Harvard Career Experts Reveal How To Write The Perfect Resume

That’s right. The perfect resume is no longer a dream. We know how important a resume is – the right one can take you a step closer to your dream job and the wrong one can throw you out of the race.

In this article, you will learn what, according to the Harvard career experts, makes a strong resume.

Writing resumes no longer has to be a pain. Just follow these expert tips and make the perfect resume. Let’s start!

Different resume for different job

This is a mistake almost all of us have been guilty of, at one time or another. And although some of us learn, unfortunately, most of us don’t. Have a look at the sample resume below.

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Making different resumes can be a pain if you are applying for a lot of different jobs, but trust me, friend, you just have to do it.

Your resume doesn’t just show your qualifications, it also shows if you are qualified for the job you are applying or not.

So make sure that you design a different resume for different posts. It’s important because it helps in weeding out the extra, useless information which will otherwise bore the recruiters.

Make some research for the post you are applying for and accordingly make changes in your resume. Smartly tailored resume which doesn’t convey meaningless information is something for which your recruiter will be grateful.

Include contact information but…

According to the Harvard career experts, this is the section where most of the people end up making mistakes.

While you are giving your contacts, make sure there is nothing extra or anything less. When giving the contact information, you have to provide both your contact number and email address.

In addition to this, you can also add your LinkedIn and/or any website that shows your previous works.

But some people make the mistakes of adding the reference numbers and other mention “reference available upon request”. Do not do this, please. Know this little thing that if your employer wishes, she/he will ask for the reference number if needed.

Also, refrain from adding your picture in the resume and your age/sex. These are completely irrelevant information that has nothing to do with your job. If anything, this makes you look unprofessional.

Give specific information

Harvard Career Experts Reveal How To Write The Perfect Resume-Infomance

Okay, how many times have you used terms like “excellent communication skills”, “team player”, “hard worker” or “quick learner”? All the time?

If you want to make your resume stand out, then you need to avoid these ambiguous and big claims. No one can know if you really are all those things or not – they can only know it for sure after working with you.

So what to mention then? It is advisable that you stick to mentioning action verbs – something that you really can do and that isn’t opinionated.

The problem with the above-mentioned cliche phrases is that they may differ. Although you might think that you indeed are a team player, your boss might think different. Your opinion of yourself doesn’t always match with other’s opinions of you.

Using action verbs

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What you can mention instead of opinionated abilities is the thing that you have indeed done and accomplished.

Instead of simply stating that possess great leadership skills, mention what leadership position you have assumed. For example, mention how you led the team of ten students in your college in organizing a blood-donation campaign.

Instead of simply telling that your communication skills are excellent, mention how you won that essay competition or collaborated with a team.

You get the gist, don’t you? The more you mention your skills in concrete action verbs, the impressive it gets.

Navigating your resume should be easy

Harvard Career Experts Reveal How To Write The Perfect Resume - Infomance

Make sure that your resume is organized well and is easy to navigate. If your resume takes too much time for the recruiter, she/he will not thank you for it.

What I mean here is that it should be presentable. Make sure that there are enough white spaces so as things don’t look crammed in. That being said, don’t put too much of white space that it looks empty.

Now about how you should fill in the information.

First of all, the heading should be in order of importance. And the information you mention should be in reverse chronological order. Start from the latest work you have done and go backward.

If you are providing a google drive link, you have to make sure that it’s readable. And make sure that it’s only one page long if you are a fresher or new in the work.

And the most important of all, make sure you have proofread the resume for any error there might be. Because an error in a resume speaks volumes about how you do your work.

With all these tips, we hope you will rock the perfect resume. Until next time!

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