5 new resume trends for job hunting success
Whether you are considering a career move, or just getting started, it’s easy to to just grab a template or add a new position or two and flip it off.
However this is a potential dangerous game and can make you look dated. Keeping up to date with the subtle shifts in resume trends is important to making that first impression with a potential employer. This requires at least annual refresh.
Depending on your industry and skill set there is no hard and fast rule, there are now snap chat resumes, webpage websites, 1 page info graphics and the standard clean and fresh word documents in PDF and word designed to sneak through the automated resume scanners.
However there are some underlying things things that you can be doing to make yourself stand out. These are my five new trends in resumes to consider for job hunting success. Love to hear what your thoughts are.
Trend One – Highlight your purpose and passion
Your resume should speak your core values, passion and purpose.
Businesses are recruiting and retaining people that share their purpose and values – and vice versa.
Good employers that are aware of the importance of engagement on the bottom line want to hire and retain talent that share their drive for making the companies vision a reality this needs to shine throughout your resume.
“I look for talented people who uphold my company’s core values and who have the potential to be future leaders…. Basically, I like to hire people–not positions.” Sharon Price John, CEO of Build-A-Bear Workshop. *http://fortune.com/2015/05/29/sharon-price-john-resume-tips/
Trend two – Focus on your accomplishments
Your resume actually isn’t about you. Its about the employer and what you can do for them.
Reading through countless resumes to see if a candidate is a good fit is time consuming and boring – you have approximately 8.3 seconds to stand out. To maximise interest levels in that time Your accomplishments need to pop so it is easy to see that you have a history of deliverying positive, measurable impact and get them to start to see how you can add value.
A skills based resume may be just the thing. Starts with a 30 – 40 word personal profile that describes who you are and why you would be a great hire for this job. This replaces the previously used career objective which talks about what you are going to get out of being hired. Then using clear sections to highlight in the “top” zone accomplishments, successes, awards and other major impacts. Be specific and measurable using quantifiable numbers where possible. more on skills based CV’s.
Trend three – Promote what you are good at
Warning ! Buzz words used as skills and competencies that are fillers not substantiated through your accomplishments, take up valuable space on your resume and unless substantiated or illustrated can come across as annoying and patronising to both recruiters and employers.
54% of employers are irritated by overused buzz words (career savvy.co.uk)
Illustrating transferable skills and competencies that you can bring to the role provide a window of opportunity for them to visualise you in the role and as part of the company. See how to lose the buzz here.
Transferable skills such as planning, computer skills, interpersonal, decision making, project management, research and analytical skills can be just as valuable as listing out roles and experience. More details on transferable skills from seek.com.au
These need to be substantiated through the formatting and content of your resume. For example if your resume is full of grammar and formatting errors and you have outlined you have exceptional business writing and communication skills – you may come across as us untrustworthy, dishonest and unreliable.
Trend Four – Sell your commitment to excellence through formatting.
Your resume is a marketing document. Regardless of how qualified you are if your resume doesn’t look good – you don’t look good. Straight up poor and inappropriate presentation can and will cost you the job.
Without any content taken into consideration the formatting of your resume will illustrate your attention to detail, how well educated you are on current trends and how seriously you take yourself and the job.
Who is your target audience? What are they looking for? Will it be read first by a recruiter or an employer ? Will the resume be likely to go through an automatic resume scanner for key words ? What type of industry to professional, trade or creative?
All of these will drive what type of document or other media CV you can and should use to illustrate your qualifications, experience, capabilities (such as design). It will also determine the size of your resume (usually brief) and what you sections you should include.
Don’t do it alone. Research online for benchmarks, seek assistance from mentors and business associates that you can trust to provide advice and critical assessment – not your mum who might know less than you do.
- The story of a guy that turned his resume into a snapchat story and got the job.
- How to create a infographic resume
- Personal website resumes
- Helpful tips to make your resume scanner proof
- Examples of creative resumes
- Declutter your linked in profile and clarify your brand
- Creating an all star Linked in Profile
Trend five – Don’t ignore your social media presence
If you pass the preliminary 8.3 scan of your resume you are likely to be Facebook, linked in and google stalked by the recruiter or employer. Your online brand and what they find can add weight or detract from your application.
Who we are online creates our brand and provides further information to substantiate capabilities, expertise that we will provide valuable benefit to the employer.
Participating professionally in online forums such as Facebook forums and linked in, writing articles and presenting at conferences add substance that shouldn’t be ignored. Also not to be ignored is our linked in profile, Facebook About section, profile pictures and any images and posts that are public.
