Technology has made work more complicated because it requires more sophisticated job skills. It’s also made looking for work more complicated because it takes longer to explain exactly what we accomplished and how.
Plus, many recruiters and HR professionals now use technology that screens resumes for certain keywords, keywords that are supposed to show a candidate has the needed experience and know-how to do the job.
Submitted resumes tend to head first to a company’s recruitment database, allowing recruiters to find several candidates with the exact skills they’re looking for in mere seconds.
And, with the pandemic making it even harder to look for work, now what?
Here’s what:
Resume Rules for the 2020s
- Focus!
Your resume needs to be as focused as possible on the particular job to which you’re applying. Does that mean you’ll need to change up the resume for every job? Yes!
Don’t worry, you won’t need to do a complete re-write; but you do need to re-work it so that you clearly showcase the skills and background you possess that the job description requests.
- Create a resume that speaks to both the computer algorithm’s and the recruiters/hiring manager’s needs.
How to do so? Make the resume’s first page all about the position’s needs, such as skills and education/experience background. Doing so will help it rank higher in the recruiter’s search results because the keywords that describe your job skills and education, etc., often are the same keywords the company’s computer looks for.
You also should have a descriptive phrase at the beginning of that first page that “tells a story” about how you can do the job.
Doing so helps draw the recruiter in and helps make the argument that your resume is one to look at, thus encouraging the recruiter to read your resume carefully.
- The “resumes should be one-page only, unless you have a LOT of experience” rule really no longer applies.
Not that you should pack everything into your resume. No. But if you have a lot of experience that’s applicable to the job opening and you can stay focused on showcasing how that experience and skills applies to this job (and you edit that experience tightly), a two- or even three-page resume should be fine.
Here’s why: leaving out relevant keywords and information could mean the database algorithm misses your resume and you’ll thus have less of a chance of it being read and – most importantly – “selling” whoever reads it on your skills.
Don’t worry: recruiters are happy to read “long” resumes…so long as they provide value.
Bottom line: the key to resume success in 2020 is to include appropriate keywords AND making it easy for a recruiter/hiring manager to see how you’ll provide value and help the company solve the problems the position is supposed to solve.
Most people don’t know how to do this. But you now do. So move ahead: create a resume that does that and you’ll have a leg up on other people applying for the same position!
Helpmates always is looking for great people to work on assignment with our clients. Take a look at our current opportunities and, if one or more look interesting, follow the listing’s instructions to apply.
