A corporate job posting easily attracts 250 resumes on average. Out of these, employers will call 4 to 6 in for an interview and then select only 1 candidate for the job. Given the cut-throat competition, hopeful employees must draft an attractive resume.

There are several key components of an effective resume, and as a layperson, it’s easy to overlook the impact a well-rounded resume has on employment prospects. A recruiter spends just 7.4 seconds on a resume, which makes it even more important to hook the reader right from the start.

When you draft a resume, you need to keep the employer in mind and what they want to read. You would be surprised to know that beyond your skills and experience, a recruiter is also looking for an eloquent and error-free piece of writing. If you don’t have the time or skills, it pays to hire professional resume writers as this will increase your chances of getting high-demand jobs.

If you want an overview, here are some of the key aspects that recruiters find to be useful in a CV or resume. But that’s not all. There are many aspects that go into an effective resume, and this guide will walk you through each of them.

Stats for resume

https://www.statista.com/statistics/504364/important-cv-aspects-to-recruiters/

1. Formatting and Design

Employer-reading-a-resume

A whopping 95% of resumes never get read. If you want to escape the resume black hole, you need to improve your resume readability. As we mentioned earlier, most recruiters merely scan through the resume, so you need to make it skimmable by leveraging fonts, margins, and spacing. Optimizing your resume’s formatting will increase the time your resume spends in your recruiter’s hands.

There are three key design features that you want to focus on. If your resume looks too cramped or spills over to the second page, it might easily put off the recruiter.

Margins

In such an instance, you should widen the margins to a range between ½ inch and 1 inch. Smaller or larger margins will negatively impact the readability of the resume.

Spacing

You should also be careful to employ consistent spacing throughout the content, all the while ensuring you give your document just enough breathing room.

Font

Fonts play an integral role in the readability of your resume. Research shows that the easiest to read fonts that recruiters prefer are as follows:

  • Arial
  • Helvetica
  • Times New Roman
  • Trebuchet MS
  • Georgia

2. Contact Information

 

Recruiter-calling-an-employee

Resume mistakes often become deal-breakers. A 2018 survey showed that 70%

of employers said mistakes like missing contact information or an incorrect email address were enough to turn down an applicant before they even completed reading the resume.

While adding contact information seems like a no-brainer, you’d be surprised to know how detrimental it can be if you don’t get something as simple as that right.

You should add your contact information at the top of the resume. Make sure you include your updated email address and phone number, so employers have multiple ways of contacting you. You might even consider adding your physical address and website address so employers can get to know about you more quickly. However, if you aren’t comfortable listing your physical address, you can just add your city and state. Depending on the job position you are applying for, you can even include your social media handles and blog.

Most job seekers fail to realize that employers will not fend for your contact information. It should be bold and clear so employers don’t have to search for it. It would help if you made the contact information bolder and larger than the rest of the resume to make it inviting and easy to see.

3. Relevant Experience

Most people mistake using the same resume for every job post. Recruiters mentioned in a survey that a crucial mistake job seekers make is adding every experience, every part-time job that they have ever done since college in their resume. For example, mentioning that you worked at a restaurant chain for 6 months is irrelevant to a resume application for an engineering job post. The co-founder of Underdog.io says the addition of irrelevant work experience shows laziness and a lack of understanding of the job.

Moreover, if you have significant gaps in your resume, employers will definitely notice it. Stay one step ahead and address this yourself. Professional resume writers have the necessary skills to present any gap in your resume in a way that will address all your employer’s concerns.

If you don’t have time to draft a different resume each time you apply for a job, you should enlist the services of a resume writing service. In addition, 80.4% of resume problems stem from errors in previous job experience descriptions. You don’t need lengthy paragraphs describing what you did. Instead, you should dedicate a section of your resume to relevant experiences. You should add the companies you’ve worked for, including your job title. You then need a clear and brief description of your past roles and responsibilities. This is why resume writing is an art in itself. You need excellent writing skills to sum up your previous experiences in a professional manner.

4. Cover Letter

 

Man-writing-a-cover-letter

Some people might argue that cover letters are redundant, but research shows that 26% of employers prefer reading cover letters and term them crucial in their hiring decision. Some job positions demand a cover letter to give them a better idea of how you would be suitable for the job.

Regardless, it’s always better to supplement your resume with a well put-together cover letter. Adding a cover letter highlights what you will offer to the job position and also indicates your willingness to go above and beyond for the role. This eagerness is just what will give you an edge over other candidates.

A cover letter essentially expresses your interest in the job and what will set you apart from other candidates. No matter how well-rounded your resume is, how do you ensure it catches the employer’s eye? A well-written cover letter gets you the attention you deserve, so you should definitely add it to your resume. In the quest for job hunting, job seekers hardly have the time to write a different cover letter for every different job. But this doesn’t mean you should put yourself at a disadvantage-simply hire professional resume writers who will create a cover letter that makes an impact and engages the employer from the get-go.

5. Keywords

 

Keywords

In today’s digital age, keywords and keyphrases are important everywhere, even in the job sphere. Electronic resumes have replaced paper resumes. As a job seeker, you should always assume that your resume will be run through an applicant tracking system (ATS) to separate the qualified candidates from the unqualified ones. Instead of HR managers scouring through paper resumes, a digital database searches resumes for keywords relevant to the job description. If your resume doesn’t include the relevant keywords, you should consider yourself overlooked, especially on job applications like LinkedIn. Is that a risk you’re willing to take?

The aim of resume keywords is to get noticed. Since an employer merely scans the resume, these industry-specific keywords will help your application stand out. But how do you find out which keywords to use? Incorporating keywords from the job description as well as common industry jargon will you’re your resume stand out. However, simply adding a list of keywords will look stuffy and forced. Each keyword should be organically embedded into the resume to make the resume easy to read and understand.

You can hire professional resume writers who will dedicate the time and effort to understand what the employer wants. They will then combine SEO expertise with resume writing to create content that will increase your chances of landing the ideal job.

6. Professionalism

Job-interview

According to employers, grammatical and spelling errors show a potential candidate’s laziness and lack of seriousness for the job. After all, if you didn’t even bother proofreading your resume, how motivated would you be to give your 100% to the role you’re applying for?

Drafting a resume leaves no room for error. Everything has to look and read professionally, from the tone to the verbiage to the grammar. While these details may seem irrelevant to you as a candidate, typos and basic grammatical errors could be the difference between you getting rejected and hired.

Hiring a resume writing service will ensure that your application has the professional touch your employer is looking for. Informal language and overlooked errors will fail to make an impression, so make sure you don’t lose out on a role over something so minor.

Want To Get Noticed By Your Employers? Hire Professional Resume Writing Services

Writing a resume from an employer’s perspective is not easy, no matter how good a writer you are. Many components go into the making of an effective resume, and incorporating each one of them requires time and expertise.

Content Development Pros is a professional resume writing service with extensive experience drafting customized resumes for clients applying for jobs in a range of industries from marketing, engineering, healthcare, and more. These resumes are suitable for job portals like LinkedIn and submitting to employers. We understand that every job description is different. Given the competitive job market, your resume and cover letter need to stand out with relevant keywords and a professional tone and language.

We work in close collaboration with all our clients to ensure the resume we produce is to their and their future employer’s complete satisfaction. Holding a record of producing resumes that get our clients noticed, we want to give you a fair chance of getting hired.

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