I’m sure recruiters will agree that most resumes are full of irrelevant information, making it hard to find the info they need. Occasionally, if you are lucky, you will get a sympathetic recruiter who is willing to get perplexed and follow your chaotic resume maze. However, the chances of that are negligible. An Applicant Tracking System (ATS) will simply reject resumes that don’t contain the text it is searching for. Its important to make your resume relevant to recruiters.
Here is a guide to the must-have sections and how to make your resume relevant to recruiters and compliant with the (ATS) on an international as well as domestic level.
➡️Contact Information: Include your full name, one email address, one phone number (with country code), LinkedIn profile (with optimised URL), location (City, Country) and not your full address, or any other link to your work, blog, website, etc. Use a professional email address, and avoid using your current employer’s email.
➡️Professional Summary: Describe your professional background, experience, and skills in a concise manner. To demonstrate your suitability for the position you are applying for, it should highlight your key skills and past achievements. As a teaser, include one relevant achievement or USP.
➡️Skills: For ATS compliance, list core skills that act as keywords that are relevant to the position you are applying for.
➡️Work Experience: Reverse chronological order of your work experience, logically formatted with designation, company name, and dates. Rather than listing your daily activities, use bullet points to highlight your performance in each role and quantify your results, where possible. Separate Internships/ Trainee roles
➡️Education: Include your educational qualifications, including the institution, degree, and completion date. High school education is not necessary unless it is relevant to the position. As a junior, education comes first, as a more experienced person, it comes later.
➡️Certifications and Licenses: Certifications and licenses should be listed separately. Your commitment to professional development will demonstrate your suitability.
➡️Volunteer Experience: Volunteer experience is relevant to your resume. Teamwork and community service will be demonstrated in this way.
➡️Other Sections: Include training, awards, languages, interests, publications, and projects ensuring you do not exceed 2 pages for seniors and 1 page for juniors.
➡️Misc.: Make sure your resume is ATS-compliant by using keywords from the job posting. This will increase the chances of your resume being picked up by the ATS. Additionally, avoid including images, graphics, or tables, as these may be unreadable by the ATS. Use simple, easy-to-read fonts. To ensure compatibility with all devices, save your resume as a .pdf or .docx file.
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