I have learned a few tips and tricks on how to write resumes over the years, from industry professionals, employers, professors, and my mentors. A resume can make or break an opportunity to get a foot in the door with a company. I believe there are a few tricks in creating a resume that stands out against all others and will make a company recruiter remember your resume. Here are my five main points to creating an outstanding resume. Here are my five main points.

Who are you?

There are a couple key objectives to think about when creating a resume. When writing my resume, I like to think about what my goals are and what my target career might be. This will help me determine what I want to capitalize on and how I want to stand out through my resume.

Key Words & Numbers

Another piece of advice would be to use key words and to always include numbers when possible. I like to look over the job/internship description and pull key words from there. If in the description they say- “self starter, motivated, organized, ect.” These are perfect hints on how to shape your resume to what they are looking for and these simple words will really stand out to them. I also like to use action words when writing my job descriptions that way they truly stand out. I would also suggest including numbers as much as possible. For example, when writing a description like “Engage with farmers on a day-to-day basis” instead write “Engage with 10-12 farmers on a day-to-day basis”. Numbers automatically attract the eye and give a better description of what is being done.

Work experience

This is an essential part of a resume. This is where key words and using numbers really come into play. I like to use action words, especially at the beginning, and then really diving deep into what I did and how I helped achieve each task. I would also advise to keep these descriptions short and sweet. There is no need to write a paragraph for each one, they want to know a short and precise summary.

Leadership experience

Talking with a job recruiter they said the first thing they look for is leadership experience. A big takeaway from this conversation was that they understand that not everybody can be in the highest leadership role in every club on campus. They said to list and talk about experiences of leadership within a group project or maybe a time when you stepped up within your job or even internship.

Resume structure

Do not, let me repeat DO NOT make a resume that is more than one page, most of us are in college, therefore we do not have that much experience. Even if you have that much experience narrow down the experience to fit the job or internship description. Something else I would advise to do is to print out every resume on actual resume paper. This paper can be found at most stores like Wal-Mart along with many other stores. I have noticed that companies truly recognize when I take the extra effort to print it on actual resume paper and it is another simple trick to help stand out.

I hope that these five tips and tricks help many of you in future career endeavors. I of course am no expert but, I have found having these five tips in the back of my head every time I create or revise my own resume has truly helped me throughout my own experiences.