5 Things You Must Have on Your Resume

Do you constantly look over your resume, but don’t quite know what should be on it? Have you applied to a job and not gotten a callback? That could be because your resume doesn’t shine a light on your true potential. 

Here are the most important tools in having a great resume, which will attract an employer’s attention immediately. 

1) Name and Contact Information

At a minimum, this section should include your name, phone number, and email address. If you are experienced and have a professional portfolio, then you may want to attach a link to it, or hyperlink it in the document directly. I would advise including a professional picture of yourself, so people can see your face, the way you dress, and if physically that is what they are looking for in an employee. 

I recommend using your name as the title of the page, in a professional format, so employers can easily identify your name and contact information.

Here is an example:

Jessie Ashton

2850 Almond Rd, Houston, Texas 

JessieAshton3402@gmail.com 

JessieAshton.portfolio.com

Remember: do not include personal information or link to any social media.

2) Education & Experience

The education section of your resume should include the name of your school, location of the school, degree obtained, the field of study, graduation year, GPA (if it’s under a 3.2, you may not want to include it), any honors or academic achievements, coursework, activities or research during your education. This part is important, especially for careers, or Grad school applications as the most important aspect of careers is whether you have the correct degree to perform the task.

The experience section is an opportunity to showcase what you have previously brought to businesses and the value you have. Here, you must list all your relevant work experiences, beginning with the most recent job. Alternatively, if you have little or no job experience, you should list any type of paid experience you have. Employers use that experience to understand what kind of worker you are, and soft skills you have acquired, possibly transferring these skills to a new job or industry. Don’t forget to include the name of the employer, the time frame of employment, and bullet points with your accomplishments.

Ex: 

Memorial High School

Houston, Texas 

Graduated: May 2020

GPA: 3.3

Remember: education is probably the most important qualifier for the job because most jobs require at least a B.S.

3) Volunteer Work

If you are a high school or college student, or someone just starting a new career, you might turn over to volunteer work to boost your experience. Volunteering on a regular basis gives you a chance to not only prove that you are well rounded but reliable, hard-working, willing to learn, and interested in transcending. Of course, listing qualities on your resume is important, but backing them up with volunteer work is even more important.

If you are an employee looking to switch careers, include volunteer activities that require skills outside of those typically used in your current job – it will help the transition. Gaining volunteer experience relevant to the field of choice gives you the chance to impress the employers, as well as gives you the chance to boost your resume using keywords. It also increases the range of skills that you may possess- and the employers know this.

No matter your career, or experience level, volunteer work will show your potential off.

4) Certifications & Accomplishments

This area should include all the certifications you have acquired- from certifications in diving to CPR, any certification or paper license enhances your resume. People even tend to induce licenses- boat, drivers, or aircraft, and I advise that you do the same- it shows safety skills, and technical skills that not all may have.

Shortlist ant additional certifications you have acquired during school, or even “employee of the week”. This helps create a bigger picture of who you are as an individual, and your relations to the position you are applying for.

In the certification area, an employer may see what you look for outside the professional field, how you organize yourself, and your hobbies and passions.

See Also

How To Survive The Post-Grad Blues

5) Skills

Your skills section should include all the relevant technical or overall acquired skills during your life. Include any tools you have mastered and the skills you have learned from the tools.

The skills should include technical skills. For example:

Welding, Electrical systems, OSHA Certification, Open-water diver

And you can include additional skills, those being:

Willingness to learn, determination, attentiveness, organization, reliableness, effective communication.

If you feel like your skills match those of the job employers, then write down the keyword that matches both what they are looking for, as well as what you are looking for.

The best job skills to make your resume more interesting are: speaking several languages, motivation, delegation, customer service.

Remember: your resume must also be correctly formatted so place this section in the right location.

Take into consideration of these important tools, so you can stand out to employers. Don’t forget that the resume is the first thing they see from you, being their first impression, and possibly analyzing every aspect of your resume. It is important that your resume be organized correctly, and in a reading-friendly way- you don’t want the reader to get bored or not being able to follow along.

Don’t forget that if you just graduated high school, you may not have all parts of your resume filled out to their maximum capacity. You will acquire hard, as well as soft skills informally through time and experience, on the job. if you would like to develop a certain skill set, then you must research advancing in your career, and how to do that.

With correct identification, and self-expression, and desire to develop a display of skills, you can help all employers understand your potential, and want you for their opening positions.

I am sure that by following these tips, your resume will be a mirror-reflection of you.

What are your favorite resume tips? Share them in the comments below, and be sure to tag your friends!