10 Steps to Writing a Stand Out Resume during COVID!

On paper, people are going to look similar… So, find what you have that makes you different and you’ll stand out from the pack!

A lot of candidates are in the job market right now, which can make things more competitive but these are the steps you can take to help you stand out.

1. Summarise your experience using a “Professional Summary” at the top of your resume – This is generally one paragraph that includes your goals, key skills and key achievements/career highlights. Ensure your professional summary discusses your goals beyond your current position. Most employers want to see candidates that have a career path in mind. Tip: Use this as a chance to show your personality.
   
   
2. Highlight soft skills – Attitude and mindset are things employers are looking for right now. COVID-19 turned everything on its head and as organisations adapt, they’re looking for people who can prove they have the ability to thrive on change, work autonomously, have resilience, are comfortable thinking outside the box or being creative and can handle uncertainty or the unknown.
   
   
3. Emphasise results & achievements under each role – It’s not enough to just restate your job description or key duties and responsibilities. If you want to stand out, show your impact with facts & figures. Instead of saying “I worked with the sales team to increase the number of products sold”, you should include the exact results that the team experienced as a result of your efforts. For example, “I successfully worked with the sales team to achieve 140% of the target in Q2 of 2020”.
   
   
4. Find your unique selling point – What is it about your career history or background that makes you great at what you do? What can you offer that most people can’t? What unique skillset does your background provide you with? Once you identify this, include that throughout your resume and in your professional summary.
   
   
5. Emphasise your strengths and transferrable skills – Know your strengths and transferrable skills. Take the time to truly think about them and focus on highlighting them throughout your resume. If you struggle to identify them, you can think back through performance reviews or feedback from management and colleagues and ask yourself “what’s the recurring theme?”. You can also refer to SEEK’s transferrable skills checklist here.
   
   
6. Highlight leadership skills – Even at a junior level, any examples of leadership ability are seen in a positive light.
   
   
7. Have relevant examples throughout – Generalisations won’t set you apart from the pack. The more proof that you can pack into your resume, the better.
   
   
8. Make it easy to read – Bullet points are better then long paragraphs and resume structure is important.
   
   
9. Attention to detail – Triple check your CV for spelling and grammar mistakes. People do turn away CV’s based on this.
   
   
10. Customise your resume for the job you want – We cover this in more detail here.

Hopefully this helps you on your resume writing journey! For further tips, feel free to reach out to a member of the WOW Recruitment team on 02 8320 0683.