Top 7 Tips on How to Build Good First Impressions by Using Your Resume

As the unemployment numbers reached the 10-million mark by the end of lat year, the competition to get slots is getting fiercer than ever. And the numbers are expected to increase rapidly at the beginning of the year as even the biggest and long-standing companies are cutting jobs to save on their finances. So, what are you to do to make it and survive the battle?

Undoubtedly, the resume is the one weapon you can hold on in order to get a job. It is a bit impractical to be choosy over job openings as everything is just in a blur and financial analysts predict that it might take 18 months for the country to recover from the recession that we are now experiencing.

And so, here are a few tips to make your resume make a good impression for your potential employers.

1. Write a catchy yet truthful title
   
   Indicate the position that you are aspiring for as the heading of your resume. In a resume, nowadays, the title is more important than your name (unless you’re a famous person). Employers want to get new people as fast as they can and one way to do this is to give them what they are looking for at first glance. You may also write what was your previous position in this area.
   
   
2. Put your most recent photo
   
   Some employers also take into consideration how you look like (although this is somewhat unfair but applies to jobs which require one to actually mingle with the customers). And if you put your photo from your college or high school yearbook and you’ve changed (or aged) considerably, then it might be a turn off for the employer because you somehow lured them into a false sense of security, so to speak. Better put a photo taken within at least the last six months.
   
   
3. Organize the information according to importance
   
   The ideal sequence of data in a resume is as follows; title, contact information, career objective or objectives, list of qualifications, list of major accomplishments from past jobs, previous work experiences, educational background, and specific job-related skills.
   
   
4. Simple is better
   
   Use common font types such as Arial or Times Roman. As much as possible, avoid highlighting texts with bold colors. The resume will look overly-festive and busy. In addition, use single spacing for lists and adapt the double space function when separating sub-titles.
   
   
5. Less is not necessarily more
   
   This tip just means that you must indicate all information in your resume without overlooking any relevant data or try to hide any significant personal information from the potential employer. If you have a dozen previous jobs, then do not be hesitant to indicate them.
   
   
6. Let your resume do the initial interview for you
   
   This means to indicate brief descriptions of your previous jobs. Through this way, the possible employers can get ideas on what you actually did in the past. Also, this makes your resume more substantial and informative.
   
   
7. Include the skills that are relevant to the job you are applying for
   
   It will be a waste of space to include your cooking skills if you are applying for a managerial position. Bottom line, read carefully the demands of the position and assess which skills will match.

Alana Neighton is a commerce graduate from a small college in Boston. She currently works as a bookkeeper in a start-up recording company and updates her resume every month with new skills in order to get a banking job in a major bank.