If you want to achieve your career goals, you have to start with a great resume. A resume is a type of document that a job applicant submits to the employer. The document provides detailed information on an applicant’s educational background, work experience, skills, and accomplishments. While a resume can be used for other reasons, such as a business portfolio, a resume typically contains your strengths, objective, and a summary of your education and relevant job experience.
A resume is a valuable tool that can make or break your application. That’s why it’s crucial to make a well-structured and appealing resume. So why exactly is a resume important in attaining your career goals? Find out more by reading on below.
Your Resume Defines Your Career Goals
Keep in mind that your resume is your best tool that helps introduce you to your prospective employer. That’s why you have to create a high-impact resume that determines your objectives or the things you want to accomplish. A clearly defined resume objective also reflects your career goals.
A resume conveys your experience, knowledge, skills, training, and education, which best serve a job candidate’s overall professional aspirations. However, you should always start writing a resume with clear career goals conveyed in the objective section. In that way, hiring managers have a clear idea of your career objectives and won’t waste time and effort, trying to think what your short-term and long-term career goals are.
Many job seekers incorporate their career goals into the “career summary” section, such as this example:
“General caregiver, highly skilled and dependable in at-home or nursing home settings, willing to handle all types of elderly patients. “
While this practice is common, it would be better if a clear objective is incorporated into the career summary, so hiring managers can easily recognize the career goal of the job applicant. The formal objective in a resume is highly recommended for entry-level workers and career changers. Also, targeting a particular position would need adding a formal objective statement and the reference for the job opening.
Here are some tips when writing resume objectives to define your career goals best:
- Devote Your Time: Take the time to write a well-crafted resume, so it appears customized than impersonal or recycled. A well-written resume will show the hiring managers that the job opening is important to you, and that you don’t want to miss out on the opportunity by submitting a sloppy resume.
- Be Considerate: When writing a resume objective, always focus on how your skills and experience would benefit the employer and not the other way around. Avoid a resume that states working preferences, such as “looking for a peaceful and team-oriented working environment to attain professional growth.”
- Keep it Specific: Keep your resume objective targeted and straightforward. For example, when you want to target a specific position, say, “Geriatric nurse for a nursing home setting.”
- Ask for Expert Help: If you don’t have a knack for writing resumes, online resume services can help you. There are professional resume writers who are highly skilled and trained to create the best resume that stands out.
Your Resume Makes the First Impression
Do you want to make a good first impression? If yes, consider making a resume that will bring a favorable impression on you. It’s important to write a professional resume to reach your career goals, as defined in your resume objective and career summary. Your resume would show the hiring managers the path you want to take by analyzing your work experience. But what makes up a professional resume?
Here are the elements of a great resume that makes a good first and lasting impression:
- Organized Format: Keep the layout appealing, with consistent spacing and a traditional font (such as Time New Roman in font size 12).
- Correct Spelling and Grammar: Avoid misspelled words and grammatical errors. Make sure to spell-check twice and let someone proofread your resume before submitting it to your prospective employer.
- Objective Keywords: Avoid subjective words, such as “hard-working,” “reliable,” or “dependable.” Hiring managers won’t hire you for these qualities stated on your resume but your ability to solve their problems.
- Right Keywords: By incorporating relevant keywords into your resume found from the job description of the position you want to apply, you’ll help the hiring manager easily see if you’re perfect for the job.
- Smart Use of Space: Space is very important, so make every word count. Don’t overcrowd details in one area of our resume. Use a separate sheet if needed.
- Relevant Job History: If you have many years of experience and job history, keep the data within the past ten years. For recent graduates, it pays off to list down part-time jobs, internships, coursework, volunteer work, or projects. Unpaid experience still counts.
- Customized Cover Letter: While this part is different from your resume, make sure that the cover letter complements your resume well and matches the job description.
A Professional Resume Creates an Edge
With the advent of the information age, social networking, and job portals, employers can easily attract job seekers to apply for a job position immediately. However, the downside is that employers would receive many resumes, making it difficult to sort through the best ones. Recruiters or employers may only read your resume for a minute or two. That’s why you have to create a professional resume that stands out.
Here are the qualities of a professional resume that will help you create an edge from other job applicants:
- Direct to the Point: Keep details direct to the point or straightforward with less subjective words and more objective details, such as skills and trainings attended, which are relevant to the job position you’re applying for.
- Clear Outline: A professional resume should clearly outline your career accomplishments and skills.
- Professional: Avoid including autograph details or an informal email address in your contact details.
- Clear Objective: Set clear resume objectives using targeted keywords obtained from the job description of the position you want to apply for.
Conclusion
A great resume is powerful, opening doors to a lot of opportunities for you to achieve your career goals. It grabs the attention of hiring managers and employers, sells your accomplishments and strongest skills, and shows how you best match for the position. A resume is a very important tool so you can achieve your aspirations and career objectives.
