Resume Writing

How to Write an Effective Resume

Resume Writing Services

Your resume provides a window into your working history, skill set, and personal characteristics. However, a resume should be only one page in length, and as such, must be succinct. Determining what to include and what to leave out is therefore one of the biggest challenges when it comes to resume writing. This is further complicated by the writing-style requirements of boolean search and AI recruitment tools that sweep your resume looking for keywords and phrases. A well-written resume can fail to be effective in the candidate pool if it lacks terms and phrases relevant to the job description. Throughout the resume writing process, we recommend answering what the employers are looking for, ensuring that your skills and experience are relevant for the job role in mind, providing examples that demonstrate your job suitability, adjusting your resume to suit each job position you are applying for individually, and saving your work so you don’t waste your efforts. FirstPoint Personnel can help you craft a resume that accurately and positively reflects your achievements. Our resume writing services provide Melbourne job seekers with a secure foundation on which to achieve their career goals.

Recruiters and employers are time poor, so it is imperative that your resume is brief and relevant to the position you are applying for. Some tips to help you in the process include:

  • Put your personal details (name, address, contact number and email) at the start of your resume, (including your preferred name, if you have one)
  • Place more focus and relevance about your current or recent jobs, less about the past
  • Ensure that your skills are linked/matched to the criteria of the role you are applying
  • Use clear, straight forward yet professional language
  • Formatting is important; Use one font and size. If you wish to emphasise a particular point, highlight it in bold; if you have many points, use bullet points to summarise
  • Make sure that you write clearly and concisely. This is your opportunity to make a good first impression, so make sure that the grammar is correct and the spelling is accurate, again, this is a reflection of you.

How you list and describe your previous job experience is important.There are certain key points that need to be included for every position you have previously held. They are:

  • Company name
  • Position held
  • Start date and end date
  • Brief description of responsibilities, good to summarise in bullet point format
  • Any achievements, especially if they are relevant and can benefit your next employer

Relevance Counts

Everything you put on your resume should be relevant for the role you are applying for. Ensure that you write your resume in response to the job description, and include all important details around your past experience. Elaborate on how your skills and experience demonstrate your suitability for the job position.

Give Examples

If you are including results or outcomes that you achieved in previous roles, you need to qualify their relevance to the job position on offer. Explain what your achievements represent, what steps were involved, how you brought about a resolution, and what this says about you as a job candidate.

Different job, different version

As with your cover letter, proofreading is an essential step in the resume writing process. From there, you can adjust your application to suit the job role in question, and ensure that you reflect yourself and your previous experience in the best light.

Hit ‘Save’ Twice

Unfortunately, it needs to be said: hit ‘spell check’ and ‘save’ twice. We recommend backing up your files to the Cloud or a USB device. You can also use this opportunity to share your resume with a third party such as a resume writing specialist, to ensure that your resume is living up to your potential.

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