How to write a one-page resume that stands out from the crowd

How to write a one-page resume that stands out from the crowd

Having a one-page resume enables you to present your skills, experience, competence, and qualification concisely, thus showing the manager your suitability for the position. 

Further, you increase your offs of beating the Applicant tracking system (ATS) with a one-page resume. Remember, more employers and recruiters are turning to the ATS system to filter, sort, and rank candidates due to an increasing number of applicants.

Therefore, how do you create a one-page resume?

1. List Your Contact Details On The Resume Headline

Putting your contact details on your resume headline is a great way to make yourself reachable. On the contact details, the most relevant are your phone number, email address, current city, and state. Remember, most employers will contact you via email or [phone, thus ensuring you write accurate details. If you have more than one email, preferably use the professional email with your names as part of the address. For instance, if your name is Beaton miller, use ‘beatonmiller@gmail’, not unprofessional emails like cutebeaton@gmail.com”.

Remember, an estimated 76% of job applicants are rejected due to unprofessional or inappropriate email.

With such a resume headline, a potential employer or recruiter can view your contact details easily. Ensure your name is bolded, and use bigger free ebooks font sizes than the rest of the resume to make it more noticeable.

2. Add Your Career Objective, Remove Your Summary And Personal Statement.

The career objective is vital to match right away with the position you’re applying for, and it has to relate to the job posting if you use this space. So, if the job is from a cell phone manufacturer and you always wanted to work with non-durable consumer goods, you have to write there. 

Regarding summary and personal statement, these are unnecessary additions to your resume, especially in a one-page resume. The recruiter is not interested in what you say but what you can do. Thus, instead of three sentences summarizing how you are highly motivated, aggressive, have a progressive career, tie these details to your job experience. For instance, show that you are a bold individual by showing how you increased your employer’s revenue by 50%. 

3. Add Job Experience Relevant To The Job Only.

Working as a Pizza delivery person in your teens is inspiring, but it does not add value to your resume when applying for a job as a front-end developer. The skills and experience required to be shortlisted for a front developer job are diverse, but pizza delivery is not one of them.

Thus, restrict your resume to the job experience required for the job you are applying for. For instance, if you took your summer internship at Google, Amazon, or any top tech firms, that can increase your odds of getting shortlisted. Thus, thoroughly read the job description to understand the duties and tasks required, and customize your resume with the experience that proves you have handled or can handle the tasks at hand.

4. Summarize Your Education

Remove high school on your education background and add education relevant to the job.

Like experience, your educational background should include those, which are relevant to the job application. High school is not only irrelevant but a waste of space, particularly in a one-page resume. Alongside the education, communicate the skills, competence or knowledge acquired. For instance, if you have an MBA, mention your area of study, thesis, research, or field, and link this knowledge to the job posting. For instance, if you are applying to be a data scientist at a tech firm and your MBA thesis covers data security, you can include this on your resume. Remember, the year of graduation, GPA attained, and area of specialization are critical, especially for entry-level jobs.

5. Focus On Accomplishments

Use numbers to quantify the achievement. While drafting your job experience, focus on accomplishment. Remember, employers and recruiters are interested in your value addition. They want to know what you can bring to the table, support their business, and how your skills and experience fit their overall goals. By using numbers, you can easily quantify your accomplishment. For instance, instead of saying you increased sales, stating that your strategies increased sales by 30% will make your resume stand out.

Further, keeping your numbers realistic and honest is an excellent policy in resume writing. Remember, out of 85% of people who lie on their resume, less than 1% get away with the lies. Most recruiters are trained to weed out lies on a summary. For instance, if you lie that you increased revenue by 120%, an intelligent recruiter will ask you to list ten new clients on your portfolio. If you lied on the resume, you are highly unlikely to name the new clients.

6. Let The Recruiter Ask For References And Further Details.

Remember, your resume is just a snapshot of your experience, skills, qualification, and competence. Your primary aim in writing a resume is to get your feet in the door of an employer. Thus, include crucial details and let the recruiter ask for further information. Remember, details like references are meant to counter-check your facts. Therefore, unless a recruiter is impressed with your resume, they will not be interested in speaking to your reference.

Thus, focus on drafting a great resume, and include a sentence letting recruiters know you are open to providing further details, including reference.

Final Words

According to research, most open jobs in the US attract at least 118 applicants. The study further indicates that, on average, a hiring manager will spend at least 7 seconds on any one resume; this means two things, your resume must stand out, and you must create a great first impression to be invited for an interview.

With these tips, you can draft a short, concise, and imposing resume guaranteed to enable you to stand out in the crowded job market.