Resume Cheat Sheet from linkedin.

com
Here are five solid resume tips from our experts:
1. Amp Up Your Work Experience
Theres no law that requires your experience to be contained in a section called Work History.
What about Sales Achievements and Performance or Relevant Technical Leadership Roles?
Why not try Operations Management Career if your focus is a new role in manufacturing
production or within a call center?
This technique is especially effective if youre trying to direct attention toward a specific part of
your experience, helping to connect disparate parts of your career to the role youre targeting.
2. Customization is Critical
Remember, you always want to tweak your resume when you apply for a job. No two positions
are exactly alike, and each employer is going to have different standards and requirements that
are very important to them. Key in on those requirements, and be sure to incorporate them into
your resume.
Youll know what these requirements are by reviewing the job advertisement and noting special
keywords throughout; or, in most cases, the employer will state required skills or preferred
qualifications. Youre a perfect match when you meet all of the required and preferred
qualifications.
Required and Preferred Skills Are Essential
When reviewing the description for a job opening, be careful to note exactly what the employer
lists as required and preferred. This is critical information. You want to make sure your resume
communicates very clearly that you possess all of the required skills. This means youre capable
of doing the job and performing the essential functions.
Preferred qualifications are the employers wish list of things theyd like to have in a new
employee. They can live without them, but if you can prove you possess them, you just upped
the ante for the other candidates being considered and are one step closer to positioning yourself
as the ideal candidate.
Keywords Are a Must
Scan the opening for important keywords listed throughout. Chances are any recruiter or HR
person is going to use these keywords when searching job boards for your resume. You want to
make sure these keywords are listed throughout your resume or the applicant-tracking software
the organization is using wont pull your resume in the search results.

Dont Forget About Branding

Branding your resume is important to your job search, but it is also vital to proving youre the
perfect fit for an opening. You need to think about what makes you unique as a candidate. What
can you offer that others cant? Show the employer you can offer them value and benefit that
others cannot. Do this through a branding statement, branded career summary, and metricsdriven accomplishment statements.
3. White Space is Important
Most resumes have at least a half inch margin, but a full inch is preferable. If your margins are
smaller, you risk losing content if the document is printed by the hiring manager. Plus, a resume
that lacks a one inch margin is harder for the reader to peruse and may look cluttered or chaotic
two qualities that are not often sought by employers.
4. Use Numbers and Symbols
Numbers and symbols quickly jump out at employers so use them whenever you can. Resumes
have their own special rules and I always show all numbers as digits as they catch the eye.
Percentages are always best as they show the impact of your efforts.
For example, saying Increased sales $750K over prior year is nice but to some companies that
is petty cash and your company might not like your giving out their private information; better to
say Increased sales 43% over prior year. Simply avoid words that dont define, such as
many, few and several.
5. Determine the Right Keywords
There are simple ways to figure out what keywords should go on your resume.
1. Review the Job Posting - The job posting typically tells you the title or position, specific
experiences, skills and education desired or required of a candidate. Highlight all these
keywords and work them into your resume in context.
2. Job Description - Conduct searches on career or job board websites for job descriptions
of the position you are applying for. You will notice common keywords coming from
each of the job descriptions that you can also use in context for your resume.
3. Company/Organization Website - Review its website. You will notice there are field or
industry specific terms that are commonly used that should also be applied to your
resume in context.
If you are applying for a job as an experienced professional in the same field, your resume may
very likely already contain a few of the appropriate keywords. Your relevant experience and the
professional lingo you have come to know has helped you apply it to your resume when
describing your previous work experiences, but make sure you take the opportunity to optimize
every section of your resume with keywords.

Here are a few tips that may help you beat the blank screen blues if youre creating a new
resume from scratch.
1. White space is important. Most resumes have at least a half inch margin, but a full inch is
preferable. If your margins are smaller, you risk losing content if the document is printed by the
hiring manager. Plus, a resume that lacks a one inch margin is harder for the reader to peruse and
may look cluttered or chaotic two qualities that are not often sought by employers.
2. If youre going to use a template, ensure all of the fields are completed with your
personal information. Nothing looks worse than seeing insert job information here on a
candidates resume. The better choice may be to look at a variety of resume formats and combine
styles based on your level of experience, knowledge, skills, and abilities.
3. Spell check and have a human edit your resume. Spell check is great, but it doesnt catch
all grammatical and typographical errors. Its helpful to have someone else review your resume.
Ask for that persons feedback on the style of your resume, readability, and content.
4. Cut the fluff. Your resume should be clear and concise. Almost all people applying to jobs
know how to use Microsoft Office programs and e-mail, so theres no need to have a technical
skills section on your resume unless you have skills that set you apart from the competition.
Theres also no need to list references available upon request. If employers want to check your
references, they will ask for them.
5. Be consistent with your style. Keep fonts and font sizes the same throughout the document.
You should also consider using a similar heading on all pages of the document if your resume is
more than one page. This is a good precaution in case the pages become separated.
6. Determine if your page length is appropriate. Most resumes are one to two pages.
However, if you have more than 20 years of experience and/or a number of academic or
professional publications, your resume may be longer. Keep in mind that a longer resume doesnt
equal more review time by the recruiter or interviewer. Your most important information should
still be at the top of page one.
Resumes are not static documents, so even if you think youre finished with crafting a great one,
you will want to revise it slightly for each job description you are applying for and add to it as
you obtain more experience.
Including power resume words will increase your chance of getting hired by 80%!
When a hiring manager is seeing the same old resume time and time again which includes the
clich words and phrases such as highly dedicated individual or great team player you are
guaranteeing yourself your resume will be deleted.
Poorly chosen words and clichd phrases can destroy the interest of the reader. Power words
when chosen correctly can have the opposite effect of motivating and inspiring the reader

Power Resume Words will make help you stand out from your competition and increase your
chances of getting hired!
Top 100 Power Resume Words
1. Advanced
2. Assigned
3. Assessed
4. Absorbed
5. Accelerated
6. Attained
7. Attracted
8. Announced
9. Appraised
10. Budgeted
11. Bolstered
12. Balanced
13. Boosted
14. Bargained
15. Benefited
16. Beneficial
17. Comply
18. Critiqued
19. Closed
20. Collaborated
21. Designed
22. Delegated
23. Demonstrated
24. Developed
25. Detected
26. Efficient
27. Enhanced
28. Excelled
29. Exceeded
30. Enriched
31. Fulfilled
32. Financed
33. Forecasted
34. Formulated

35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
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55.
56.
57.
58.
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67.
68.

Generated
Guided
Granted
Helped
Hosted
Implemented
Investigated
Increased
Initiated
Influenced
Integrated
Innovated
Instituted
Justified
Listed
Logged
Maintained
Mentored
Measured
Multiplied
Negotiated
Observed
Operated
Obtained
Promoted
Presented
Programmed
Provided
Projected
Qualified
Quantified
Quoted
Recommended
Refine

69. Revamp
70. Reacted
71. Retained
72. Recovered
73. Reinstated
74. Rejected
75. Sustained
76. Skilled
77. Saved
78. Scheduled
79. Supported
80. Secured
81. Simplified
82. Screened
83. Segmented
84. Streamlined
85. Strengthened
86. Triumphed
87. Troubleshot
88. Taught
89. Tutored
90. Translated
91. Trained
92. Uncovered
93. United
94. Unified
95. Updated
96. Upgraded
97. Validated
98. Viewed
99. Worldwide
100.
Witnessed