So, you’ve perfected your networking hacks and you know what you should never say in an interview, but you haven’t landed the gig yet. First of all, keep cool, #girlboss empires weren’t built in a day. But then after you come to that realization, take a second look at your resume. Could it use some work? Same. That’s why we called in Lisa Skeete Tatum, co-founder and CEO of Landit, a new tool helping women advance in their careers, to give us the details on the must-haves we all need on our resumes.
1. Keep it short and sweet. There’s a lot of debate about the right length of a resume, and the further along in your career you get, the harder it can be to narrow it down. But Lisa thinks you should be concise, saying “Your resume should be no more than two pages, and if you can get it down to one, even better. Publications and similar lists should be summarized by a bullet point, and the list should be provided as a supplement. For example, ‘Authored more than 10 papers published in leading medical journals’ is all that’s needed on the resume itself.”
2. Fill the gaps. “The gaps in your resume are completely acceptable, but you definitely want to highlight how you spent your time during these periods,” suggests Lisa. She notes that if you spent time volunteering, traveling, training or following other pursuits, to note that in your resume.
3. Highlight multiple achievements.Another hot button topic? The summary statement. If you use one, Lisa suggests making sure it highlights multiple achievements. “Your profile should present a summary of your best skills and experiences applicable for the role you are seeking.”
4. Showcase your journey. “Your career progression needs to stand out on your resume. Hiring managers are looking to see career growth and promotion over time so make sure your resume displays this in a quick glance.”
5. Put your best foot forward. According to Lisa, you always want to highlight your biggest accomplishments first. “First impressions are everything, and that includes the first lines under each of your experiences on your resume.”
6. Use the right vocab. “Be sure to use strong and action-oriented verbs in the language of your resume and try to avoid weaker verbs like ‘assisted’ or ‘helped,'” Lisa suggests.
7. Showcase the impact you made. While it’s great to showcase what you did at a previous job, Lisa says it’s just as important to display results. “You want to showcase exactly how you made an impact on an organization, clients or the process, and in what context and/or in comparison, whether it was financially, by percentage growth or qualitative.”
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