Resume Writing Tips for Career Growth and Advancement

Resume Writing Tips for Career Growth and AdvancementWriting a resume for career growth and advancement requires a different approach than simply writing a resume for a similar position or horizontal move. Showing the employer the tangible benefits youve delivered becomes increasingly more important as you position yourself for growth either within your company or outside of it. Here are a few resume tips to help you position yourself for advancement and growth.Tips for How to Write a Resume for Career Growth or Advancement1.) Know Where You Want to Go.Carefully consider where you want your career to go over the next few years. Without a clear imagination of what you want to do, youre leid going to be able to successfully communicate that to employers. I suggest you start by asking yourself where you want to be this time next year or in two years or five. You may already know the position you want and the steps you need to take to get there. If so, great But if youre not clear on tho se things here are some questions to helpWhy do you do the work that you do?What values are the driving force behind your work?What part of your current work do you enjoy and what are you passionate about?Answering these questions can help you frame a vision for your future. It will also help you formulate your answers in upcoming interviews when youre asked why youre interested in the position or the company.2.) Use Visuals to Present Results.You can add testimonials to your resume to incorporate third-party validation of your results. Use a chart to highlight skill areas or industry expertise. Use bar charts to show revenue growth, customer satisfaction score increases or some other type of number-driven data that shows youve delivered tangible results. Visuals communicate information faster and more attractively than simple text. Incorporating visuals into your resume help show progression and growth in your career and set you up for advancement.3.) Write Your Resume for Applican t Tracking Systems.When you apply for jobs online, you want to make your application attractive to applicant tracking systems (ATS). Write your resume specifically for the position youre seeking. Use keywords throughout the resume that are relevant for the position. Especially include them in the Key Competencies or Areas of Expertise sections. Use specific technical skills or job responsibilities as keywords in your resume instead of just general words like full-time or team player. Make an ATS version of your resume that does not include any graphics, charts, etc. Also, use a .doc file for your online application to preserve formatting, not .docx or PDF.Additionally, you can use a free word cloud creator online to find which skills are mentioned most in a particular job post. Then use those words as keywords in your resume. By paying close attention to how to optimize your resume for ATS, you can avoid your resume being among the 75 percent of resumes that are ignored before they ever even make it to a hiring managers desk.4.) Put Your Best Stuff at the Top.Put your LinkedIn profile link by your name and contact information at the top of the resume. Update your LinkedIn profile, and make it as strong as possible to show that youre a solid candidate for the positions youre applying to.Avoid objective statements, instead write a targeted statement with metrics. Those metrics speak to employers about why youre the right person to hire.Include industry- and position-specific keywords in a separate section at the top of the resume. Eye-tracking studies have proven that recruiters are paying great attention to this section so what you put here will help position you well for advancement.5.) Avoid Too Much Fluff.While its important to let the employer know that youre a team player, you dont want to overstuff your resume with fluffy descriptions of your soft skills. While these are definitely essential to a position, employers want to know what hard skills you posse ss. ansicht hard skills also end up being the buzz words employers use when they search applicant tracking systems to pull candidate resumes. Write your resume to reflect what you can actually do on the job, how you can tangibly benefit the employer. Use numbers to help validate the tangible results that youve delivered. Its not very impactful to say youre results-driven its better to state what results youve created and to use numbers to quantify those results.6.) Tell Your Story.Use results of your successes on the job to tell employers how you are the right person to hire. Think about some challenges that you have had on the job and how you overcame them. Then consider the results of those actions. First, write down the result of the problem. For example, you might say, Landed 3 new lucrative accounts worth $1 million. Then discuss how you reached those results. You could write, Developed rapport with competitors clients, instilling trust and confidence resulting in new contracts worth $1M. Finally, write what the problem was in the beginning. That might be, Competitor-led territory where XYZ company had no presence. Put this information into bullet points to succinctly tell your story on your resume. This helps you avoid writing a long list of adjectives that dont directly tell an employer how you can help them increase their bottom line.When you put all the information together, youre painting a great picture for the employer of how you charged headfirst into competitor territory, developed great rapport with your competitors clients, built trust, instilled confidence in the companys products, and ultimately won three new contracts worth $1M in new business for your employer.7.) Create a Modern Resume Design.The overall design of your resume should be modern and clean, essentially unlike any other resume out there. Avoid using too many capitals, bold, and italics in your text. Stay away from Times New Roman font its overused and not attractive to the eye. For examples of modern resume design check out the resume samples here.Telling a complete but concise story that shows measurable results is essential to your career progression.If this article was helpful to you, please share I enjoy networking feel free to send me an invitation on LinkedIn.