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Simple Resume Design

Simple Resume Do’s & Dont’s

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In our recent article, we talked about making a grand first impression. People that can make great first impressions generally find themselves in better situations and living better lives. Meaningful conversations, long-lasting relationships, and even employment opportunities are all known to be generated from the beauty of a great first impression. These impressions are critical in the hiring process, as a job interview is the first impression to a hiring manager and the resume is the first impression to an applicant tracking system (ATS). To round things out to make sure your 2019 career goals come to fruition, here are some Resume Do’s from the Simple Resume Team.

Use Bullet Points

Bullet points are quintessential elements that are needed within a basic resume format. Choosing to create a bulleted list of your accomplishments within your resume instead of writing in paragraph form helps to create aesthetic appeal and break up your text. With bullet points, you have the opportunity to organize, highlight, and separate your skills, accomplishments, and job duties. Make sure you do your research and create your basic resume outline with bullet points containing industry-specific action verbs to ensure you are making an argument for yourself as a good hire!

Optimize Your Simple Resume

Resumes have to be optimized strategically in order to make it to hiring managers’ desks. This is due to the fact that applicant tracking system (ATS) technology is now being implemented by a substantially great amount of companies worldwide. The key to optimization is plugging in keywords to ensure that your resume stands out amongst your competition (see how our services can create a simple and professional resume for job search effectiveness). Study the job description, take note of specific keywords that are mentioned, and make an effort to include them in your resume.

Quantify Your Accomplishments

Career accomplishments have to be quantified in order to be considered qualifiable for many of today’s positions. Noting and detailing your stats in the duration of your employment gives hiring managers an idea of your dedication and work ethic. It shows a level of commitment and promise as an employee. Quantifying your accomplishments can mean a ticket into the hiring manager’s office for an interview! Quantify your resume as best as you can will give you the best chance at landing employment opportunities.

Check your Grammar

By far the most obvious and worst mistake you can make on a simple resume. Now that you’ve misspelled words such as “organized” and “directed”, you can kiss that job goodbye. It’s not that the hiring manager doesn’t believe you can spell. We all make mistakes. He believes that you don’t know how to check your work and will submit a project even if it contains fallacies. Do your resume and job aspirations a favor and check your grammar, it may end up being a job offer in the end.

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A first impression is everything. People that are skilled at making great first impressions generally find themselves living better lives. A great first impression can generate meaningful conversations, long-lasting relationships, and even employment opportunities. First impressions are critical in the hiring process, as a job interview is the first impression to a hiring manager and the resume is the first impression to the applicant tracking system (ATS). Having said that, in our edition of Resume Do’s and Don’ts, here are some Resume Don’ts from the Simple Resume Team.

1st, 2nd, or 3rd Person

How about “no person”. A simple resume should never have any pronouns within its text. This is a simple resume law. The resume should serve as a summary or an introduction of you as an applicant, not a narrative or autobiography. Ex: In his previous position, Cory analyzed complex reports and developed a company strategy for optimal efficiency. When writing his accomplishment, instead of beginning the sentence as “Cory analyzed complex reports…”, “He analyzed complex reports…”, or “I analyzed complex reports…”, Cory should start the sentence off as “Analyzed complex reports…”.

Unemployed

Don’t give any impression that you were unemployed for any period of time. Unemployment raises red flags to hiring managers. They may wonder what have you been doing in the meantime, why you were unemployed, and your overall work ethic. Use a filler such as any personal project or volunteer work that can show that you were busy and cover any employment gaps.

“References Available Upon Request”

Employers will ask for references if they need them. As an applicant, you are already expected to have references available upon request. Implementing this phrase in your resume takes up a valuable amount of space. Avoid stating the obvious.

Negative Words In Your Simple Resume

This should go without saying. Listing your limitations will automatically disqualify you from any position in the job market. Avoid saying what you “can’t” do and focus on what you “can” do. Detail your accomplishments and capabilities to elevate your image as a great potential hire.

Too Much Info

Including any sensitive personal information is not only an instant disqualification, but it doesn’t do any good in your job hopes. In fact, it can do you much more harm than good, as you will leave yourself vulnerable to identity theft and someone having your information in their hands. Don’t include your date of birth, social security number, or personal interests in your resume. Keep it simple and avoid doing this on your resume.

Why Hiring Managers Prefer A Simple Resume

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In the hiring world, writing a simple resume has become a widely accepted practice by recruiters and hiring managers alike. Before a resume can be seen by potential employers, they are required to go through a screening process for proper vetting.

Once resumes pass the initial screening that is implemented by the Applicant Tracking System (ATS) software, they are then left in the hands of hiring managers who will sort through the pile of resumes to uncover the top candidates for the position.

The process of bringing in a beneficial new hire to an organization can come with many challenges for hiring managers. Thus, working to create a simplified resume can prove to be beneficial for prospective candidates in the talent pool. We have compiled the top 3 reasons why hiring managers prefer a basic resume design that makes for a great resume.

Short & Sweet

Recruiters and hiring managers would prefer not to have to read through extensive, lengthy resumes. A complex resume can come off to a hiring manager as unappealing, boring, and difficult to read. If the first initial reaction to your resume from hiring managers is a negative one, chances are that you will be eliminated as a potential hire.

A short and concise basic resume design allows hiring managers to key in and focus on your keywords immediately upon obtaining your document. In fact, it makes it even easier for a hiring manager to locate your keywords and professional accomplishments, as they will not have to read and sort through a load of content.

Aiming to create a short resume that’s to the point will ultimately lead you to creating a work resume well-optimized to appeal to the eyes of the hiring managers who will be reading your document.

Quality Information

Too often, a work resume lacks enough substance and detail to make it stand out as a high quality resume. The proper resume for job searching will serve as a visual representation of “quality over quantity”, as the resume should communicate information about your career background that is valuable, meaningful, and beneficial to the hiring manager’s decision-making process.

The simplicity of a basic resume design will allow you to key in on implementing only pertinent information to the position at hand. In order to make a push for a high quality resume, you must scrutinize your own work and make an effort to determine the information that will serve to be most useful to your potential employer.

Time Saving

It has been said that the average recruiter takes approximately 6 seconds to look through a candidate’s information to determine if they are suitable for the open position.

Many hiring managers will typically spend a little more time in attempting to uncover the potential of a job candidate to aid hiring efforts. However, according a 2017 study conducted by Glassdoor, the average hiring process in the U.S. takes approximately 23.8 days. An effective hiring manager will aim to cut as much time as possible from the hiring process to ensure a quick hire.

A resume simple enough for readability works to eliminate the need for an extensive amount of content when writing a simple resume, which in turn allows hiring managers to save time.

Practicing writing a simple resume can create opportunities for job seekers, whereas complex, drawn-out resumes greatly diminish your chances of gaining employment. The goal of writing a simple resume is to keep the content short, simple, and to state your value. Some of the best basic resume examples portray a resume document that is short and packed with quality information so that it will save employers a lot of time. Click here for a downloadable simple resume template optimized for ATS and hiring managers.

Simple And Professional Resume Tricks

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Try these 3 simple and professional resume tricks to stand out

The biggest first step for any job seeker looking to enter the job market is to take the time to build, critique, and review their resume to create a simple and professional resume design. Besides the interview, the traditional resume is the single most important aspect of the hiring process. Considering that a basic resume design is what essentially lands candidates interviews, the lack of a great, simple resume format diminishes your chances of moving forward in the hiring process.

With an increasing number of job applicants in the market, for any desirable position a job seeker may seek, he/she will face a high level of competition. As the level of competition continuously increases, job seekers are constantly looking for ways to vastly improve their resumes in efforts to stand out from their competitors. Here are 3 simple and professional resume strategies to help create an elegant resume that will stand out and land you that dream position.

1. Plug In Keywords

One of the most simple and professional resume tricks is plugging in keywords. Keywords are necessary to successfully beat an applicant tracking system (ATS). Job descriptions typically include specific keywords to describe the nature of the job and type of individual the employer is looking to hire. It is important to take notice of these keywords and work to include them in your simple resume’s content. A lack of keywords within your simple resume can be detrimental to your chances of landing an interview.

Keep in mind that even though it is consequential to implement key terms and key phrases throughout your resume, it is also equally important to be mindful of how many times you plug in keywords in your writing. Attempting to include too many key terms is a tactic known as keyword stuffing. Keyword stuffing your resume can agitate an applicant tracking system and cause your writing to look spammy. Hiring managers will surely catch on to this method. Try to avoid over-saturating your simple resume with keywords and aim to make your writing flow, as it will surely be noticed (check out our services for a keyword-optimized resume).

2. Bold & Italicize

Another simple and professional resume trick is to enhance the font of your writing. In resume writing, you will immediately need to attract the attention of hiring managers with your content. You will want hiring managers to look at your accomplishments to give them a better idea of the work you have done in your previous places of employment. The simple trick to doing this is to italicize them.

Italicizing differentiates your accomplishments from other pieces of text and helps employers key in on some of your most important qualities when they initially look over your simple resume design. You have the leeway to choose to italicize specifics such as your job title, areas of expertise, and other pertinent information to the role that you desire.

You also have the options between choosing to bold or italicize your content. We recommend using italics to highlight your specific roles, areas of expertise, and accomplishments and using a bold font to highlight your roles or the companies you worked for.

3. Quantify Your Accomplishments

Adding numbers to the content of your writing has a dynamic effect on the overall structure and impact of your job responsibilities and accomplishments. Quantifying statements throughout your writing will help employers visualize the overall impact you’ve had on the position and the organization.

It is pretty common to find that not all positions involve hard performance metrics. Because of this, many job seekers may find it difficult to quantify their job responsibilities and highlight their accomplishments. However, it is still very feasible to add numbers to any position listed on a resume.

Compare “provided customer service to clients” to “engaged with 15-20 clients per day to find quick resolutions in order to effectively solve complex situations”. Same task, same number of clients, different sentence structure. Keep in mind that an employer would be more inclined to interview the job candidate who demonstrated in his writing that he was able to handle 15-20 clients a day than a candidate who failed to include quantifiable measurements.

The best resume writing examples find ways to impress employers to receive chances at getting an interview. Too often, a resume design lacks substance and detail to make it stand out as a high quality resume and hinders your chances at speaking about your experiences in person. Utilizing these three simple and professional resume tricks will help BOOST your chances of getting an interview.

Resume Design | Simple Tips To Knock Out Before 30

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Resume design and tips to knock out before turning 30

Your twenties is a pivotal time when setting up a foundation that could potentially blossom into a lucrative and rewarding career. While many young job seekers spend their twenties job hopping and finding their rightful place in the workforce, top performers in their industry gain momentum by choosing positions that will allow them to acquire the proper experience and develop relevant professional accomplishments. Great accomplishments and career growth in your twenties can be all for nothing if it is not presented properly. To assure that you have the best professional resume design optimized for your thirties, use these 4 simple resume tips to set you up for success.

1. Drop Your Resume To One Page

Before the age of 30, it is common to have anywhere between 1 to 10 years of experience to write about. This means that a simple one-pager will be best suited to represent your professional skills and development through the course of your career. One of the most important reasons behind using a one-page document is to keep the resume simple and diminish the possibility of being passed on by hiring managers that sift through hundreds of applications.

It is important to remember that hiring managers are looking to find the right candidate during their search that will fill the position with precision within a small time frame. A short and basic design loaded with valuable information are always sought out by recruiters and hiring managers. Be concise in your basic resume writing and highlight your best accomplishments in one page.

2. Use A Text-Based Simple Resume Format

Although the idea of a heavily stylized simple resume design may seem enticing, statistics show that these graphics-driven simple resume designs do not perform well against applicant tracking systems (ATS). Applicant tracking systems assist human resources and recruitment efforts by strategically pulling candidate background information into specific fields in a specific order.

Applicant tracking systems significantly decrease the amount of time it takes to successfully hire someone for a role by filtering out basic resumes that are not a match. Research performed by Jobscan has shown that 98.2% of Fortune 500 companies implement applicant tracking systems in their hiring processes. According to a Kelly OCG survey, it is estimated that 66% of large organizations and 35% of small organizations rely on ATS software to effectively screen applicants.

Don’t risk losing out on a position because your writing is not parsing properly into ATS. Skip the creativity and devote time to preparing the content of your writing as well as ensuring that you are using a clean, text-based format. Resumes that work seem to focus on your technical skills and professional accomplishments to help hiring managers see your value immediately. Keep in mind that this also doesn’t mean your resume design needs to be bland. Check out how our Simple Resume Design Team has optimized formatting for the modern-day job market by downloading our sample.

3. Work On Your Professional Summary

A professional summary is a short description at the beginning of your professional resume format that briefly details your title, experience, and skills. A succinct and attractive professional summary that provides hiring managers with a snapshot of your skills, background, and technical abilities is the best way to start.

Recruiters typically only spend roughly 6-7 seconds to read an applicant’s writing and will only look to read the professional summary before scanning for your current position and company. For this reason alone, it is highly important to invest time and energy into getting your professional summary well-developed. Optimizing your content to immediately detail your career accomplishments within the initial 6-7 second scan is critical.

4. Develop Professional Affiliations And Take Courses

Your twenties should consist of engaging in activities to invest in your professional network and skills. It is beneficial to consistently attend professional networking events to network and make professional connections even prior to looking for a new position. Build relationships and consistently follow up with your connections. At the end of the day, you never know who you might know that will have opportunities for you to take in the future.

Start by affiliating yourself with working professionals who share the same ideals and aspirations. This has been proven to open the door to many employment opportunities for young working professionals. Seek to join industry-related groups through social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook and attend trade shows and conferences.

While you are building your professional network, look to pursue additional education and training in specialized courses. Use any opportunity to further educate yourself to help take your professional skills to another level. By doing so, this will work to separate you from fellow job candidates by proving that you’re driven, motivated, and eager to better yourself.

Simple Resume Design Strategy | Not Everything Matters

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One of the most notorious misconceptions for basic resume writing is that the document itself needs to disclose everything you have ever done during the duration of your career. The job you had at the shoe store, your role as an overnight stock associate in college, or that one time when you worked for Walmart for a couple of months. You would think that every employer would want to know of every job for verification and extensive background check purposes, right? WRONG!

For those beginning their journey for a new position, it is beneficial to be strategic in your simple resume design to bring focus to the important aspects of your career history. This will help the any potential hiring manager understand the value that you can bring to the specific role you’re applying to.

Let’s face it. When was the last time you actually sat down and read any one’s 3-page resume word-for-word? How about a 1500-word over-stuffed essay squeezed onto 2 pages? Time is of value for most hiring managers and recruiters looking for new candidates. Considering the large amount of resumes they receive for one job posting, hiring managers only take 6-7 seconds to look over a candidate’s simple resume design before moving on to the next.

This is why it is essential to be strategic.

The first and most essential tip to having an effective document is to avoid listing irrelevant positions on your simple resume. Many may believe that the more work experiences you show, the more you present yourself as a dependable, trustworthy, and hard-working candidate. This is typically may be considered acceptable when you’re applying for an entry-level job. However, this should not be practiced when searching for higher levels jobs or positions looking for distinctive technical skills. Due to the nature of entry-level positions, employers may be giving you a “pass” since it’s not considered a specialized role.

When you’re speaking specifically of higher-level, salaried positions, mistakes such as oversharing can completely ruin your chances of getting the job. The ultimate goal for any job seeker is to get a call for an interview. Choosing to go with a simple resume design will assure that it becomes a personal marketing tool. To put it in perspective, a recruiter or hiring manager will not contact a candidate for an engineering role when they market that had sliced meat in the deli department when they were 18.

Insights from various recruiting firms tell us that upon an initial scan, most hiring managers and recruiters are only looking at three main factors in a simple resume design: the candidate’s current position, his/her tenure, and education.

Here’s how you capitalize on your writing efforts:

First, make sure that your simple resume design strategically places your job history in the limelight, with a resume simple enough to ensure the dates are clear and easy to follow. Formatting is critical to the development of your professional document. Although it can be tricky, our cost-effective resume writers are certified professionals who can meet all of your formatting needs.

Next, be sure to place heavy emphasis on the professional accomplishments you have garnered in your previous and current positions. Show case as many quantitative and tangible wins as possible. Highlighting your accomplishments will immediately broadcast that not only are you qualified to get the job done, but you’re able to successfully do it well. Process of improvements and efficiencies are key items to speak about, as they will boost your credibility and ability to exceed metrics.

Finally, make sure your education is listed clearly – highlighting the school you have attended, your major, and degree obtained. There is a common belief that job seekers who have obtained four-year degrees from higher education have highly developed skills and are considered more fitting for specific roles than other candidates. Though it is just as important to have professional experience, including your education for recruiters or hiring managers will almost always work in your favor during your job search.

Remember, most job positions will require applicants to have a certain level of education and you don’t want to miss out on an opportunity because you didn’t take the time to list your education properly.

Strategizing to keep your resume simple will ensure that you are putting out the best information for the employer as you possibly can. Not everything job-related will matter in your search for a career. Leave off the unrelated work experiences that are unrelated to the position or is outdated. If you have made calculated decisions about your career, your current position should follow a practical progression toward the position you are applying for.

Between your current position, your loyalty (as shown by your prior job tenure), and your education, hiring managers will be able to make an informed decision as to whether or not to invite you for an interview.