How Do I Create a Resume That is Scannable?
Is there a template or a process to follow? Yes. Try and steer clear of shading, never have any graphics, and have circles or squares as bullets and only have one block of text for four lines or more, and the rest needs to be three lines. It’s a format. You can never mess around with a computer, but you can at least try and match a computer. Take me up on my offer at the end of this post as I am more than happy to give you that free resume critique, and I will go through it with a fine tooth comb with you and talk about what is not scannable and what is scannable.
Functional Versus Chronological Format or a Mixture of Both?
There are three different main types of resumes. There is a functional resume, which is a skills-based resume. I used to write them many years ago. I don’t write them anymore because I believe that instantly a functional resume or a skills-based resume plants, a seed that you’ve been unemployed in career transition for over 18 months. You don’t want to do that. You want to wow them straight away. Don’t use a functional resume .
There’s the reverse chronological, but the, resume of today is called the combination. It’s a combination of both the functional and the reverse chronological. It’s the projective. Remember the word profile and the objective. That’s what I call the top part, but don’t put that term there. It’s the top part, which sells you. It contains the directive which is where you want to go generically. For example, Senior Finance Leader, and then it includes your personal brand. That’s your unique promise of value and then a summary of your soft skills. What one word would describe you, your leadership style, your communication style and what you’re renowned for business-wise. Don’t clash with personal brand.
Then you have your keywords; you want a maximum of 20 but preferably 18 keywords. That’s what makes it scannable, a combination. You need to have a combination today, and that’s the resume of choice that everybody, anywhere in the world is looking for now. Not a functional and not a reverse chronological because reverse chronological doesn’t have any of the format that the ATS is requiring.
Where Do You Place the Keywords in the Resume?
I would place them in the top third, and then you could also repeat them somewhere in the body of the text. The more keywords you get in there, the more you’re going to be picked up. Don’t have a hundred, F P and A’s or MDNAs or, market segmentation or B to B marketing…keep it liberal. And don’t always bold them. Some people bold, everything, and while you can use it, use it liberally, but don’t use it all the time. Bolding is created in word processing to emphasize something, but you don’t want to emphasize everything.
Are There Online Apps You Can Test The ATS of Your CV/Resume Through?
There are a lot of questionable free applications that people have created out there where you feed your resume into that application, and then it gives you a rating and you may feed it into one and it will give you a 97% ATS scannable. You may feed the exact same document into another one and you get 55.
May I suggest you send that to me. And I’ll tell you whether it’s scannable rather than going through those questionable applications. Send it to me.
Where Can I Find Effective Keywords for My Industry?
On my website, https://www.aneliteresume.com I have free eBooks. You can download, many functional-based keywords. They’ve been updated and I believe there are 35 or 36 different functions in there. While you’re there, go and download, for free, the action verbs list because I recommend that you never repeat an action in your resume. I see in sales resumes, the word increased, increased, increased, increased. How boring! Why don’t you use the word catapult? Why don’t you use the word propelled, elevated, uplifted, or boosted? The English language is there for you to use and you, by using different the action verbs, you’re increasing your impact with the reader. Try and use the action verbs.
So there are two eBooks for free. And then I also have another book. This is a $9.97 investment and it looks after YOU. It’s about tips and tricks to recession-proof your career. So many people have made wonderful comments on this e-book for $9.97. You can get all that I’ve been talking about and a lot more. So I would suggest you go to my website, www.aneliteresume.com and download this book, plus download the keyboards and the action verbs. And there are is an e-book on resume tips.
I am passionate about helping you reach your career goals. I have an offer for you; a free resume critique and LinkedIn audit. I will offer you a no-obligation, no sales pitch, LinkedIn audit and resume critique. However, I do warn you, I am realistic. I will say it as it is, I am tough because I want you to learn what I’m going to tell you and I will remove all the red flags for you so you have a complete bank of green flags, so it will be clear sailing if you have to go into career transition. Are you interested? If so, email me in the message section on LinkedIn. Or send me an email using the link posted below.
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