Career Experts Share Their Secrets

Editor’s Note: This story originally appeared on FlexJobs.com.

Are you struggling to gain momentum in your job search? Do you feel like your resume could be upgraded to help you stand out from the competition?

If you’re looking for some insider tips and strategies to get your resume out of the recycling bin and get your name on the interview list, we’ve got good news!

We’ve gathered some actionable tips from FlexJobs’ Career Experts Toni Frana and Keith Spencer to help you refine your resume to make the impression you need to land more interviews.

From determining how many pages your resume should be to optimizing your skills and achievements, we have the information you need to craft an outstanding resume.

1. Keep Your Resume Direct and on Point

When crafting your resume, it’s easy to give in to the urge to share as much about yourself and your history as possible. However, our resume experts point out that there are better approaches than this one since hiring managers first look at a resume for about seven seconds.

You can significantly improve your chances of making a strong impression with your resume by staying concise and direct with your messaging. Frana and Spencer share two key points here:

• Only include a 10- to 15-year work history: Including only the last 10-15 years of your work history helps to showcase your most relevant and current skill set. However, if you have other highly relevant experience for the position you’re applying for, you can include it in an “Additional Related Experience” section. Your resume will remain concise while still highlighting your most valuable qualifications.
• Aim for a 1-2 page resume: Your resume can be longer than a single page, but you want to limit it to two pages. And don’t feel compelled to fill up two pages just because you can. Instead, prioritize the information that will make the biggest impact on the employer you’re communicating with. A succinct, well-organized resume is more likely to catch a hiring manager’s attention than a lengthy one without clear messaging.

2. Customize Your Resume for the Company and Role

Beating an applicant tracking system (ATS) means tailoring your resume to each role. A generic, one-size-fits-all resume will generally get a low score from an ATS. However, Frana and Spencer note that you don’t need to start from scratch each time. Instead, they suggest creating a “base resume” that you can personalize for each submission.

• Create separate base resumes for different skill sets: If you’re targeting multiple types of jobs, having base resumes that highlight different skill sets can be beneficial. Instead of starting from scratch each time, you can customize the details on your different base resumes to the skills most sought-after in each role you apply for.
• Tailor your resume bullet points: You can quickly transform your base resume by updating the terminology and data in your bullet points according to the job you’re applying for. And remember that the best bullet points use concrete examples and quantifiable achievements.
• Include a “Professional Summary and Key Skills” section: This is one of the quickest and easiest ways to tailor your resume to each posting. Quickly adjust the skills you list to weave in keywords from the job description. You’ll save time and help get past an ATS.

3. Highlight Skills and Accomplishments

In addition to formatting and tweaking templates, devote time to how you communicate your potential. Your skills and achievements can help you land an interview for your dream job.

• Keep a running record of your achievements: It’s hard to remember your accomplishments from last year, let alone 10 years ago. It’s substantially easier to maintain a record throughout your career. Don’t worry if you don’t have one yet — you can start keeping a record now. When an interesting role pops up, you can refer to your record and more quickly list your most relevant achievements.
• Include both soft and hard skills: Your resume should feature a balanced mix of soft, transferable skills and hard skills, such as technical or industry-specific knowledge. Soft skills might include communication, problem-solving, and teamwork. They’re valuable across every industry and role. On the other hand, hard skills are specific to your field or position, such as knowledge of coding languages or project management methodologies. Including both hard and soft skills can demonstrate your knowledge and your ability to fit in with the team.
• Use accomplishment-based language: Find ways to highlight tangible accomplishments on your resume, even if you don’t have specific data to supply. Not every achievement will support numerical data. In that case, utilize adverbs, like “effectively,” “accurately,” and “successfully,” to emphasize your proficiency.

4. Use Metrics To Demonstrate Results

Tying into that tip is a caution to not skip metrics when you’re discussing data or results-driven accomplishments. The hiring manager will be expecting to see them. Anywhere you might have fiscal or operational targets, you can demonstrate your impact in a highly tangible way so employers can understand the results you achieved.

• Show the magnitude of your work: Metrics aren’t just for fiscal accomplishments. You can use metrics to illustrate the scale of your responsibilities and the extent of your contributions. For example, you can include the number of client accounts you managed, the number of projects you completed, or the volume of deliverables you produced. By providing concrete figures, you can help potential employers grasp the scope of your work and better understand your capabilities.
• Highlight success metrics: In addition to showing the magnitude of your work, metrics can also be used to emphasize your success and the positive impact you’ve had on your team or organization. Success metrics include things like the number of signups for a newsletter, the percentage of customer satisfaction from feedback surveys, or the number of new clients acquired. By incorporating these figures into your resume, you easily demonstrate your value to the hiring manager who needs those solutions.

5. Optimize Resume Text and Language

The language you use in your resume plays a crucial role in conveying your skills and qualifications to potential employers. By optimizing your text and language, you create a more engaging and impactful resume. Our resume experts have six key points for how to maximize your resume’s text and language.

Tips for Optimizing Resume Text

• Start bullet points with strong action verbs: Use powerful action verbs at the beginning of your bullet points. Examples of decisive action verbs include “managed,” “implemented,” “developed,” and “analyzed.” These words convey a sense of purpose and accomplishment, making your resume more engaging and persuasive.
• Mirror the language used in job descriptions: When you craft your resume, use language similar to what you see in the descriptions of positions you’re interested in. Not only will you attract the interest of hiring managers, but you’ll have a better chance of getting past an ATS.
• Incorporate transferable skills in your bullet points: Transferable skills — your soft skills — can be woven into your work experience to highlight duties that didn’t have a specific metric while enhancing readability.
• Show the purpose behind your tasks: What do you do when some of your functions or job titles aren’t immediately relevant? You can add some of the “why” behind your responsibilities to make them more relatable. This context can help potential employers better understand your capabilities and appreciate the value of your contributions.
• Explain the method behind your tasks: Along with the why, you can dive into the “how” when it’s relevant to the role you’re applying to. This information can provide insight into your problem-solving abilities and adaptability, which are valuable qualities in any candidate.
• Avoid using first-person language: Refrain from using first-person language (such as “I” or “my”) in your resume. Instead, use a formal business or academic tone. While that might feel a bit awkward at first, reread your resume with the understanding that the “I” or “me” is silent and understood. So, rather than writing, “I managed [XYZ]…”, you can simply write, “Managed [XYZ]…”

6. Include Your Technology Skills

Technology skills are now relevant to every position, but this is particularly important for remote work. While you don’t need to list the basics, such as how to email and use the internet, you should demonstrate your proficiency in using software and tools relevant to your career and the role you’re targeting.

• Highlight your familiarity with tools and platforms: Whether you’re looking for your first remote job or your third, technology is a significant component of navigating the remote work arena. It’s crucial to highlight your familiarity with the tools and platforms that facilitate efficient communication and collaboration at a distance. Your resume should include a good sampling of document and project management software (Microsoft Office, Google Workspace) and remote collaboration tools (Zoom, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Dropbox, Google Meet/Chat/Drive).
• Familiarize yourself with job-related software or tools: If a particular software program or tool is mentioned in a job description, consider watching tutorials or downloading free versions to familiarize yourself with the user interface. You don’t need to be an expert, but knowing how to use certain tools effectively can be a valuable addition to your resume. And this proactive approach will demonstrate to potential employers your dedication to learning and adapting to new technologies.

7. Apply General Resume Best Practices

Once you’ve updated and tailored your resume, remember to take the time to check your resume for grammar and typos. It doesn’t matter how impactful your resume is — a simple typo can disqualify you if you’re not careful.

Also, highlight your LinkedIn profile and any other professional social media profiles that support your branding when the recruiter looks you up. And they will. In fact, it’s a best practice to do a quick search for your name to see what a recruiter will see before they do. Then, ensure you’re driving the results they find.

Last, take into account the power of follow-up. There are many opportunities to reach out to recruiters and hiring managers.

For example, send a follow-up if you meet them through networking or after you’ve submitted an application, and again after an interview. If you are still waiting for a response, you can follow up again in a week or two.

But be mindful of any stipulations in the job description about response times and following up. Some employers will outline when you can expect to hear from them about next steps.

8. Think About Your Impact

When considering your resume, it’s easy to think of it as a list of duties. But try reframing that thought process to think of your resume as a virtual introduction, like a handshake, to communicate your impact.

Consider the hiring manager’s perspective. What can you say during your introduction to gauge their interest?

The technology you’ve used, the metrics you’ve accomplished, and your transferable skills work together to help you make a better impression than a simple list can do on its own.