How to upgrade your resume

A long and intensive job search that does not produce results can cause frustration. You wrote a resume, spent countless hours searching for relevant jobs, applied, and crossed your fingers, and the phone hasn’t rung yet. Believe it or not, the problem may lie with your resume. The good news is that with a few simple steps you can upgrade and overhaul your existing resume completely by yourself!

 

If you’re interested in more tips, or want to know how to write a quality resume, we invite you to also use 10 tips for writing a quality resume.

If it’s been a while since you last edited your resume, some of the information in it may no longer be current. If so, re-read the personal and contact information you’ve provided, to make sure you’re not disqualified due to inaccurate technical details. For example: Perhaps they’re not calling you because you’ve changed your phone number and are unreachable, or your residential address is out of date and the recruiters think you still live at your parents’ house in Boston, when in fact you’ve been living in Philadelphia for some years now.

 

In addition, it’s critical to ensure that your education and work experience information is up to date. If you’ve acquired additional education or experience since the last version of your resume, it’s important to add it, especially if it’s relevant to the field you’re currently applying in.  It’s important for the employer or recruiter to have the most current picture of your professional knowledge and skills.

As mentioned in our guide to resume design, employers and recruiters who sort through numerous resumes often merely skim them for key pieces of information. That’s why you should make sure the document provides a convenient and simple reading experience, allowing the reader to gather all the necessary information in a short time. Look at your resume from a bird’s eye view again, without reading the text. Does it make you want to read it? If the honest answer is no, know that this may be the root of the problem.

 

Fortunately, the solution is simple: break the text up into bullet points or short paragraphs, separated them using headings, choose a readable font at a reasonable size, highlight the most relevant key information for the job you’re applying for, and change anything you think makes the document awkward or hard to read. You’ll be surprised at how easily a more pleasing design will upgrade your resume.

When you last edited your resume, you may have been looking for work in a different field from the one you’re currently interested in. Therefore, your resume, as written then, probably won’t get you closer to the coveted job in this new field and may even serve as a hindrance.

 

Update the text to fit the jobs you’re currently interested in, and of all your work experience and education, highlight the ones most relevant to the new field. In addition, incorporate keywords that recur in the want ads to improve your chances of getting past automated CV screening (read about this in our guide on how to write a CV ).

 

Expert tip: As we’ve mentioned in 5 facts about resumes, employers greatly appreciate candidates whose resumes look like they were written specifically for the job. If you’re looking for work in several fields, you can create several resumes, each tailored towards a different field (e.g., one resume for customer service and one for sales). The more the fields overlap, the less you need separate resumes, and you can tweak the little details just before sending to each job. Don’t be lazy: if you spend a little effort on adjusting your resume to a specific job, you can significantly improve your chance of being hired.

Let’s say your resume looks appealing to the reader, and the recruiter chooses to delve into the text, finding errors in basic things like writing, phrasing, and punctuation. At this point you may have missed an opportunity. These tiny mistakes, which usually happen due to lack of attention, can irritate the recruiter and give the wrong impression.

 

Reread your resume slowly and with great care. Pay attention to every word, comma, and period, making sure that the text is worded and spelled properly and accurately. Pay special attention to spelling errors and typos. Correct any mistakes you find, and if you’re unsure, ask someone else to proofread. We sometimes go over our resumes so many times that it becomes impossible for us to spot our own mistakes, but a fresh eye could be just what we need to make a serious overhaul.

It is likely that most resumes a recruiter goes through look pretty much the same: black text on a white page, a few headings, and some bullet points. Giving your resume an interesting or different design may draw the recruit’s eye and get them to spend a little more time on it.

 

So, if your resume lacks uniqueness, you may wish to choose a special resume format where the information is arranged differently. For example, you may choose a resume structure where the personal details appear on the side of the pages rather than the top. Alternatively, you may consider adding design elements such as background color for the headings, square or rhombus-shaped bullet points, etc.

 

However, bear in mind that this is to some degree ultimately an official document, so it’s best to choose a resume template with delicate design and pleasing colors that aren’t too bright or festive.

 

For more on resume visibility and design, visit our guide to resume design.