Essentials Of Being Employed: CV & Recruiting Platforms

Writing your own resume is always a challenge, no matter how many hundreds or thousands of resumes you've reviewed during your HR career. It can be difficult to step back and objectively assess your career to determine what makes you uniquely qualified and distinct from other candidates. What makes you think people will remember you? Why should people want to work with you? What makes you stand out to a potential employer?

The answers to these and other questions should serve as the foundation for building your resume and branding yourself for new professional opportunities.

While there is no one-size-fits-all formula or template for writing an HR resume, there are some guidelines that will help you write, format, and design a resume that will highlight your best skills, accomplishments, and value to a potential new employer. All HR professionals, managers, and executives should follow these seven "rules of the resume road."

 

1. Use a Well-Branded Headline

Of course, your resume will begin with your name and contact information prominently displayed at the top of the page (phone number and live links to both your e-mail address and LinkedIn profile). Include a headline statement immediately after that tells readers “Who" you are professionally in relation to your current career goal. Readers can tell whether you're an HR generalist, an employee or benefits specialist, or a senior HR and organizational development executive with just a glance.

Your headline statement takes the place of the now-outdated "Career Summary" or "Professional Profile" heading that you might have used to start the summary section of your resume in the past. Those headings don't convey any information, whereas your headline does so immediately.

Consider adding one or two subheadings after you've written your headline to further define your expertise. Do you have a specialization in a particular industry? Do you have any distinguishing qualifications? Have you ever dealt with a contentious HR issue? You can quickly convey relevant and valuable information about yourself that will set you apart from other candidates with just a few words.

A word of caution about headlines—and everything else on your resume, for that matter. Make sure that what you're highlighting corresponds to both what you've done previously and what you want to do in the future. This is critical because you want readers to think of you as a qualified and experienced candidate for the positions you're applying for.

If you have a lot of experience with compensation and benefits, but you don't want that to be a big part of your next job, don't put it in the headline. You can mention it in the experience section if it's relevant, but don't draw attention to something you don't want readers to notice. Selectively and strategically.

 

2. Share Details About the Organizations Where You’ve Worked

Provide details about the organizations where you've worked to help your readers understand the depth and breadth of your experience. You can include information such as the number of employees, the number of locations, the total annual company revenue, the specific business or industry, and other details that will provide context for readers.

The information is valuable regardless of where it is placed. Knowing where you've worked assists readers in putting everything into context and highlights your experience and accomplishments.

Be strategic, just like your headline. If you've only worked for large public companies and now want to work for a small privately held company, the size of your target employers may be a deterrent. Consider your objectives and include the details that will help you fit in with the companies, associations, and/or other organizations where you want to work.

 

3. Emphasize Achievements

This is, without a doubt, the most important strategy for creating a strong and memorable resume. Your resume will sound similar to that of any other HR professional with similar experience if you don't include specific accomplishments.

While your experience and knowledge are valuable, hiring managers want to learn more about you. They want to know what you've accomplished—how you contributed to business goals, how you made a difference, what measurable results you've achieved, how you've strengthened the HR organization, how you've improved company culture, and so on.

Both quantified and unquantified achievement bullets can be found in the accompanying sample resumes. It's crucial to remember that both add value to the resume, so don't feel obligated to include a number or a hard result for each bullet point.

In fact, HR professionals sometimes struggle to put a monetary value on their accomplishments. After all, HR isn't the same as sales. However, wherever possible, we encourage you to dig deep to find results. You can often find positive and possibly measurable outcomes if you ask yourself about the problem you solved—not just the activity, but why that activity was important to the business.

 

4. Highlight HR Keywords

You understand the significance of keywords for both human and electronic eyes scanning your resume. If you don't include those crucial terms, you risk appearing unqualified and having your resume overlooked. Make sure that doesn't happen to you!

Look for places in your resume where you can use keywords. You can add a "Core Competencies" or "Professional Skills Summary" to the top of the page, but that isn't enough. Keywords should be used throughout your resume in every section.

Take a look at Leslie's CV. Every sentence in her Professional Experience section contains a plethora of HR keywords. Furthermore, her resume is devoid of long "responsible for" statements. Instead, the keywords are seamlessly integrated into all of her achievement bullets, providing clear and compelling evidence of her HR activities, expertise, and value to readers.

Examine Sama's resume next. The bold keywords at the beginning of each bullet point in the Professional Experience section are one of the first things you notice. This is a very effective strategy for increasing your resume's keyword density while also making it highly "skimmable." A quick keyword scan gives readers an immediate sense of your expertise, setting you apart from the competition.

 

5. Prepare Your Resume for Applicant Tracking Systems

Continuing our discussion of the significance of keywords... You have an advantage over most candidates as an HR professional. You can see what happens in a typical keyword-driven resume review by looking "under the hood" of an applicant tracking system (ATS). Make the most of what you've learned.

You can't guarantee a perfect result from every ATS scan because there are so many of them, and because candidate searches are conducted by humans with their own habits and preferences. However, you can—and should—follow best practices for resume formatting, keyword integration, and keyword density.

 

6. Share What Makes You Special

Obviously, your professional experience and educational credentials are vital in positioning you as a well-qualified candidate. However, there are many other items you can—and should—include in your resume if relevant to your career. These items add further value, distinction and qualification.

Be certain to include any of these that are relevant to you: Professional credentials (e.g., SHRM-SCP); professional affiliations (e.g., SHRM, OD Network); board of director appointments and other leadership posts; presentations and public speaking engagements; media features and quotes; and publications.

We recommend that you focus the above on professional activities and exclude common civic and/or community-based affiliations. Resume “real estate”—just one or two pages—is extremely valuable, so you want to be certain that each line of text adds strength to your candidacy.

 

7. Write Tight, Lean and Clean

Clean, clear, concise writing is the hallmark of a powerful and modern resume. Readers simply don’t have the time or inclination to wade through irrelevant experiences, fluffy adjectives, unnecessary details, and other “filler” that weighs down many resumes.

No one writes tight, lean, and clean on the first pass. It requires repeated review, careful editing, and a constant focus on strategy and goals to determine what’s important to include and what does not support your professional brand and your current career objectives.

In addition to tight writing, pay attention to how your resume is formatted. Avoid dense paragraphs (anything longer than three or four lines) and allow ample white space to create an inviting document that rewards readers, whether they come for a quick skim or a more thorough read.

If you are looking for a job, you should look for the best job search app that will transform the search time that you usually spend looking for a job. A job search app is a proven and effective method of searching for a job on your phone. 

You probably have many apps on your phone, but you should also pay attention to the job-finding apps that are the most effective. With these apps, your job search will be more accurate and more productive. Let’s find out more about job finding apps and their use in modern times. 

 

JOB SEARCH APPS TO HELP YOU FIND THE RIGHT JOB

If you are looking for a job, you should look for the best job search app that will transform the search time that you usually spend looking for a job. A job search app is a proven and effective method of searching for a job on your phone.

You probably have many apps on your phone, but you should also pay attention to the job-finding apps that are the most effective. With these apps, your job search will be more accurate and more productive. Let’s find out more about job finding apps and their use in modern times.

 

1. LINKEDIN

 

 

LinkedIn is one of the most popular apps to boost job search, and many recruiters use this app to find the right candidates for the jobs. LinkedIn is a complete app that is perfect for networking, sharing news, and meeting new professionals. It is also good for searching for jobs.

You can set up your profile to get notifications about new jobs in your industry and these opportunities can come to you via email. At the same time, you can see salary insights or other information about the companies that will be relevant to you. The LinkedIn app is available on iTunes and Google Play, so you can download it and use it for free. The Premium account costs $29 a month.

 

2. INDEED

 

There are many fans of the Indeed website, and now, it is possible to have an app that serves the right purpose of searching for a job. The app is completely free to use and it was rated with great ratings among the users. 

Indeed is a job search app where you can search for millions of jobs in a second. You can distinguish the jobs according to the location, profession, date, or salary range. You can also use other factors like remote jobs or similar. Indeed is a great app that is easy to download on iTunes or Google Play and it is completely free. 

 

3. SNAGAJOB

 

Snagajob is among the best job-finding apps because you can find many jobs here. In most situations, there are part-time jobs and hourly-based jobs. If you want this kind of job, then Snagajob might be an ideal solution for you. Once you sign in, you get immediate access to the job listings and you can use the app for free. 

The app itself matches you with the jobs that might be the most appropriate for you. In this case, you can find a job that matches your skills and expertise. There is also an option to share a video of yourself with the possible recruiters. You can easily download the app on Google Play and iTunes. 

 

4. GLASSDOOR

Glassdoor is another hugely popular job search app that offers some great possibilities. On Glassdoor, you get an opportunity to search for the companies, see their ratings, and you can be actively involved in the market. Glassdoor offers a ton of insight on jobs and there is much interesting news about the relevant companies. It is a well-rounded app where you can search for new jobs, read company reviews, and reveal more about the benefits and salary ranges. The app is free and you can find it on iTunes and Google Play.

The best job search app will have all of the functionalities that are relevant for job seekers. With the mentioned job-finding apps, you can be sure that your job search will be more productive. You will be able to find a job easier and faster. Keep looking for your best job with the good job-finding apps.