Speaker 1: Hey listen up. If your current resume is not landing you the interviews you really want or if you're having a hard time selling your skills and abilities to your future employer, tune in because in this video I'm sharing a simple, easy to follow resume strategy that has helped thousands of job seekers go from overwhelmed and overlooked to now working in positions they love making more than they thought was possible. Just like David who before learning about these simple strategies had searched for a new position for 13 months after putting some key pieces into place, he landed a wonderful new position making more than he thought was possible all while doing something he excels at. Now if you want results like this, watch until the end because I'm sharing where you can grab a free resume template and example that you can download and customize right now to help you land your next big career opportunity. Hey I'm Heather, a career strategy expert and on this channel I help professionals just like you build your personal brand so that you can land your dream job and grow in a field you love. So if you're new to my channel make sure you hit the subscribe button down below and don't forget to hit the bell notification while you're at it so you're notified when I publish a new video or host a live training every week here on my channel. Let's get real for a second, writing a resume is awkward. It's not easy to brag about your skills, your experience and even your accomplishments to prove that you are the best possible candidate for the position. Not to mention if you're switching careers or if you lack formal experience. But here's the thing, there is a way to effectively capture your talents and expertise and portray them in a way that gets a hiring manager or a recruiter to take action and invite you in for an interview. In this video I'm sharing five steps that will simplify the entire resume writing process. At the end you'll have clarity on what you need to do to make your resume even better and you'll be well on your way to your next big career opportunity. Now if you're excited for this week's video hit the like button down below and let's dive in. The first step to write an amazing resume that gets you hired is to create a clear structure. You need a resume that is simple and easy to navigate. Studies suggest that hiring officials spend just a few seconds looking at your resume so you need to entice them to stick around and the best way to do this is with engaging content and clear concise section headings. Now I'm gonna share the main sections every great resume must have but I'm also going to share some optional sections. We'll then take a closer look at what to include in each area with some examples. So at the top of your resume you'll start with your contact information including your name, your phone number, your city and your state. You don't need to include your entire mailing address for security reasons. You'll include a professional sounding email address and a link to your custom LinkedIn URL. Now after your contact information you'll include a career summary which I'll explain more about in just a second. You'll then add some type of work experience followed by your education and training and then a technical skills section. Now I love a really good technical skills section because it lets an employer know that you're keeping up with technology, that you're keeping up with the times. For example, conference video calls and project manager tools are more important than ever before. Now don't worry if you don't know every new program or software out there. No one does but showcasing on your resume that you know how to use things like Zoom, Slack or other similar apps can go a long way. The most important thing to remember when it comes to creating a clear concise resume structure is that you need to include the sections that highlight your best possible self. For example, if you're fresh out of college you probably don't have much work history yet so you can include things like internships or other relevant experience. You can also add supplemental sections like extracurricular activities or academic achievements. On the other hand, if you've been in the workforce for 10 years or longer, your work experience section will make up the bulk of your resume and you might not even need to include a core competency section which we'll talk more about in just a second. Now don't be afraid to get a little creative here. If you're struggling to flesh out your resume or if there's something that you really want to draw attention to, you can include an entirely new section. This might be something like volunteer experience, professional memberships, certifications, language competencies, community work and even honors and awards. Now comment down below one additional section besides education or work experience that you would like to add to your resume. And hey, remember to keep watching to learn where you can grab your free resume template and example. Let's jump into the second step to write a great resume and that is to include a powerful career summary. Remember earlier when I said you only have a few seconds to convince the hiring official that they should invite you in for the interview? Well this is the section where the magic happens. I really want you to tune in here because believe it or not your career summary is one of the most important parts of your resume. The summary is the perfect place for you to stand out and show a clear representation of what you have to offer so don't hold back here. Start your career summary with some type of title. This can be the title of the position you are applying for or something very similar or even your current job title. Directly under the title include three key skills. Choose these key skills very carefully. They should be some of your greatest strengths and assets but should also directly relate to the new position. Most likely these are skills highly emphasized in the job description that align with your own abilities. Now here's an example. Let's say I'm applying for a senior business analyst position. I would place the term senior business analyst in the title section of my resume. I would then place the skills client management, business operations, and process design in the skills section on the resume. Keep in mind the three key skills I mentioned here must be found in the job description and must be skills I already possess. This information tells the hiring official what position you're applying for and what they should expect to see in the rest of your resume. It makes their job easier by eliminating the guesswork. After the initial title you'll include three to four sentences that explain how your professional background, training, or experience makes you the perfect candidate. Your goal here is to show how you can help solve some of the company's biggest pain points. Now remember you're not listing what you're looking for in your ideal position. Your career summary is all about the company and their needs. So avoid saying things like looking to grow my industry or wanting to take the next step in my career. You need to demonstrate that you are the person they need for the position. Now comment down below what your dream job title is and while you're doing that remember that the career summary is a great place to address any job-related changes. For example, maybe you were furloughed or permanently laid off because your company downsized or maybe you're one of the millions of professionals who changed careers as part of the great resignation. It's okay to use your career summary to explain how you're looking to use your skills to transition into new industry or job. Now before we move into the third step to writing a great resume, there's a few optional parts of your career summary you should know about. The first is a career highlight section. This is a bulleted list of some of your proudest achievements across your entire career. This falls directly below your three to four sentence paragraph. Think of all the great things you've accomplished in different positions or in your professional experience like projects, awards, and even specialized training that make you who you are and what you have to offer. Use these accomplishments as your career highlights to get your future employer excited to learn more about you. Now I'm gonna share something that I haven't shared in one of these resume writing videos before and that is to pick highlights that will be career stories you would like to share in an interview. And if you need help prepping for your interview, take a look at this video right here where you'll learn how to answer the most difficult interview questions. I'll also link the video down below. Keep in mind a career highlight section works best for professionals who've been in the workforce for at least five to seven years. If you don't have a lot of work experience, another section I want you to know about that you can add to your resume is a core competency section. Not only will this impress an employer, but it can even help your resume make it past the applicant tracking system which we'll talk more about in just a second. The core competency section is a combination of your hard skills and your soft skills that directly relate to the position. So let's use our senior business analyst example again. Core competencies for a person applying for this position might include phrases like project documentation, communication process, customer and supplier relations, and business and systems analysis. The idea here is to shoot for two to three lines of skills that show how your expertise and knowledge align with a position. Now if you have a special competency you can add to your resume, share it in the comments below. And if you're enjoying this video so far, be sure to hit the like button down below. It will tell me that I should create more videos just like this for you. Let's jump into the third step to write a great resume and that is to include quantifiable results-driven achievement statements. I know that's a mouthful so let's break down what this means exactly. You want your resume to include not only the tasks you've performed, but also the results you've achieved. Anytime you can quantify your results, you make your resume even stronger. So what kinds of things can you quantify? Here are just a few examples. Increased sales, decreased costs, improved customer ratings, number of new clients acquired, number of new team members onboarded, number of patients you cared for, new processes that created a faster or more efficient workflow, increased social media followers, increased marketing conversion, and the list goes on and on. Now let me give you a quick example here. You could say managed Instagram account for small clothing retail company or you could say increased Instagram following by 50% within six months leading to increased revenue as well as new partnership opportunities. Do you see how powerful the second example is? It tells not only what you did, but also quantifies your success and tells the result of your actions. Here's a quick formula to help you create your own results-driven achievement statement. Start with an action verb, then describe the task and finish off with the results. You can use the acronym ATR, action, task, result, to help you remember how to create these statements. Now I want you to use this example on every bullet point on your resume and do your very best to make them follow this formula, bringing in quantifiable metrics wherever you can. And hey, just a quick heads up, if you're looking to connect with other professionals just like you, jump in and join my free private community on Facebook, The Career Club. It's the perfect place online to ask questions about anything career related, get feedback, share your wins, and build relationships. We now have over 12,000 amazing professionals in this community. I'll place a special link for you down below. Now the fourth step to write a great resume that gets you hired is to make it readable. Not only do you need to make your resume readable for applicant tracking systems, you also need to make it readable for hiring officials. Let's first talk about making it human readable. Employers scan through resumes so quickly, so you need to make a good impression fast. Don't make them hunt for information. This means to use great whitespace, clear headings, consistent formatting, a font that is not too big or too small, and no typos or misspellings. Let's talk about what makes your resume applicant tracking system readable. It's pretty simple. Avoid columns, pictures, graphs, charts, and tables. Instead, use clear section headings like the ones we just talked about, paragraphs, and bullet points to show your relevant career history. And if you don't know what ATS is, it's a software application that scans your resume to make sure it has certain keywords and formatting before passing it on to the next round. A lot of employers use ATS to pre-qualify candidates and weed out applicants who don't meet basic criteria. That means that even if you're highly qualified, if your resume doesn't pass ATS, it may not get in front of the right person. The good news is that if you follow these simple steps, your resume will be ATS friendly. Now I have a video that goes into more detail about how to make your resume ATS friendly. I'll link it down below. And hey, in just a second I'm gonna share where you can grab your free resume template and example, so stick around for that. Now the fifth step to write a great resume that gets you hired is to customize it. Let me explain. It's a good idea to keep a master resume where you keep track of everything you've done in your career, but you need to tailor every resume you send out before you apply to any new position. And don't worry, you don't need to overhaul or restructure the entire thing every time. Sometimes just a few simple tweaks can make a big difference. One of the best ways to tailor your resume is to switch out your professional summary. You can do this by changing your title and keywords to better match the position. For example, maybe you are a nonprofit manager and have experience creating and running Facebook campaigns to boost donations. If you're applying for a job as a social media manager, you will want to change your title and skills to reflect your experience in this area. So instead of calling yourself a nonprofit manager, tweak it to say social media strategist or social media marketer. And then explain how your efforts led to increased funding. Your resume should be tailored for the industry, but also for each specific company. Study the job posting carefully to pick up on what words or phrases the company keeps using. If you see the word customer support mentioned three or four times in a job posting, you definitely need to mention it in your resume. Another way you could tailor your resume for different positions is to change the order of your bullet points. Here's an example. Let's say you're applying for a job in customer service. If you've ever brought in new clients, helped resolve issues over the phone, or improved customer satisfaction scores, make sure that is extremely clear on your resume. That might mean moving some of your bullet points to highlight them. Remember, what's highest on your resume is what people see first. So draw attention to what's the most important by putting it at the top. By tailoring your resume to include a strong title and an engaging professional summary, you can grab the attention of the hiring manager and encourage them to keep reading. Now I actually have a bonus step for you when it comes to writing a great resume that gets you hired, and that is to make it relevant. The workforce has undergone some major changes in the past few years. Gone are the days when someone would stay at the same job with the same company for 30 years. Today it's normal and expected for professionals to frequently change positions and even change industries, and add to that a global disaster, and it's no wonder that folks are often overhauling their entire careers. If your job has been disrupted in the last year or two, or if you had to pivot into a new line of work, you don't need to be embarrassed. Millions of people are in the same boat, so you're in great company. The great news is that unemployment gaps don't mean that your career is over, but it's extremely important to show employers how you are using that time to stay relevant. Did you take on any part-time or seasonal work to help you pay your bills while you were in between jobs? Don't be afraid to put positions on your resume that may be considered entry-level, even if you're an advanced professional. For example, you may have driven for Uber or delivered Amazon packages because your hours were cut in your permanent position. These types of jobs can help you develop skills that could prove valuable to an employer. Skills like management, logistics and supply chain, customer service and even communication. Other ways that you can show you've kept yourself relevant are by mentioning any freelance or contract work you've done. You should also include any online courses you've taken or volunteer work you've done in your community. These things show employers that you're adaptable and that you take the initiative to better yourself professionally. They show that you can embrace change even when it's hard and that you would be a great addition to their team. And here's the thing, as more and more work is remote these days, employers want to see that you can use new technology to communicate with your team and get work done. Just like what we talked about earlier. Now I promised you a free resume and template that you can download right now and customize for your next job. Go to heatheraustin.online slash resume to grab this resource. And hey, if you want to learn how to create a LinkedIn profile that attracts hiring managers and recruiters, take a look at this video right here. And if you like this video, be sure to hit the thumbs up button down below. Be sure to subscribe to this channel for more videos just like this and I'll see you in the next video.