We live in a technology-driven world where we consume mass amounts of information in short bits of text, via social media status updates and quick video clips. This technology, and how we consume information, is constantly changing, updating and getting better. As a job seeker, active or passive, it is not only important to be aware of these realities, but it’s important to take action and make changes to your resume to modernize the way you’re presenting yourself to employers in 2017.
While resumes and job searches don’t change too drastically year-to-year, technology, skill trends, and economic realities do. When preparing your resume for an upgrade, it’s important to understand the health of the economy and how your industry is doing in particular, as well as what’s new in technology and skill trends – areas you can seize upon to give your resume a competitive advantage.
When it comes to packaging your work experience, some things never go out of style: crisp writing and brevity still reign supreme. Add a clean, modern design and showcase your personal brand, and you’re well on your way to creating a fresh, visually engaging, resume.
Make sure your resume stands out by following these tips:
Hone your Personal Brand
Every person is a brand, and that trend will continue to grow stronger in 2017. Make sure yours is in great shape as you look ahead to the next year. Your resume should include links to your career-relevant social media profiles, like LinkedIn, or Twitter.
Here’s how: If you use your accounts primarily for personal stuff, don’t include them on your resume. And if you really don’t want hiring managers or recruiters poking through the Facebook page you’ve had since you were young and making incredibly questionable choices in friends and photo ops, make sure those accounts are set to private. Even if you don’t provide direct links, you can assume that people will do a Google search on your name, and you don’t want any preventable issues to come back and haunt your 2017 professional self.
In addition to any social media cleanup, you can start building up your brand by creating a professional social media presence. If you don’t have active social media accounts, start them! If you have accounts but have let them fall by the wayside, there’s no time like the present to get them back up and running with current content and an updated profile. It’s all about increasing your visibility as an expert in your field.
Highlight your Vast Tech Knowledge
Emphasizing your skill set not only cements the value you can bring to the role, but also allows you to use relevant keywords applicant tracking systems are scanning for in your resume.
Here’s how: It’s important to know what apps and programs are hot in your field right now, but also keep an eye on trends that are just starting, or just picking up speed. Blogs are a good resource for trends, and in addition to any blogs or publications that are specific to your industry, news outlets are handy resources for what’s happening now, and what’s coming along soon. Once you know what technology in your field is creating a buzz, master it and add it to your resume.
Show off Soft Skills
One trend that’s been emerging in hiring, is the hunt for emotional intelligence. Remember, companies aren’t just hiring people to do a job—they’re also hiring a colleague. Emotional intelligence is kind of the web of soft skills/people skills that you bring to the table. It’s important to employers because they’re looking for a team member, which means they have a vested interest in finding candidates who not only have the skills and experience to do the job well, but also fit in with their company culture.
Here’s how: So how do you demonstrate your soft skills on your resume? When listing your skills as bullet points, provide a brief example of how you put that skill into play:
- Management skills – Led a multi-city team of sales reps to an 8% increase in overall sales.
- Communication skills – Messaged quarterly revenue reporting to internal stakeholders and clients.
- Team-building skills – Hosted on-site training sessions for new hires, and spearheaded the creation of an in-house mentoring program.
Provide Leaner Cleaner Content
writing leaner and cleaner content is a must. In a society where almost everyone finds themselves busier than humanly possible, brevity has become the norm.
Here’s how: The more concisely information is presented, the easier it will be digested. When possible:
- use a career snapshot instead of a paragraph summary as the introduction
- Use bullets to break up information
- Be concise, say what you need to say in the fewest words possible
- Incorporate white space throughout the resume to create a smoother flow
- Use charts, graphs, and other visual images to communicate information when relevant – we are a visually driven society and visual images process 60,000x faster in our brain than text
When ramping up your resume for 2017, the main thing to keep in mind is that you always want to be adding new skills to your arsenal, and show that you’re plugged into industry changes and shifts. Want to dive deeper into modernizing your resume? Stop by the ETS office in Plattsburgh or Burlington and speak to a recruiter. Our recruiters are on the front lines of hiring, they know what works, what doesn’t, and how to help you position yourself for a successful year.