With the employment landscape becoming increasingly competitive, there are many factors in the job search process that are out of our control. However, if you find yourself struggling to land a new job, it may be time to evaluate your role in the process – including your resume. Many candidates forget that a poorly designed or ineffective resume can turn away employers and cost them a job altogether! It’s time to take another look at your resume and make improvements that will enhance your candidacy and have a more positive impression on employers. Here are three key tips for refining your resume:

Make sure your resume is free of grammatical errors and typos.

Many employers will completely dismiss a candidate if they see even one grammatical error! With boundless computer tools at your disposal, there’s no excuse to submit a resume that is poorly written and filled with mistakes. The most common types of errors found by recruiters tend to be the misuse of words, incorrectly spelled words and overuse of punctuation. When revising your resume, make sure to use spell check and have a trusted colleague or mentor review it. Thorough revision is vital to making sure your resume represents you as a credible and qualified candidate.

Tailor your resume for each job.

Even the most perfect-looking resume needs to be tailored for each position. No two roles are alike, and your resume should be adjusted to reflect that. According to a study by CareerBuilder, 36 percent of employers identify resumes they perceive as “generic” as one of their main reasons to dismiss a candidate. To avoid making this mistake, it’s best to take a general resume template and tailor it to each job description and company. This means highlighting your employment experience relevant to the job, as well as incorporating your unique qualifications that match the job’s stated requirements such as any pieces of training or certifications. The more targeted and specific you can be in your tailoring approach, the more you will demonstrate what makes you a prime candidate.

Have a clear and easy-to-read format.

Unless you’re applying for an extremely creative position, it’s in your best interest to keep your resume format relatively clean and simple. Format your resume with distinct, blocked sections, along with bolded headlines and bulleted descriptions. Make your descriptions concise, providing only the essential details. Resumes that are too wordy or long tend to fail in adequately showcasing your strengths, easily losing the reader’s attention.

An interview is what ultimately gets you a job, but your resume is what gets you through the door in the first place. Don’t blow your chances with a resume that doesn’t sell your qualifications!

Is your resume employer-ready?

Let The Liberty Group’s team give your job search the boost it needs and land your next job with us! Contact us today!