How to write a good resume to get a job in 2021: The only document that tells your potential employer about you and all of your skills is your resume.
Despite the sudden use of professional social media sites like LinkedIn for job hunts, having a resume is still very much needed by employers these days, and as sad as it can be everybody wants a job but not everybody knows how to write a good resume to get a Job.
Writing a good resume isn’t all about slapping your skills and ages of experience onto a document, it requires a certain format that is recognized by employers and also other factors we’ll be mentioning later in this post.
Sure it can be quite hard to put in all of your credentials and work experiences on a sheet of paper. Do not panic, because in this step by step guide. We’ll be guiding you on how to write a good resume to get a job in 2021.
Let’s dive in!
What is a resume and how can you write a good resume to get hired:
A resume is simply a document which could be printed or used online that contains your information as a potential employee.
It contains your work experiences, your education, your skills, jobs you’ve had or the ones you currently have. It simply holds information that tells the employer that you are just perfect and qualified for the job position.
People think that with the Advent of LinkedIn profile, they do not need a resume for employment, well sorry to break it to you, the processes of getting a job has still not changed and employers still ask for a resume to know if you’re are qualified and educated for a job position.
Also a resume has an advantage over a regular LinkedIn profile, which is that, a LinkedIn profile only shows a general view of what your profession is as a whole but a resume can be tweaked and customized to suit the requirements of a particular job position needed by a hiring employer.
Here’s a to do list for writing a good resume that can get you a job in 2021:
Get a pen and paper and write down the following as they will save you a lot of time before actually writing the resume and won’t distract your creative flow:
- Your contact information.
- Accomplishments you’ve made from your previous jobs or current jobs.
- Some skills you have.
- Educational background and achievement like degrees, certifications and even licenses (if you have one)
- Dates of hire of previous jobs, previous employers, location of previous company you worked for.
After writing all these details down, find the best and perfect time to write your resume and also when writing be sure to stay in a quiet and serene location where you won’t get distracted by anyone or yourself. Keep your phones and Tv aside and dedicate at least 30mins – 1hour of your time writing a good resume
The best format on how to write a resume to get a job in 2021.
You need to have a picture or outline of what your resume layout will look like.
This is very important because a badly organized resume can really hurt the eye of an employer. This is why before you even think of writing a resume you should have chosen a perfect layout for your resume.
Aside from creating the resume layout from scratch you can opt for pre made resume templates which you could buy online and simply find on a word processor like Ms word or Google docs and even graphic design software like canva.
But since it is much more advisable to create your own layout and see what works for you, you should have a resume layout.
The most commonly used and recognized by employers is the “reverse chronological order”.
In this type of layout, you organize your credentials with the most recent on the top of the page.
Step by step guide on on to write a good resume:
Start with basic information like your contact information:
- Full name (This should be your first name, middle and surname)
- Professional email address
- Phone number
- Link to your website or online portfolio (if it is relevant to your job position)
- Link to social media profiles and also LinkedIn.
These contact information are normally found on the header of the documents.
Write a captivating resume introduction:
This introduction is usually a summary of your key qualifications and your skills.
It’s more like the part 99% of employers read and it’s also at this point where employers choose to continue reading your resume or just go over to another job seeker’s resume. So you have to work well here and give it your best.
There are two recommened ways of wrirting a perfect and captivating resume introduction. They include:
Resume objectives:
This introduction contains your skills and the reasons why you are interested in that particular job.
It is usually a two to three sentences and it is used by people who do not have a lot of skills and certifications like new graduates.
Here’s an example:
“Resume objectives:
Content marketer with 3years experience giving exposure to brands through marketing. Posseses a master’s degree in marketing and hopes to go on with his doctorate degree later on.with the aim to leverage my Knowledge and fill the position of a marketer in your firm”
Resume summary:
This is quite the opposite of resume objectives. It is written in four to five sentences and contains qualifications and certifications you have. It is usually used by people with a lot of work experience.
Here’s an example:
“Resume summary:
Serious minded content marketer with over 10years experience of leading brands to online exposure. Proven ability to give the best results and reach the goals of the company. Highly skilled in strategic planning and creative writing”
Writing your work experiences:
This is undoubtedly one of the most important part of your resume as it shows the employer your qualifications. Here the employer simply wants to know where you’ve worked before and the results and achievements you brought to that company.
Here’s how to go about it:
- Start with a job title, company name, company location and number of years you’ve worked there.
Below these you should have bullet points to the following information:
- Your Job description.
- The skills you developed and learned while working there.
- Your accomplishments and achievements in the company.
Do this for every company you list.
See Also: Massive Job Recruitment at Dangote Petroleum Refinery
Write a simple Education background:
Writing a simple Education background is essential if you may have a lot educational certificate and degrees and honors, you might wanna keep this part short and sweet and write only certifications that are relevant to employer and description of the job.
If you just graduated and you do not have enough work experiences, use your education background to cover up.
This is the information you should provide:
- The name of your University and also Don’t mention high school degrees, only in cases when you did not go to a university.
- Location of the university.
- Date of graduation.
- Degrees, certifications etc
- CGPA, use this to your advantage if you just left university and you have a GPA of 3.0 and above.
Spice up your resume with some skills:
The skills section is often the most underrated section on the resume. But as a matter of fact hiring employers pay very close attention to Every little details on a resume.
You can list hard skills, which are skills you learned from training or classes or even past job experiences. This could be HTML, CSS , JavaScript etc
You can also list soft skills, which are skills that are personalized to you as a person and build up naturally. This could team working, public speaking, dedication etc
Proof reading and editing your resume:
One of the biggest flaws your “Soo perfect” resume can have is a typographical error.
This is why it is advisable to go over your resume more than three times and make sure that every detail of information is right.
You can use writing tools like Grammarly for checking grammatical and typographical errors.
Did you enjoy this article?
Have you written a resume before or are you planning on writing one soon, if so, we’ll love to hear from you in the comments section!
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