You might have the best interview skills in the world, but they will count for nothing if you can’t get a seat at the interview table. Before you get to meet the person who will ultimately give you your dream job, you need to convince them to have a look at you. For this, you will need to sell yourself in writing. Read on to discover seven tips for writing a killer resume.

Tip 1. Identify the Keywords

The best place to start when crafting your killer resume is by reading the job advertisement. As you go through, identify the keywords so you can use these in your resume. Pay particular attention to requirements, skills, and qualifications required for the job, and look out for words like ‘administration,’ ‘management,’ etc.

Tip 2. Review Other Resumes For Similar Jobs

There is no need to reinvent the wheel! If you know something has worked before, look at it and adapt it to your situation. When making it your own, ensure that you keep it flowing and easy to read. Don’t elaborate too much; your potential employer will be reading dozens of resumes, so keep it brief. Anyway, you can go into more detail at the interview! Also, include numbers, such as “I increased sales by 50%.”

Tip 3. Make It Look Professional

If your resume doesn’t look the part, your potential boss might not give it a second glance. Keep the font plain and professional – definitely NO COMIC SANS! Also, keep the font to size 10 or 12 and do not have the margins too wide or narrow – the Word default or thereabouts is fine. Finally, don’t over-use subheadings.

Tip 4. Include the Most Relevant Information First

Your killer resume will be two sides of A4-size paper maximum, so you don’t have much room in which to sell yourself. Having gone through the advertisement, you’ll understand what information is crucial. Include this information first in your resume, and then cascade it down through the less relevant details.

Tip 5. Use Active Language

You want to let your potential employer know that you are a person of action, so tell them what you’ve done and what you do. Use statements starting with “I achieved,” “I sold’,” “I completed,” and so on.

Tip 6. Highlight Your Key Achievements

Rather than simply reeling off a list of jobs you’ve done and when you did them, concentrate on what you achieved in those specific roles.

Tip 7. Proofread and edit

Before you send off your resume, ensure that you proofread and edit it. Better still, get a friend or colleague to proofread it for you, as it is often easy to miss an error if you’ve been working on a document for some time.

Conclusion

To even have a chance of getting an interview, you will need to produce a slick, professional, well-written, and flawless resume. Hopefully, these seven tips will help you write a killer resume and get the job of your dreams.