Before You Hit Send Follow these Tips to Get Your Resume Read

Before You Hit Send Follow these Tips to Get Your Resume ReadBefore You Hit Send Follow these Tips to Get Your Resume ReadFinding that perfect job opportunity doesnt come around very often for many, and when it does, excitement can take over and cloud the ability to stay focused on the best version of your resume.The main purpose of a resume is to get contacted, says Mary Kate Robinson, career services director atThe Art Institute of Houston. Be sure to have your key dos first including rank/order, your experience, appropriate duties and accomplishments, correct spelling and grammar, and evidence of your knowledge, skills and abilities.Before you hit send on that application for your dream job, here are five bedrngnis-so-obvious donts from career service directors from The Art Institutes International Minnesota and The Art Institute of Houston.1. Dont have conflicting information on your resume and your LinkedIn profile. Take the time to be certain that what is stated on your LinkedI n profile matches the resume you are sending. Employers are doing their homework, and you dont want to waste valuable interview time correcting facts or explaining discrepancies, says Robinson.2. Dont use the same action verb. The synonymlexikon is not a dinosaur and it is not extinct. Avoid using responsible for over and over again. Switch it up. Use other action verbs such as created, delivered, designed, in addition to responsible for.3. Dont get grandiose with your accomplishments. In other words, stick to the facts. I often correct recent graduates on the terms highly experienced or extensive knowledge, says Becky Bates, career services director atThe Art Institutes International Minnesota. Unless you have a proven track record and have high credibility in a specific industry among colleagues, you shouldnt be using those terms and even then, your examples should speak to your knowledge, skills and abilities.4. Dont overly promote your soft skills on your resume. Employers ask f or your resume and a cover letter for a reason, says Bates. Keep your soft skills on the cover letter and leave the hard skills for the resume. Your cover letter should be the place where you express interest in the job, then tell them how your hard skills on your resume correspond to the specific position you are applying for, and lastly, you ask for the interview.5. Dont turn your resume into a laundry list. Resumes are supposed to tell stories, Bates says. Resume reviewers only spend about five-to-seven seconds on a resume before they decide whether or not they want to continue reading. Start your resume with a summary or objective, an introduction of sorts. The next information on your resume should tell the reviewer why you are qualified for the job. But Bates cautions that you should begin with your strongest point depending on where you are in your career. If you just graduated from college, your education is your strongest point, and so your education should be listed first, said Bates. If youve had 6-to-10 years of experience in an industry, the fact that you worked at McDonalds should go last.Todays employers and gate keepers including recruiters and human resources are conducting thorough searches, and no longer solely relying on a list of experiences. The more holistic presentation you provide of yourself as a professional, the better chances youll have in rising above the competition.Sourceartinstitutes.edu.