6 Important Elements to Include on Your Resume

The most critical piece of a job hunt is a well-written resume. Your resume tells potential employers who you are and what you can do. Hiring managers often don’t have much time to pursue resumes, so having a well-crafted document is the best way to set yourself up for success. According to our hiring experts at Nova Staffing, here are the critical elements every resume needs.

 

Contact Details

You’d be surprised how often our employment agency gets resumes without contact details. Even if you create the most excellent resume in the world, if employers have no way of getting in touch with you, you’ll never get the job. Ensure you include your full name, phone number, email address, and, potentially, your home address. You don’t have to include your full address, but companies typically like to know what city you reside in.

 

Bio

Your resume isn’t just a document listing your skills and experience, but it’s also your first opportunity to introduce yourself to companies. A short bio at the top of your resume, covering your key experience, skills, and personality, is a great way to let potential employers know who you are. Our hiring experts recommend keeping it to a short paragraph at most.

 

Skills

Experience is great, but employers want to know what skills you’ve learned from your past employment and education. A common mistake people make is listing only general skills such as “communication” and “time-management.” While these are great, employers often want to know your hard skills. Ensure you include more specific skills, such as software and programs you know, and any industry-specific skills you’ve mastered.

 

Experience

Your past employment and experience will take up the bulk of your resume. After all, for employers, the best way to judge future performance is to look at the past. Don’t make the mistake of throwing everything on your resume, though. Make sure your curate your resume to include relevant experience to the job you’re applying for.

 

Awards

If you’ve earned industry accolades, be sure to include them in your resume! Some job-seekers avoid including these, so they don’t come across as a braggart, but you should be proud of your accomplishments. Make sure you’re keeping it to relevant honors and awards, though.

 

Hobbies

As an employment agency, we can tell you that skills and experience are only one part of hiring the right candidate. Cultural fits are also a key part of hiring the right person. That’s why we love it when candidates include hobbies and interests on their resumes. It makes you stand out and makes your resume more personal.

 

Are you ready to find your next career opportunity? Contact us to talk with one of our employment experts, or check out our online job board!

5 Things to do Before Sending Off Your Resume

Are you on the job hunt? Having a solid resume is one of the best things you can do to make yourself appealing to employees and set yourself apart from other applicants. Before you start submitting your CV, here are some things our recruitment agency recommends you do.

 

Check Spelling and Grammar

Even the best of us is prone to spelling and grammar mistakes. A lot of companies will look past one or two mistakes on a resume, but if you’re up against other great candidates, those few minor errors could make or break whether you get the job. Luckily, tons of great free resources can help proofread your resume and cover letter before you send them out.

 

Keep it Tight and Relevant

You might be tempted to put everything you’ve done on your resume, but this won’t have the effect you hope for. Employers only want to know relevant information about you. Those in charge of hiring often don’t have a lot of time, which means they don’t have the time to dig through a long resume to find key info. Keep your resume lean and specific.

 

Make it Job Specific

One of the biggest mistakes you can make is crafting a generic resume. While a general resume is fine for some jobs, it won’t be as great as highlighting your strengths for the specific role you’re applying for. A general resume is a great starting place but make the extra effort to tailor it to each job. This allows you to highlight the specific experience and skills you have that would benefit the role.

 

Share it with Friends and Family

Once you’ve crafted your resume, a good final step before sending it off is to share it with some trusted friends and family. Having them read it will give them a chance to catch any mistakes and point out if you missed something relevant that would set you apart. It’s always a good idea to have another set of eyes go over something before submitting it.

 

Ensure it has all Important Info

You’d be surprised how often people forget to add key info on their resume, such as their contact info. While your education, experience, and skills are the focus of your CV, you also need to ensure hiring personnel can get in contact with you. Make sure you include basic information such as your name and contact info. You may even want to have your LinkedIn profile for easy access.

 

Are you ready to jump into the job search? Contact Nova Staffing today or check out our online job board! Our recruitment experts would love to help you find your next position.

 

7 Worst Resume Mistakes to Avoid According to a Hiring Agency

Applying for jobs can be a daunting and stressful task. One of the most helpful things you can do to boost your prospects is applying to jobs with a stellar resume. A poor resume can be a huge hurdle to companies getting back to you. But what exactly makes a resume bad? Our hiring experts at Nova Staffing are going to explain some of the most common and most fatal resume mistakes you should avoid!

 

Spelling & Grammar Errors

This is probably the most obvious and common resume tip, yet you’d be surprised by the number of resumes we receive at our hiring agency that are riddled with them. While recruiters try to make allowances for people that aren’t native English speakers, it’s still important to try to reduce these are much as possible. There are a ton of online tools you can use these days to check spelling and grammar, so run your resume through one of these before sending it off. This is especially important if you’re applying to a job where speaking and writing skills are crucial.

 

Not Specific Enough

A common mistake people make is trying to make their resumes appealing to all sorts of companies and jobs, and this often results in it being vague and non-specific. Don’t simply list your past employment and experience- go into detail explaining what role you played, any specific tasks you managed, and skills you learned! The more details you put in, the more drawn in recruitment agencies will be.

 

Too Generic

Not all resumes are the same. In fact, every single one you send out should be slightly different! Resumes should be tailored towards each job and company you’re applying to. Generic resumes won’t catch anyone’s eye and will probably end up in the recycling bin. Employers want to feel you took the time to actually read the job posting and prepared for it- not that you job sent out the same basic resume for multiple jobs you stumbled upon. Take the extra time and customize your resumes to really wow them.

 

Wrong Length

If you Google “how long should a resume be,” you’ll get varying answers. Some industries just require more room to explain your accomplishments and skills. On average, resumes should be 1-2 pages. Don’t force yourself to cut important info about yourself to squeeze onto one page. Nor should you ramble on about everything you’ve ever done over five pages. When writing your resume, ask yourself, “will this help me land an interview?” A resume is all about selling yourself, so include info that helps you do that.

 

Poorly Formatted

This one is a bit more subjective, but formatting is important when it comes to resumes. Most hiring agencies only have a short window of time to review each application. You want your resume to stand out but also be easy to read. Resumes that are visually too busy with walls of text won’t be as appealing as ones clearly laid out with bullet points.  

 

Includes Incorrect Info

Above all else, your resume should be accurate and honest. Of course, there are ways you can take mundane jobs and tasks to make them sound more appealing. However, you should always be truthful. You might think fudging past experience will land you the job, but in our experience, it always comes back to bite people. You also want to make sure your contact info is correct. The last thing you want to do is apply for a bunch of jobs but don’t leave them a way to get in touch with you.   

 

Only Includes Hard Skills

Hard skills are abilities that let you tackle job-specific tasks. While these are great, and should absolutely be included, don’t forget about soft skills as well. Soft skills are non-technical skills that include things like critical thinking, time management, communication, etc. Chances are when you’re applying for a certain job, most applicants will have all the same hard skills. That’s why soft skills are so important- they’re what will set you apart. Our hiring experts at Nova Staffing often turn to soft skills when making final hiring decisions, so be sure to include them!  

 

Are you looking for a new career or job? Visit our online job board or contact us today! Nova Staffing has a team of hiring experts looking to fill job openings in various industries and can’t wait to hear from you.