How to clean up your resume before a job search
Updating your resume can be one of the most stressful aspects of the job searching process. You need to find a way to adequately convey your expertise and experience without coming across as inauthentic or over-the-top. You need to highlight relevant experience without having your resume be longer than two pages.
In other words, you need to clean up your resume.
Fortunately, there are lots of apps for that. Here are four apps that can help you clean up your resume before you start the job search process.
ResumeBuild
Formatting a resume comes with a few challenges. First and foremost, you need to find the best way to make everything fit nicely. Then you need to consider the visual components. Is there enough white space? Are the icons helping or hindering? Does this layout make sense?
While word processing applications work in a pinch and offer a few standard templates, they can be difficult to manipulate. ResumeBuild is an app that takes the guesswork out of resume building and handles the work for you.
ResumeBuild has numerous resume templates, covering everything from student and entry-level applications to long-term professional resumes. The simple user interface allows you to choose a template, drop your personal information into easy-to-use data fields, and produce a polished resume.
This application also has a common keyword feature that lets you drag and drop powerful phrases pertaining to your career field. When you’re done, you pay, download, and go about your day.
Canva
Canva is a powerful graphic design application that many businesses use to create professional-looking flyers, social media graphics, and reports. Few people realize that Canva also offers a ton of free resume templates that you can use to create a vibrant resume.
The Canva resume isn’t for everyone. It’s a more colorful and graphic depiction of one’s work history. However, if you’re in an industry like graphic design, content marketing, or other artistic endeavors, this might be the right option for you.
Canva has both a free and premium usage option. With the premium option, you have access to more templates, high-quality graphics and icons, and the ability to store your brand colors. For entrepreneurs and contractors, using certain colors and fonts goes hand-in-hand with building a personal brand.
One of the cons of using Canva is that it doesn’t automatically space and size your font and graphics to fit the space. You can get caught up in the nuances of the spacing and formatting. It does, however, have grids and guidelines to help you ensure everything is in alignment.
It also has powerful social sharing capabilities, which when job hunting in the digital age, as 92% of employers use social media when hiring.
Here are some powerful tools and apps to create a resume
SimplyHired
One of the most critical components of the modern resume is keyword usage. As more companies use artificial intelligence via an ATS (applicant tracking system), having the right keywords is essential for ensuring your resume gets seen by humans.
SimplyHired is a job posting app that can not only help you find a job once your resume is boosted, but it can also help you research keywords. This job search application is famous for being able to drill down to your niche industry based on keywords. From here, you’ll be able to see what the top businesses in your career are looking for when it comes to keywords.
When boosting your resume, use those keywords to get through both the human and AI selection process.
Stitcher
Undergoing a job search isn’t just a task— it’s a mindset. Stitcher is a podcast application through which you can access some of the best podcasts for job seekers.
Stitcher will give you access to HR experts and career builders who share invaluable insights about what businesses are looking for and how your application can exceed those expectations.
Cleaning up your resume doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Dedicate some time to learning more about modern best practices to create something that sells your skills.