How to Craft a Resume: Best Practices from Judge Recruiters

As a job seeker, your resume is the first impression you give to a recruiter or hiring manager. As such, your resume needs to show off your experience, project what you will bring to the position, and generally reflect on you as a person. This is a lot for a single piece of paper to convey! To help you create a resume that will accomplish all these things, we went around and asked our recruiters their advice for crafting a resume. Here’s what they had to say:

Get Organized

Make sure your resume is neat and organized. No special fonts or graphics that might distract from the information the hiring manager needs to find. I would however, suggest making bold some of the keywords that best match the job description.

Linda Winter, Sr. Technical Recruiter

Your Resume is a Reflection of You

The layout and content of your resume should reflect who you are as a professional in the workforce. Make sure you provide the dates of employment with both the month and year. List the company, title, and specific duties of past positions concisely, in a way that favorably showcases your skills and abilities to a prospective employer.

Alexander Russell, National Healthcare Recruiter

Put Your Best Foot Forward

I believe candidates should accentuate their best feature when crafting their resume. Whether that be their expertise, education, or certifications. Also, keeping the resume simple and easy to read will help set your resume apart from the rest.

Roy Bakeoven, Vice President - Recruiting

Tailor Your Resume

I always say to tailor your resume to fit the job you are applying for.  If there is something on the job description that you have done, make sure it is on there.  It is your time to showcase your skills and accomplishments so be sure to include any relevant stats or examples. 

Dana Glodek, Technical Recruiter

Accomplishments > Responsibilities

Highlight your accomplishments in your current/past roles rather than just sole general responsibilities. It differentiates you from other candidates. Include details of the functionality of your responsibilities, not just technical tools used.

Rob Girling, Vice President - Recruiting

The Devil is in the Details

Don’t let simple spelling and grammar mistakes be the reason you are not selected for an interview. Take your time to craft a well-organized resume that provides a favorable first impression.

Alexander Russell, National Healthcare Recruiter

Start with a Good Foundation

Advice I give to candidates when crafting a resume is to create a general generic resume that they can use as a baseline.  From that original resume they can then alter their experience and responsibilities to be tailored to fit a different position based on the job descriptions, that they may not necessary include on their general resume.  For example this is extremely helpful when applying to positions that are similar but may have slightly different titles and responsibilities (ex. Business Analyst, Business Systems Analyst, Data Analyst).  Candidates who are willing to put in the extra effort to tailor their resume to fit a specific job are more likely to get an interview or a recruiter’s attention than those who submit the same resume to multiple jobs.   

James Cunningham, Technical Recruiter

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Topics : Articles, Best Practices, Job Hunting, Recruiter Tips, Resume