume section more skimmable.
Pro Tip #2: You can directly add your educational qualifications if you do have not much to add in the experience section.
6. Provide Compelling Evidence
In 2023, managers don’t need to know what you were responsible for in your previous experiences. They need to know what results you were able to get. Therefore, you need to be specific: add facts, figures, examples, and stories to your resume wherever possible. Numbers and figures have a direct impact on the reader’s mind as they show how confident you are about our skills and services.
Example 1: Managed 4-5 simultaneous projects including all timelines, goals, and results. Frequently required to make scheduling adjustments as new projects were initiated.
Example 2: Gathered 60K+ impressions on a client’s post within a week of working as the head of the personal branding team.
7. Give a Skills Portfolio
Your skills are your assets. Therefore, make sure you flex about them as much as you can in your resume. List down all the skills you possess which are relevant to the specific job and have your next employer swooning over your abilities. Thus, highlighting a list of your hard and soft skills plus the abilities that you have learned or used across all of your experience is a must.
Note: Focus mainly on discussing skills that will help you in the job you want.
Examples of skills: Problem-solving skills, Adobe Illustrator, Canva Pro, Video Editing, etc.
8. Make it ATS Friendly
Many companies use ATS software to manage and filter job applications and if your resume doesn’t meet the criteria it may never make it to a human reviewer.
Thus, make sure you are resume includes these 5 points:
- Use keywords – Make sure your resume includes the relevant keywords and phrases that are listed in the job description.
- Use a clear format – Avoid using Graphics images or Complex formatting as these can confuse the system.
- Use and ATS compatible format – Most ATS software can read and parse PDF, Word, and plain text files. Choose one of these formats to ensure it passes by the system
- Include contact information – This will help the ATS identify and save your resume correctly.
- Double-check for errors – Typos, spelling mistakes, and grammatical errors can cause problems for the ATS and lower your chances of getting through the system.
9. Reorder, Add, Remove
When you are writing your resume for the first time, it is natural to type in a flow. However, it is important to reorder, add or remove things once you are done writing. You don’t have to add everything you have done in your work life to a resume. If you have a lot to add, make sure you do that in your master resume so that you can easily copy-paste what is needed to tailor a resume for a particular role.
10. Review Everything
Before finalizing the resume, make sure you review it yourself. After all, you are your first judge. Make sure there are no grammatical errors as they are a big turn-off to not only humans but also the bot who will be reviewing your resume first.
#Pro Tip: Once you have your first draft, let it sit for a couple of hours/a day or two, and come back to it to review it. See if you have got everything that is necessary and haven’t missed out on anything that can be a sure-shot way to get you the job. Set your cards wisely before you show them to the world!
Conclusion
All the above-mentioned points are a little technical. However, you are a human and it is your creativity and story that will take you miles. Therefore, make sure your resume is able to tell your story clearly. Your career trajectory and the reasons (with evidence) that shows you’re a perfect fit for the role you are applying for.
Frequently Asked Questions
Q1. What is the 30-second resume rule?
In this competitive world, your resume must get on the pile of candidates in 30 seconds because after this time unimpressive resumes get rejected and you might lose the chance. Therefore, it is important that your resume is made properly.
Q2. Which is the best resume format?
However, there are many formats that can be used for preparing a resume but the best one is the chronological resume format. In this, the work history is listed by job title from the current to the first.
Q3. What are the three F’s of the resume?
The three F’s on the resume are as follows:
- Function
- Format
- Focus
Q4. What are the two basic types of resumes?
These two basic types of resumes are:
- Chronological resume
- Functional resume
