When you have some trouble and trying to find a way how to write a resume 2023, it’s not an easy thing to do. We know that. The reasons could be really different. Are you tired of your current job or seem like you trying to find something new? We don’t know the reason, but we 100% know that you need an outstanding resume to get the job you need.
Writing a really perfect resume 2023 is not an easy thing to do, even if you have over 20 years of expertise in a specific area behind your back. Resume writing world – it’s something special, something where you need to follow some rules and a really huge LUCK!
We saw too many different instructions on how to write a resume, but today we decided to create a small sum list. It will include the most important resume writing aspects and would help you to reach the main goal. And the main goal of any resume – is to get a call from a hiring manager and get the job. You should understand that.
RESUME 2023 : HOW IT LOOKS LIKE
1. One Page Resume Format
This is a biggie! You should know how to write a one-page resume, as it is a basic type of resume. If a hiring manager’s spending six seconds looking at your resume, he or she might not even get to the second page! Unless you’re applying to be an executive or a partner somewhere, one page will be sufficient and is a widely accepted “best practice.” To cut it down, remember the purpose of it—it’s not to showcase everything you’ve ever done, but rather to show that you have the background, skills, and experience for the job at hand.
We knew that fact that there are some disagreements between the hiring managers on what an outstanding resume format should look like and what exactly the length of a resume should be. But we 100% know that fact, that an average hiring manager spends less than 10 seconds scanning any resume.
You should remember that the main goal of any written resume – is to get a call from a hiring manager. And that’s not a myth, it’s a reality. The one-page resume format is the best option for you. It’s easy and helps you understand that resume is not a poem. It should be clean, concise, and easy to navigate.
2. Grammar and Spelling Errors
If you still believe in a myth that grammar and spelling mistakes will not impact the decision HR would do regarding your candidacy – you are fully mistaken. HRs hate all kinds of such mistakes.
We will try to explain to you why. First of all – your resume is a kind of selling document you send for consideration to the company you are eager to work for. Seems like you are an outstanding candidate, with tons of years of relevant expertise – you feel you are the best. BUT..what’s going on when a hiring manager finds some mistakes in your outstanding resume? He/She still believes that you didn’t find enough time to double-check it before you decided to send it.
Should we consider a candidate, who even didn’t bring some efforts to correct mistakes?
And that is the real situation. It’s not good if somebody would find mistakes in your resume 2023. You finished writing your resume. Spend one more hour to check it for mistakes if any.
3. Tenses in your resume
When we talked about some grammar mistakes, which you could do during the resume writing process, we would like to remind you of another important thing you should double-check. And now we’re talking about tenses you going to use in your resume 2023. It’s important to follow the two main rules below and never break such rules.
Before you start writing your resume, divide it into to parts PAST and CURRENT tenses.
When you are writing about something, which was in the past – you must use past tense. But when you are writing about something, what is still happening with you now – better to use present tenses. Using this rule, you would help the hiring manager to understand what’s going on and your plans. No need hiring manager to check such information twice, it’s not a good idea at all.
4. PP (Personal Pronouns) – Negative Trend
It’s not a good practice to use personal pronouns in your resume. Seems like you trying to tell more about how good a candidate you are – but in fact, it’s not a good practice if you are writing a professional resume 2023. If you would like to tell something in your resume about what you did and how successful it was – better to follow the next rule:
- “I increased sales conversion rate in 2x times” – BAD
- “Sales conversion rate was increased in 2x times” – GOOD
Try to avoid “I” “Me” or “My” in your resume. It’s a bit unprofessional and would reduce your chances, compared with other candidates for vacant positions.
5. Proper resume file extension
There were too many posts about what file extension is the best to use. All the candidates, who are in the active job search tried to find answers to this question, but not all the answers were right enough.
Some job seekers do believe that PDF format is the best because it would save the original design of the resume formatting and nothing would break off. At the same time, they are some problems with PDF resumes:
- To open a resume in this file type format, HR needs to have special software installed on his/her laptop.
- Some ATS systems would not recognize it. There were some cases.
We still believe that the best option is DOC or DOCX resume format. Most likely the original formatting (margins, spaces, etc.) will be saved. It’s not a 2003 year anymore. Feel free to use the most popular MS Word extensions and get your resume done according to the latest standards.
6. Resume File Name
When you have already coped with your resume, you need to name your resume the right way. It’s really important, because when a hiring manager would need to find your resume across other resumes – he or she could easily do this.
No need to make up a really crazy file name. All you need already exists. It’s your First Name and Last Name. Match them together and add “Resume” at the end. You will find construction like that: First_Name+Last_Name+Resume.DOCX
It’s easy and HR could easily find your resume, even if it was downloaded somewhere deep.
7. Resume Format 2023 – Follow the Rules
Before you start writing your resume 2023, you need to understand what are you going to include there and do a small analysis of your hard and soft skills. Also, you need to pay attention to your work experience, employment gaps, recommendations, and so on.
Why do you need to care about that stuff? Because a proper resume format could highlight your strengths and conceal your weaknesses. You know yourself much better than others, only you can make a good analysis and decide which resume 2023 format is better to choose in your case.
Are you still hesitant about what resume format is right for you? We used to write an outstanding Resume format 2023 Guideline on how to write a winning resume. Anyway, you need to choose the latest resume 2023 format and you need to understand why you need it and what exact problem are you going to solve.
That’s why spend a little bit more time than you are supposed to and make your choice.
8. Text Readiness
When you are writing something, it’s not enough to express all your feelings on a sheet of paper or just put some words bind together. Your resume is like a story and at the same time, it’s a marketing document, which helps you to get a better job or position.
And who do you think will be the first person, who would make a decision if your “story” is worth spending an extra 1 -1.5 hours during an interview? Yes, it’s a hiring manager. And you need to bring a little bit more effort to get your resume easy to read. Because if your resume is hard to read – nobody would even spend time, trying to understand what you meant or trying to explain.
You are writing for the same people as you are. No need to make things hard to understand. If something needs to be explained deep, leave it for an interview. You would have a great chance to do that.
9. Resume 2023 Templates
If you remember, or maybe it’s a new interesting fact for you, an average hiring manager spends up to 10 seconds to understand if the candidate is even worth their attention. We do believe it’s not about you, but still, to be a good candidate it’s not all you need in that case.
Your resume must be easy to read and stand out. That are two options, which make HR’s life much easier. How you could achieve that results? It’s not hard to do, because you have resume templates 2023, which would make YOUR life much easier.
No need to make up something new. All the templates were done by professional HR specialists and you have a great chance to download them for free. Edit them the way you need and GET THE JOB!
10. Use some resume formatting styles
One of the most irritating factors for most hiring managers is – different resume formatting styles across one resume. You should not repeat that mistake. If you decided to format your resume within one style, you need to follow the framework and make your resume look consistent.
We saw too many cases when the resume was really outstanding, but it was impossible to read, because of stupid formatting. To avoid such mistakes, we would like to offer you to use professional resume templates. Save your time and your chance to get a call!
11. Lack of Context
One of the most common problems is a lack of context when we’re talking about specific resume sections in your resume. What are we talking about? Let’s try to imagine the situation, that you are writing about your experience. You wrote about the company, what you did there. And you do believe that it’s more than enough. But it isn’t.
You need to add a little bit more details. You might think that it’s not so important, but still you need to provide a little bit more information to a hiring manager about the year, city, projects, etc. Nobody needs deep details, but such context matters. HR could make some conclusions and put all suspicions to rest. That’s what you must pay attention to.
12. Quantity Achievements
At first glance, you can’t understand what we tried to explain here, but we would try. All the hiring managers are trying to find the best candidate. And it was not hard to understand. But how do they know who is the best? Have you ever tried to answer this question? Are there indicators in your resume, which could help them to understand that you are a really good candidate and they definitely must spend time on you?
If YES – you know what are we going to talk about, if NOT – read and get CALLS! The only two factors that could help a professional HR understand if you are worth it or not:
- The company you worked in (if it’s international or really huge and well known).
- Your achievements.
Even if you can’t show off huge companies on your resume, resume achievements is what you could easily do. So, what should you do? Tell more about what you did in NUMBERS. QUANTIFY your achievements – it’s a good way to help HR understand what exactly impact you did on your ex-company. It really works.
13. Remove References
We really don’t know who is using references in their resume nowadays. The first and the most important reason – it’s already outdated. If the hiring manager would like to get some information about you, he/she would call or send an email to your previous place of work and would get what they need to get.
It’s a kind of trend from the 90s when you need somebody to prove that you are a good specialist and worth the many you expect to get. Now it’s not a good idea to include such information in your resume. It’s obvious, that if HR would need to clarify some information – it will be 100% done.
14. Don’t write too many details
It’s not for experienced job seekers. It’s more for those resume writers, who would like to list all the details in their resumes. What do we mean?
When you are describing your previous job duties or responsibilities, there is no need to list all you did. No need to include all the details (how often, when, where).
There are some reasons, why it’s not a good practice:
- HR would easily understand that you are not a senior candidate;
- One-page resume format – is not a good option for you in that case. You would need three or more pages for that.
Be concise, and include only the most important part of your job responsibilities. Stop wasting HR’s time.
15. Keywords in your resume
All the processes need to be automated. HR area is not an exception and now they are using ATS systems (Applicant tracking systems). What is that? It’s a kind of special software used by a hiring manager to sort candidates.
Why do they need to sort candidates and what is the sorting algorithm? First of all – you need to understand that ATS is used to save HR’s time and show only the most relevant candidates from all. How it’s possible? Inside the core of any ATS system is the keyword match algorithm, which is used to sort the candidates. If your resume includes some array of necessary keywords – you will be in the “consideration” pile. In another case – you will be in a trash pile. Easy!
What should I do to let HR scan my resume? You should follow some resume writing rules for the ATS system and remember that not all depends on you.
16. Tailor your resume
When used to talk with lots of hiring managers, we asked them one question: “What candidates are the best?”. And they said to us – “Good Specialists”. It’s obvious, but what did they mean, answering their way like that? It’s not hard to understand – they would like to get the most relevant resumes, according to the job ad description.
How you could do that? Tailoring your resume is the really best way how to show a hiring manager why your candidacy is the best. There are some techniques on how to do that, but still – you need to do that. Using one resume for different job ads – it’s not a winning approach.
IN THE END. We know that 16 rules are not too much to follow, but still, it’s a part of a good preparation job you need to do before you will start writing your resume in 2023. And what we would like to suggest to you – is no need to spend tons of money on resume writing services, if you could easily do it on your own. Nobody knows you better than you are. And that’s it!
Why is Resume Format 2023 so important?
There are too many ways how to present your career path using a professional resume template. Many job seekers even do not expect how important this resume structure could be. And no wonder, because they don’t think like hiring managers. Resume 2023 format is an outstanding way to structure content across a resume the way it could be easy to read and understand key values.
Different resume formats – different approaches. Now we’re going to talk about key resume formats 2023, which could bring a good position in the job search process. Below you could find key resume formats and key differences between them.
Chronological. One of the most used resume templates by candidates and the most complex one. At the same time, hiring managers love it. Why do they love it? Because it is one of the most transparent resume formats, compared to others. You can’t conceal or hide anything. Each step is tracked and logged in your chronological resume format. So, it’s a good idea to think twice. Only experienced candidates with impressive career paths could use it without any doubts.
Functional. As opposed to a chronological resume format, this one is much easier. All the attention here is on the candidate’s hard and soft skills. Document structure highlights skills much more, compared to some other attributes like experience, achievements, and so on. It’s a good opportunity for more junior or skill-based specialists to get the job they want without too many tricky questions.
Combination. For those, who want to double their chances and have enough information to mix in a hybrid resume format. It would be a good solution for job seekers with some experience when you’d like to show career paths and highlight skills.
Does a good resume template 2023 matter?
Of course! When you are applying for any position, a professional resume template is like a new standard for a job seeker. Without it, you will have much fewer chances to be even considered or noticed by tons of other candidates.
You are fighting for the hiring manager’s attention! The resume template, which is hard to read because of the bad structure is out of the competition. Below we decided to provide you with some advice on how to make a resume stand out from the crowd and win a competition.
- Only a professional resume template. Do not avoid colored resume templates, which could be looked not professional. Bright designs will bring a resume much more attention, compared to a boring white&black CV. At the same time resume structure must be outstanding and follow key resume template design rules. It would help HR read resumes faster and find information in seconds.
- Resume fonts. Only if you are not a designer or you have a really creative job position, do not try to experiment with fonts. Why it’s not good? The first reason is really simple – not all ATS systems support all types of fonts and could easily recognize them. If ATS can’t recognize what’s inside the resume, you simply don’t have any chances by default, because your resume will automatically be forwarded to a trash pile. Another good reason is the reader. If it’s not possible to read – nobody will bring extra effort to do that. Sans-Serif fonts are the best for resumes. Try to not do weird experiments to reduce your chances.
- White spaces. A lot of white spaces in a document, it’s not really good. The amount of white space in your resume could be a good checker to distinguish a professional resume from the bad one.
Latest resume 2023 Trends
Job searching approaches and strategies are constantly changing. One creativity is changing others. And it goes on a daily basis. Candidates are trying to bring more and more creative approaches to get the desired position. We decided to share the most trendy approaches in resume 2023 with you below.
- Video resume. Still in trend and growing year to year really high. Video content is much more interesting and brings hiring managers value, which they can’t get from a resume. Which value? First of all – it’s your soft skills. It’s the first thing any recruiter must do while candidate screening. If you know how to represent and “sell” yourself in a video resume – you are a lucky candidate, because you have much more chances than all the other candidates. Usually, job seekers add a link to the video to their CVs.
- Resume Online. More and more candidates send web links to their CVs, instead of attaching a CV to an application form. It’s much more comfortable because you can share it online whenever you communicate. There are tons of different services, which could provide such a service for free.
- Resume builder. A really nice opportunity to create an outstanding CV with a professional resume template in one or two hours. But the main barrier here – they are all paid. Furthermore, if you want to craft a really outstanding resume, you would need to spend up to $50-$100.
- Catchy resume objective. If you don’t know how to impress a hiring manager, you can try to write a creative resume summary.
Lindsay is a certified resume writer and interview coach. She obtained her certification in resume writing (CPRW) which will allow her resume expertise to help readers outshine the competition within the first 5 seconds of reviewing what they have on paper.
