How to Make Your Job Application Stand Out Among the Rest [Recruitment Agency Perspective]
You may be wondering how you can stand out among the crowd of job applicants & stack of resumes. It's time to buckle up and understand how to distinguish yourself during the selection process, whether you are applying for an entry level position or your first employment after graduation or looking for a career change.
This may require cutting back a week or a month on the amount of resumes you have sent out. But a few carefully constructed resumes and cover letters linking the dots can do more than sending out dozens of CVs to open doors.
Remember, generic cover letters and CVs that do not highlight the required skill set will be quickly overlooked! Instead of sending many employers the same version of a resume, accommodate to the role with your application.
So, customize your resume to the job you’re applying!
Keep your personal information short
Skip your family details, marital status and current address; it’s taking up space and time. Just stick to your name, current place of residence (optional), objective, and the link to your LinkedIn profile.
Make sure to highlight your skills & proficiencies
What skills have you acquired? What are your strengths?
10 general skills to include in your resume:
Active listening
Communication
Computer skills
Customer service
Interpersonal skills
Leadership
Management skills
Problem-solving
Time management
Transferable skills
However,it is important to give the recruiter a good overview of your specific technical skill sets and sort the list by relevance to the job.
Roselin Francis, Recruitment Consultant @ ManpowerGroup Malaysia.
If you’re not sure where to start, pick out your main skills and qualifications from the job description that apply to you.
E.g.: Specific skills adopted by a Digital Marketing Manager will be...
SEO
Google Analytics
Facebook Insights
Hootsuite
Data Analysis
Paid Social Advertising
Try to demonstrate that you have these skills by providing actual examples or cases to get the employers’ attention on your resume.
Tailor your relevant work experience to the industry & the job you’re applying for
The entire point of your CV is to focus on the most important pieces that show why you’re a perfect fit for a particular role. Resist the urge to list every single minor duty or project you can think of and narrow your focus to only the most impressive or the most relevant for career change to focus on transferable skills.
A good resume should match the job requirement, e.g., responsibilities (achievements & targets accomplished in the past) of candidate should be meeting the job descriptions.
Feroz Ghafoor, Talent Acquisition Lead @ ManpowerGroup Malaysia.
So, focus on your accomplishments in each position. If you can quantify (in numbers) any of your achievements, it will give the hiring manager a much clearer image of your skills and abilities. E.g.:
Keep your resume concise
While a resume can be two pages, most should be just one. You should only include the information that will help you land an interview.
Clarity without missing the important information at first look is what really makes a good CV.
Rajive Kathiresan, Practice Head, Language Hiring @ ManpowerGroup Malaysia
Avoid redundancy and fluff!
Avoid listing hobbies/outdated technical or business skills
Avoid listing long job duties
Instead, showcase your key qualifications in the career summary statement at the top of the first page. E.g.:
"Accomplished marketing professional with 4 years of corporate experience in social media management and advertising campaigns. Looking to leverage industry skills and abilities of raising awareness and sales through low or no budget marketing options for local NGO".
Keep your resume highly organized & well-designed
Make sure your creativity is professional& must be in an easy-to-read format.
Font style-Use a professional font like, Times New Roman, Calibri or Arial.
Font size-Size12 font should suffice for the recruiters to read the content of your resume
Keep your template designs minimal & aesthetically appealing- make sure the visual elements don’t distract from the content of your resume
Bold the heading or subsections to increase standability
Use reverse-chronological order- List your most recent job experience to the older ones
Get review from the experts
Still asking yourself what should a resume include to impress hiring managers? Get a free resume evaluation today from the experts at ManpowerGroupMalaysia.
Or fill in the form below & we will keep in touch with you!
2 Dec 2020
Posted by:
Yogakumari Sankar - Prospect & Content Development Executive