What You Didn’t Know About Your Resume

Research has shown recruiters only spend an average of six seconds looking at your resume. With that said, let’s talk about how to make our resumes six seconds the most liveliest, and how to invest in every chance to blow your future employers away.

We had the pleasure of catching up with Alyssa Gelbard, Founder of Resume Strategists, Inc. who shared a few tips:

• Resumes Are Just The AnchorAlthough named Resume Strategist, Inc., Alyssa’s approach is focused on personal brand and teaching clients how they can best market themselves. Remember that resumes are just one part of your brand, not the end all be all. Instead of solely focusing your time on your resume be sure the rest of your brand is aligned as strongly. This includes your LinkedIn profile, cover letter, business cards, email language, and even how you present yourself in interviews or networking events. “You can have the greatest resume in the planet,” Alyssa explains, “but if you can’t back it up, what good was that resume?” You need a lot more to get out there, especially as a millennial in a competitive workfield in 2016.
• Show FaceYour LinkedIn profile is 14 more times likely to be viewed with a professional picture, yet there is always a time and place for a headshot. When asking Alyssa if she recommended having pictures on resumes, she shared, “It’s actually not legal in the U.S. to have your picture (in addition to age, marital status, kids, race) on your resume as employers are not allowed to ask those questions.” However, for international candidates, it’s very common to have your photo on your resume. Thus, it is crucial to upload an appealing photo on LinkedIn: it creates a visual of who we are, plus validates that we are a real person.
• Link Your RelevanceWhile maybe not your picture, you can certainly link social media profiles like LinkedIn on your resume, in addition to Twitter and beyond, but only if it’s relevant. One way to know if the content is relevant is by researching norms in your chosen field or deciding on what fits in your brand. By putting your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even LinkedIn on your resume you’re proactively telling someone, “here, go look at this!” Remember to make sure everything is current, up to date, relevant, or shows another positive aspect of who you are.
• Resumes or Works of Art?When asking Alyssa about whether resumes, especially for twenty somethings, needed to be works of art, she broke down how it works. “It depends – if it’s a job in visuals you do need something [artful] but you still need a basic version for when you cut and paste your resume into an application.” While having a nicely designed PDF of your resume is solid, it’s more contingent on what you want to do. No matter what, though, you always need to make sure you have a more plain reliable resume ready to use on any job application form.
• To View or Not To ViewLinkedIn is fabulous for countless reasons, especially for reading up on a company or employee before an interview or networking event. However, what about that worry that someone will know you’ve viewed his or her profile – is this a bad thing? Luckily Alyssa broke the stereotype explaining, “No, not at all.” In her experience working with clients, she explained how companies are often flattered and impressed when a client or prospective employee looks them up. “Anyone that does their research, it shows interest; I love that they took the time to look me up,” Alyssa says.  So go ahead and stalk away, you know, in a non-creepy way!
• Show Your Best SelfWhen asking Alyssa what the most frequent mistake she has found millennials make, she shared the following: “I think it’s two things: one, too much information, where you don’t need to put everything that you’ve done; and two, making you out to seem more senior than you are. You want to strike a balance. Be careful of the language you use! If you’ve only been out of college for two years, you want your resume to also look believable.”Find the most crucial points and tailor that to your background. Likewise with LinkedIn, you don’t need to include everything you’ve ever done – but instead only the most relevant, to who you are now, and where you want to go. The best example – do your best to keep your resume to one page only, no matter how hard!
• Opportunity In Groups“There’s a lot of really obvious groups people who don’t take advantage of like alumni groups, which are incredibly powerful,” Alyssa says. Not just social groups like sororities, but larger groups where you can meet people of all ages. There are numerous associations to gain, and when you walk into a room, you’ll have an instant commonality, aka a guaranteed starting point for conversation. Thus, you will automatically feel more confident in how you approach a room full of strangers you’ve never met! These connections will do so much more for your resume, than a routine job application ever could.

Although named Resume Strategist, Inc., Alyssa’s approach is focused on personal brand and teaching clients how they can best market themselves. Remember that resumes are just one part of your brand, not the end all be all. Instead of solely focusing your time on your resume be sure the rest of your brand is aligned as strongly. This includes your LinkedIn profile, cover letter, business cards, email language, and even how you present yourself in interviews or networking events. “You can have the greatest resume in the planet,” Alyssa explains, “but if you can’t back it up, what good was that resume?” You need a lot more to get out there, especially as a millennial in a competitive workfield in 2016.

Your LinkedIn profile is 14 more times likely to be viewed with a professional picture, yet there is always a time and place for a headshot. When asking Alyssa if she recommended having pictures on resumes, she shared, “It’s actually not legal in the U.S. to have your picture (in addition to age, marital status, kids, race) on your resume as employers are not allowed to ask those questions.” However, for international candidates, it’s very common to have your photo on your resume. Thus, it is crucial to upload an appealing photo on LinkedIn: it creates a visual of who we are, plus validates that we are a real person.

While maybe not your picture, you can certainly link social media profiles like LinkedIn on your resume, in addition to Twitter and beyond, but only if it’s relevant. One way to know if the content is relevant is by researching norms in your chosen field or deciding on what fits in your brand. By putting your Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or even LinkedIn on your resume you’re proactively telling someone, “here, go look at this!” Remember to make sure everything is current, up to date, relevant, or shows another positive aspect of who you are.

When asking Alyssa about whether resumes, especially for twenty somethings, needed to be works of art, she broke down how it works. “It depends – if it’s a job in visuals you do need something [artful] but you still need a basic version for when you cut and paste your resume into an application.” While having a nicely designed PDF of your resume is solid, it’s more contingent on what you want to do. No matter what, though, you always need to make sure you have a more plain reliable resume ready to use on any job application form.

LinkedIn is fabulous for countless reasons, especially for reading up on a company or employee before an interview or networking event. However, what about that worry that someone will know you’ve viewed his or her profile – is this a bad thing? Luckily Alyssa broke the stereotype explaining, “No, not at all.” In her experience working with clients, she explained how companies are often flattered and impressed when a client or prospective employee looks them up. “Anyone that does their research, it shows interest; I love that they took the time to look me up,” Alyssa says.  So go ahead and stalk away, you know, in a non-creepy way!

When asking Alyssa what the most frequent mistake she has found millennials make, she shared the following: “I think it’s two things: one, too much information, where you don’t need to put everything that you’ve done; and two, making you out to seem more senior than you are. You want to strike a balance. Be careful of the language you use! If you’ve only been out of college for two years, you want your resume to also look believable.”

Find the most crucial points and tailor that to your background. Likewise with LinkedIn, you don’t need to include everything you’ve ever done – but instead only the most relevant, to who you are now, and where you want to go. The best example – do your best to keep your resume to one page only, no matter how hard!

“There’s a lot of really obvious groups people who don’t take advantage of like alumni groups, which are incredibly powerful,” Alyssa says. Not just social groups like sororities, but larger groups where you can meet people of all ages. There are numerous associations to gain, and when you walk into a room, you’ll have an instant commonality, aka a guaranteed starting point for conversation. Thus, you will automatically feel more confident in how you approach a room full of strangers you’ve never met! These connections will do so much more for your resume, than a routine job application ever could.

Remember – your resume is just one piece of your brand. Forget about all the other pieces and your resume will never be able to truly shine.