25 Expert Resume Writing Tips to Make Your Resume Standout

There are several websites across the internet from across the globe, trying to get you a handful of resume writing tips about how to design a winning resume. But if you are confused about which one to follow and which can be skipped for being not so important can end up making a resume that is not up to the mark.

Here we have 25 best resume writing tips given by expert resume writing services, and you can follow them with your heart and mind.

20 Expert Resume Writing Tips to Make Your Resume Standout.

1.     Back up your resume with skills and traits: 

You want to impress the hiring managers with your strengths and qualities, and the concept is legit. But rather than creating a long list of all your strengths, try to back them up with real-life experiences or work experiences.

2.     Choose the right keywords: 

Right keywords in your resume make you more visible over the internet in front of the hiring managers. Make sure that you upload the same resume everywhere like LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. The HRs can find you from the digital database easily.

3.     Use extraordinary titles:

 The hiring managers judge your resume after just spending 5 seconds on that, which means that your resume doesn’t get in-depth attention before getting judged. It’s your titles that can be seen, and that is the reason why all the websites providing resume writing tips keep asking you to choose headings that help you to stand out.

4.     Use action verbs for resume: 

Using the action verbs appropriately in your resume is as important as having a professional resume. There are 185 most strong action verbs that you can use while establishing your achievements and success in your resume. Choose perfect action verbs that increase the legitimacy of the statement.

5.     Try to stick to a one-page resume: 

Your resume generally must be of one or two pages. A document having more than one or two pages is not called a resume anymore, and you can call that a CV. Try to put all the information about you in a compact manner and if possible, on one page.

6.     Focus upon your LinkedIn profile creation:

 Your LinkedIn profile is your first and most important professional social media presence. You need to have an up to the mark LinkedIn profile to get the attention of the hiring managers who might be searching for you over the internet. Remember that a LinkedIn profile is a must-have for every job seeker.

7.     Make your writing impressive with bullet points: 

Don’t make your resume look like slabs or word blocks. Making your resume looking clean and making it more readable can enhance your scope of getting selected. Use bullet points under the subheadings or main headings wherever needed.

8.     Proofread your resume before sending it: 

Use a proofreading application like Grammarly to proofread your resume before sending it to the hiring managers. Your resume must not have any grammatical mistakes which can decrease your integrity. You can also go for human proofreading after using all the possible apps to proofread your resume or take help from professional CV writing services.

9.     Put the important information first: 

Your life is full of events, but your resume doesn’t need to hold all the life events that you have been through. When you got just one or two pages to impress the hiring managers, you need to be very choosy about what you add to your resume. Putting crucial information only is a mandatory thing to do to your resume writing, but prioritize essential mentions to be on top.

10. Create a social media resume: 

Having a physical or visual resume or creating a LinkedIn profile is not enough. You need to create your personal-professional branding for the sake of getting a dream job. You can learn from different websites for how to create a social media resume.

11. Bring on the numbers: 

It is not the phone numbers that you add in the contact information segment of the resume, you need to have more numerology intervention to make your resume attractive. Using numbers to your resume means that you can quantify your achievements in your resume. As per the resume writing rules, adding percentages, amounts and especially the dollar (or rupees) sign can steal the glances of hiring managers.

12. Be sure about the facts: 

You don’t need to create fictitious stories to make an impression. Make sure that everything that you choose to share about yourself to the hiring managers must be backed with all truths and facts and not lies. If you are asked to establish a piece of evidence you must be able to do so.

13. Write an impactful summary:

 If you are writing a summary on LinkedIn or Twitter, make it eye catchy and full of information. You need to mention how skilled you are and how you can be beneficial for an organization while using those skills.

14. Brand Yourself as an individual:

 Branding yourself as an individual is a winning resume writing tip. You can mention about you and your skills on your social media profiles, or even create Facebook pages and website for your branding.

15. Add no picture to your resume: 

Though you look astoundingly gorgeous that is not going to help while getting a job or maybe applying for a job position. Your resume must not carry an image until you are applying for a job where your physical traits are the most essential and considerable factors. If you are asked to add a picture by the employers, you can go for it.

16. Write a different resume for each employer:

 It’s not one resume that fits all the job applications. If you are applying for different job positions or applying for the same job position in various organizations, you need to alter your resume according to the need or requirements of the organization. Thus, having an exclusive resume for every employer is a better resume writing tip.

17. Explain the benefits of your skills: 

Though you have attained many skills and have demonstrated all of them in your resume, they are not of any use, until your employers can fathom, how those are going to help them or their organization. Be a little specific about the usage of those skills you have.

18. Set your font size to 10-12: 

Font size is an imperative factor when we talk about making an impactful resume. As per our resume writing tips, you need to be specific about every font size, including the headings, subheadings or even the bullet points. The standard font size which makes your resume look good while creating some space is 10 to 12.

19. Use multiple subheadings: 

You need to use subheadings to put all the information separately in your resume. For example, if you have used the Resume headline to write your work experiences, the subtitles will help you to write the experiences you gained in different organizations.

20. Include social media URLs:

 If you have a professional website, blog or remarkable social media presence that you think can aid your job search, do not forget to mention those URLs in your visual or infographic resume. Twitter and LinkedIn URLs are the must-have of your resume.

21. Use professionally designed resume format:

 There are many resume formats available on the internet and even with professional resume writing services. The arrangements of the resumes are designed based on the industry and also vary along with the job position you are applying for. Among many such resume design formats, you must choose the one which suits you the best.

22. Read the job description again and again: 

You don’t need to go through any resume writing tip to know that reading the job description by the employer helps you to understand what exactly they are looking for in their employees and if you fit those. You can also alter your resume according to the requirements of the employers.

23. Balance the white space: 

The experts in their resume writing tips, share how important it is to manage the white areas in your resume correctly. The distance between the headings and subheadings also needs to be taken care of professionally.

24. Add a cover letter that matches your resume: 

You need to have a cover letter to be sent along with your resume. The professional resume writing tips teach you to be sure that everything you update or make any changes to your resume you must not forget your cover letter. Your cover letter must carry the information you have chosen to mention in your resume.

25. Mention whom you work with: 

Don’t skip the names of the organizations you have worked with previously. As per the expert resume writing tips, “Worked with renowned MNC” is far better than “Worked with TCS”.

It can’t be easy to remember all the small details when you’re trying to figure out how to write a great resume. But if you follow these resume tips and tricks you make your resume stand out, get an interview, and help land your dream job.

Source: Expert Resume Writing Tips To Take You Closer To Your Dream Job

30 Words You Should Never Use in a Resume

A resume is a gateway for a great job. You can create a great first impression while seeking employment in front of the managers with your resume alone. In the queue of many job seekers, you need to stand out with your resume. On average, the hiring managers spend only 5 to 20 seconds while reviewing your resume. Thus, it would help if you are mindful of the words that you must add and the words to avoid in a resume.

While your resume needs to be attractive, it must also contain the information they want to see in the resume. Choosing a fancy or beautiful template is not enough to impress the hiring managers. Now, if you are thinking that how to make a resume, the first thing you need to know is you must be very mindful about what you are adding and how you are choosing your words while creating a professional resume to benefit your job search.

The first thing that you need to do to make an apt resume is to avoid resume writing mistakes. If your resume looks cool but is full of silly mistakes, you can’t make it suitable for the job you are applying to. Instead, you must be focused on creating an error-free resume, even though you stick to a basic looking one.

While there are words you must add to your resume, and there are words to avoid in the resume too. Here is a list of worst words to add to your resume and it will be better if you can avoid using them instead.

Here are 30 words to avoid in a resume and make it appropriate for your job search

1. Unemployed:

Though you are not currently working with any organization and the state of your current working situation merely is “unemployed”, but you still don’t need to use the word in your resume. When you are adding the working span in your previous organization, the hiring managers can find out themselves that you are not working at this moment and is unemployed.

2. Microsoft Office:

Everyone writing a resume to apply for a job tries to add as many skills as they van to their resume. While you alone or along with a professional resume writer, making your list of skills to be added to the resume, try to add skills that are relevant to the job profile you are applying for and not the ones which are not skills at all. Having a command upon Microsoft is not a skill.

3. Hard Worker:

Everyone who is applying for a job promise to work hard for the organization. Also, no one claims themselves to be not so hard working in their last job. Being hardworking is not a skill that you need to be proud of. Being diligent is an ethic that you must have in life, be it your job or your personal life. In the end, the employers need the given task to be completed, either you choose to work hard or work smart instead.

4. Creative:

This is one of the words to avoid in a resume as it can be replaced with something more soothing and useful, like “worked with a team of creative people.” Demanding to be someone creative is a bit more exaggerating.

5. Reference Available upon request:

This is an outdated term that is unnecessary at the same time. If the hiring managers feel that they must have some recommendations from your previous organization, they will ask for it. As per the modern resume writing rules, you don’t mention the term in your resume.

6. I, He, Him, Her:

You must not forget 1st or 3rd person words to avoid in a resume. It is you who have written the resume for yourself and not someone else. Thus, you don’t need to mention phrases like

 “I worked with….”

“I led a team…..” 

7. Expert:

Unless you indeed are an expert in something, you must refrain from using the phrase in your resume. But if you think that you must mention, you must also get prepared with answers to the questions regarding your expertise.

8. Can’t:

You must choose negative words to avoid in a resume. Your resume must demonstrate your skills and must mention things that you can do.

9. Responsible for:

If you are using an online resume builder and are being suggested with the term repeatedly in your resume to demonstrate your scope of work, then this is the high time you stop overusing the word.

10. Result Oriented:

Everyone is result oriented in an organization. You are hired and get paid to get some results for the organization.Thus, being result-oriented is pretty evident for all the job seekers. It is not a skill, and you can replace this term with suitable examples from your previous job experience in your cv writing.

11.  Highly Qualified:

There is not any parameter to justify the term ‘highly qualified.’ There are ample of skills available in this world which you don’t even know. Thus, being highly qualified is unrealistic and among the words to avoid in a resume.

12. Energetic:

You can’t measure your energy in ‘Horsepower’ in your resume. Thus energetic is a term you don’t need to use. You are energetic means absolutely nothing in the professional aspect facet.

13. Out of the box:

This is probably the phrases which have already bored the hiring managers. This phrase is overused, and if you are willing to demonstrate your creative thinking skill with the words, stop and replace the same with something better.

14. Savvy:

‘I am a tech-savvy’ or ‘internet savvy’ – these are the words to avoid in a resume if you want it to look like a professional one.

15. Smart:

Being smart is a personality trait, like being honest is a quality. Your resume must contain relevant information about you. Being smart is not a skill it is given and thus, it will be a smarter option you choose such words to avoid in a resume.

16. Professional:

You can only prove your professionalism once you are hired by an organization or maybe during the interview process. Thus, rather than being self-remarking about you being professional, let your hiring managers decide that.

17. Team Player:

It is hard to prove if you are a team player or not. This term is prevalent, and most of the resume carries this easy to say but hard to prove term. You must have some genuine example where you have worked in a team or have mentored a group of people. As per our resume writing tips, you can better choose some other action verb to replace the term.

18. Honesty:

Honesty is a virtue quality, and the hiring managers have to do nothing with a person who is honest by nature. This is especially the quality of the right people.

19. Punctual:

Punctuality is a professional characteristic that is expected from everyone in the workplace. Thus, if you value your own time, it is a better choice for you and you don’t need to showcase that.

20. Synergy:

This sounds like a trendy term. But your hiring managers can find this to one of the cv buzzwords to avoid. The use of specific action verbs in every place is a must-do thing while writing your resume. If you are “collaborating” or “interacting” with various departments, stick to using those terms only to clarify what you mean to say.

21. Intelligent:

Your intelligence can be tested only when you are dealing with some real-life challenges. The word deserves to be justified rather than just mentioned.

22. Influential:

Many words that you choose can have a negative impact too. This is among the words to avoid in a resume as the hiring managers can misinterpret this term to be challenging for the workplace.

23. Best of Breed:

The word sounds like an annoying one. This is not some club dog show winner we are talking about, but it is you who is being represented.

24. Communication Skills:

You need to have some validated parameters while you are trying to demonstrate any of your skills. While you use the word communication skills on your resume, it sounds to be very self-serving.

25. Talented:

The definition of talent varies from person to person. While something you claim to be your talent may be fundamental to someone else, on another hand, when you demand to have specific expertise, maybe not so required skill for the organization you are applying for. Isn’t it a better idea to let your organization and hiring managers to find you are talented through some examples?

26. Go-getter:

Don’t you think the term is a real cliché? The term is generally used to demonstrate that the job seeker is an initiative taker, but rather than using the term, you must be specific with some examples. Professional resume writing services will suggest you write examples that are way much persuasive than using any word.

27. Strategic Thinker:

Being able to think strategically can help you to have a better life for yourself. Thus, if you are blessed with the skill or have achieved that, it’s a great thing for you and not for the hiring managers to know until you can prove it.

28. Dynamic:

Being dynamic is more a personality trait than a skill to be added to your resume. There is no way you can follow to prove your outgoing personality in your resume. If you think that your dynamic nature can help the organization somehow, try to demonstrate some examples.

29. Detail Oriented:

This is one of the most suggested words to avoid in a resume. You can demonstrate the skill in your resume itself by arranging your resume information in a proper way, rather than just using the phrase. You can use more polished words instead and can also give some examples for the same from your previous work experiences.

30. Bottom Line:

The hiring managers want to know about your achievements in the previous organization. Instead of using the term bottom line, try to quantify your progress in the last organization.

Source: 30 words to avoid in a resume