We’ve talked about how it’s best to get rid of the Objective and remove your physical address from the top, well now we have a nice thing to put in its place: an Overview! You’ve probably heard before about hiring managers being ridiculously busy and that you have to do everything to get them to the information that says Hire Me as quickly as possible. Resumes contain blocks of content and a lot of opportunity lies in filling in those in-between spaces with connectors that tell your story. So let’s get back to the Overview.

Overview

At the top of your resume, put a brief description of who you are and maybe any awards you’ve won. Think of it as a teaser that gets them to read more about you. It should be a quick hit of your bio that could really set you apart.

Results

Rather than describing or (even worse) listing your previous responsibilities, your resume should showcase what you’ve accomplished. It’s best if you can make this quantifiable, but it’s understandable if that’s not always possible. Data now drives people to make decisions more than anecdote.

Transitions

At an interview you’re likely going to flesh out how you moved from one job to the next. You’ll create the larger narrative, but why not move this to the resume? In between jobs why not explain in a sentence why you moved from point A to point B?

Tailor

Maybe you’ve read that it’s dangerous to have more than one version of your resume. It’s a little risky, someone could get the wrong one, but it’s worth the risk. Do your research about the company, the hiring managers, their clients, etc. and you get extra points if you can display this knowledge on your resume.

The biggest mistake people make is in how they think of their resume. It’s not a record of employment and personal statistics, it’s a tool you use to pursue opportunities. It’s sole purpose is to get you one step closer to your dream job. Above are four nice enhancements that we hope can get you a little closer. Good luck.

About NextGen

NextGen is the brainchild of longtime telecom professionals with nearly 50 years of experience and millions of dollars in Telecom Recruiting Services. We focus on establishing long term relationships with our clients and candidates so we can recruit the best and the brightest in the telecom industry. This ‘quality over quantity’ approach is at the heart of everything we do and has resulted in successful job placements at Fortune 1000 firms worldwide.