Your dream job is just around the corner, the only thing keeping you stuck is a good resume. Have you just graduated school and are looking for your first job? Or are you ready for a new challenge in your career but are stressed out about what a good resume should include? Writing a resume can indeed be a stressful task, but in this blog post we will go through concrete tips to consider to make your resume stand out from the crowd. 

1. Clear structure

Make sure your resume has a clear structure that is easy to follow. A good way to do this is by using bullet points to make the resume easy to skim through. You should start by listing your most recent experience and then continue in reverse chronological order. A good hack is to find a nice looking template from a free design tool such as Canva. This step is not to be overlooked since the first impression a recruiter gets when looking at your resume is vital for your chances of being selected. 

2. Summary of yourself

Start your resume with a short summary of yourself and your career goals. Try to emphasize what makes you unique and stand out from the crowd. Focus on your ”soft skills” and not what you have done professionally in your career. This part should say something about how you are as a person. However, be careful to not write something that is untrue only because you think it is something the recruiter wants to read. This will backfire on you later. 

3. Think outside the box

Experience can be more than just professional positions at a company. Maybe you have been a soccer coach for local kids? Or volunteered at some kind of event? All these kind of experiences can be just as important as a nice job title since they show that you have a good character and are driven to work. This could be very crucial, especially if you are young and may not have a lot of professional work experience. Try to focus on what you have learned and achieved in these positions. 

4. Personal information

Name, phone number, email address and language skills must all be included in your resume. Make this information easy to read and find for the recruiter if they want to contact you. A good way to make this information more visible is to write your name as a header and put your contact details right underneath. 

5. Keep it short

Your resume should be maximum two pages long. Otherwise you have included unnecessary information and instead of helping you land your dream job, the excess information will have the opposite effect.

6. Relevance

Last but not least, don’t use a general resume for every job you apply for. The resume should be adapted for the job you are interested in since different qualities and experience should be highlighted for different jobs. For example, if you are applying for a job in another country where you have also been traveling a lot before, this can be a good experience to highlight since it shows that you are used to the culture and way of living there. But if you are applying for a job in your home country this trip may not be relevant to highlight. 

In conclusion make sure your resume is easy to read and has a clean look, only include what is relevant for the job of interest and don’t underestimate the relevance of”non professional” experience. Your dream job is just around the corner and with some effort put into the writing of your resume, the job will be yours before you know it.