To say that the job market is inundated with candidates would be an understatement. According to an ERE survey, corporate job offers, on average, attracts about 250 resumes each. With that many people out there, you may be wondering how a job applicant can ever hope to set themselves apart.

Good News!

It’s not as difficult as it seems – you just have to know how to do it! I’ve compiled a few tips to help you navigate your way through the resume and application process, so that your resume makes it through “The System” and actually into the hands of an interested hiring manager.

1. Appropriate Length

The truth is, the answer will be different depending on your experience and what you are trying to accomplish. However, there are a few useful things to keep in mind to help you figure it out for yourself.

If the information is relevant to the job you are trying to get, then it should be included (put most relevant info in the top 1/3 of the page). This means that recent graduates and entry-level professionals will most likely have a shorter resume than mid-levels and executives.

But, if you have relevant experience that warrants a second page – so be it!

Keep it at 2 pages.

Some professionals may need more, but most will not.

2. Positioning Statement

Somewhere in the opening section of your resume, you will need to state your intentions. While I often employ a “Professional Profile” and a “Skills” section to accomplish this, I also use specific titles or descriptions in bold print to draw the attention of the reader.

This can be something as simple as,

“Sales and Marketing Manager”, or it can be more specific if you specialize in something or want to target a specific position. The important thing is that you make it visible right up front, so the reader doesn’t have to work too hard to understand the purpose of the resume.

3. Experience Match

Recruiters report that over 50 percent of applicants for a typical job fail to meet the basic qualifications for that job (ERE, Wall Street Journal)

While it is understandable that a desperate job seeker would send their resume to just about any open position they could find, doing that is a waste of time – yours and the employer’s.

It’s much better to dedicate that time to finding positions for which your experience and skills truly are a match. Of course, once you find those, you also want to make sure that you have a…

4. Keyword Match

Taking the experience match to the next level, you can make slight adjustments to your resume as necessary to better match a job description. I’m not suggesting that you do this for every position, but if you really want the job, it may be worth it!  Many career fields may have common jargon and lingo, but each job listing will be unique.

Carefully examine the job listing and compare it to your resume.

If there is a word or phrase you can swap out to make your resume more closely match what the job description says, do it! But, be careful not to copy and paste the entire job listing (or even parts of it!) into your resume. The Applicant Track Systems (ATS) are sophisticated enough to notice, and they will discard your resume.

5. Keyword Match

• This is something that really sets apart promising applicants from the mediocre ones. Describe how you did your job: how well you did it, the environment you worked in, how well you worked with coworkers, managers, clients, and/or customers.
• One great way to illustrate your accomplishments is to give numbers or percentages, or otherwise indicate improvements.
• This could be “increased sales by 12% in a 3 month period”, “decreased expenses”, “implemented a new process which did _________”, etc.
• Anything to show that not only did you show up and do your job, but you were good at it and you made a positive impact on your employer.