How To Create Your Best Resume Ever: My Proven Formula

I’ve been recruiting employees for over a decade and in that time I’ve seen literally thousands of resumes.

Some were great.

Most sucked.

But the odd one stood out and made me (and my colleages) go “Wow!”. During that time I’ve slowly consolidated these strategies into a formula for creating the best resume ever.

In many ways I consider this formula my “secret sauce” – something that I’ve applied to my own resume and those of friends and family members that gets incredible results every time. Infact, I almost feel guilty using it now I’ve seen the results because it can be such an unfair advantage when competing against other people for a job you really want.

The process for creating the best resume ever is relatively simple and I’ll show you the battle-hardened formula shortly but first let me explain the rationale behind my resume formula, why it’s so unusual and yet how it works so well…

Creating The Best Resume Ever: An Employers Perspective

When you’re sifting through dozens or even hundreds of resumes in order to shortlist a few candidates for interview there are a number of things that help the best resumes to stand out (for good reasons or bad). In my experience the three most important elements to make your resume stand out and increase your chances of an interview are:

Relevancy

The problem with hiring new staff is that they’re largely an unknown entity. There’s significant risk involved for the employer. They’re trying to whittle down the pile of applications they’ve got to try and make an educated guess as to who might be the most appropriate for the vacancy they’re attempting to fill.

Does the candidate have any/much experience of the role that needs to be filled? Can they demonstrate the particular strengths required? Will they need much training? Are they used to this particular working environment? Will they start performing rapidly or need months of training and coaching before they really start contributing to the business?

The best resumes ever therefore answer this question accurately – but without sounding too artificial. The best resumes aren’t just a list of your previous jobs. They may feature that, but they also relate back specifically to the role in question. They demonstrate not just what your experience is but also why this is such a close match to the new role.

In short, the best resumes ever provide a direct written link matching you, as a candidate, to the role on offer. They make a recruiter want to sit up with a jolt and scream “perfect!”.

Interest

Let’s be honest here – most resumes are flat-out boring to read. They use similar fonts on similar paper with a similar layout. There’s just no thought, no imagination, no impact. They all blend into one another. And sitting for hours on end looking through them it’s all too easy for your eyes to glaze over and a potentially strong candidate to get missed purely because of a weak “me too” resume.

Some of the best resumes I’ve seen turned this on it’s head to create some kind of impact. Something to stand out among the crowd.

For example they were interesting to read, had attention-grabbing formatting or were even printed on posh writing paper. For example the few resumes I’ve had submitted to me over the years that were printed on 100gsm laid vellum paper instantly stood out. They screamed “READ ME!”.

A well-presented resume suggests the person in question has put extra effort in (always flattering) and likely has a great attention for detail. In essence they’re going the extra mile and people like that get noticed.

“Contactability”

If you’re going to apply for a job, please make it easy to contact you. I’ve seen too many people who only provided a cell phone number, then had their phone turned off when I called. Worse, they had no voicemail set up. Other times I’ve wanted to email people but they provided no email address.

So firstly, the best resume ever will have a number of points of contact available. And secondly, emails and voicemails will be checked regularly to ensure a timely and professional response.

Creating The Best Resume Ever: A Writers Perspective

Take a look at any popular newspaper or magazine and what do you notice? Most likely they’ll be using the “inverted pyramid” form of writing. Essentially it starts with a catchy, attention-grabbing headline that catches your eye. Then they hit you with the most important and intriguing parts of the story. Lastly the lesser details come towards the end.

And why is this formula used, all around the world, by journalists and marketers alike? Simply because IT WORKS! It grabs the attention, pulls the reader in and virtually forces them to read the article.

Strange, then, that resumes typically get it all the wrong way around. For example, how relevant is your name to your job application?

Are they more likely to hire you because your name is “Helen” or because you have years of experience in a similar role?

Are you more likely to get called to interview because you own two cats or because you’ve been working for their biggest competitor for the last decade?

In essence then, my formula to create your best resume ever uses this exact strategy; not only do we create a compelling “lead in” to your resume but we structure the information so that the biggest and most important points come earlier on, while ancillary information like your name, contact number and hobbies come later on.

Formula For The Best Resume Ever

The formula I’ve tested and tweaked over the years is designed specifically to “hit the bulls-eye” when you take into account all the points mentioned above. It’s a format that grabs the attention, helps you stand out, illustrates how perfect you are for the job in question and then encourages contact from the recruiter.

Here it is in a nutshell…

Headline

Too many resumes have no “headline” or title at the top. Typically the first words on a resume are either your name or the word “resume”. Both suck as they lack impact for the reasons already discussed.

Instead, the best resume ever has an attention-grabbing headline like a newspaper article designed specifically to pique the interest of the recruiter you’re trying to attract.

Some examples of possible headlines might include:

• “Experienced, detail-oriented business manager that increased profit last year by 184%”
• “Winner of the Best Young Designer Award”
• “#1 Amazon Best Selling Author Seeks New Writing Assignments”

The focus here is to consider carefully the role you’re applying for and aim to target their needs. Focus carefully on the job description and spend some time considering what your greatest achievement in this field is. Then design a catchy slogan that (a) speaks to their need and (b) proves you know what you’re doing.

Yes, it takes a little effort. Yes, you’re going to have to think. And yes, you may need to modify your resume for different job roles. But the results are well worth the small additional effort required.

Introduction

Most job vacancies publish a detailed description of exactly what skills and experience they’re looking for. The introduction is your way of ticking as many boxes as possible, as quickly as possible. Carefully examine the job role you’re applying for, tease out what seem like the essential points and in just a paragraph or two give an overview of exactly how you can demonstrate experience/strength in each one.

Depending on the role and your personal opinion this can either be in the form of a few neat, fact-based paragraphs or a short list of 5-10 bullet points illustrating the most important elements of your application.

For example if you were applying for a a web design job that specified experience in Dreamweaver was essential you might want to mention the 5 years of experience you have using the software or the diploma you earned in it’s use.

If you’re applying for a job as a chef and they’re looking for experience in butchery you could discuss the 2 years you spent as a butchers apprentice or the award you won for your seasoned steak recipe.

This section should take up a third to a half of a page and lay out specifically how you’re ideally qualified for the job in question. By the end of this the recruiter should already be prepared to put you in the “yes” pile.

Detailed, Relevant Job Experience

By this point you’ve already made your most convincing points. This section aims to just reinforce the message using specific, relevant work-related experience. List your last few jobs giving as much detail as possible (employer, job title, dates of employment etc.) and give further details on your responsibilities and experiences related specifically to the job you’re applying for.

Omit anything that will “water down” the message and doesn’t seem to apply directly to the role in question. This section will likely run to almost a page, taking you half way down the second page of your resume.

Detailed, Relevant Educational Experience

Do you have anything else to add? Any other relevant awards you’ve won, qualifications you hold or courses you’ve been on? Add them in here to further reinforce the message. This section is normally the shortest of all but can be useful for putting even more emphasis on you as a candidate.

Contact Details

We leave the contact details till last simply because they’re least important from most employers perspective. Additionally, if you’ve followed these steps to create the best resume ever when the recruiter gets to this final part of your resume they should be ready to call you in for an interview as soon as possible.

Having your contact details at the end means that after finishing reading your resume the next, logical step for the recruiter is to simply pick up the phone or fire up their email to drop you a line about coming in for an interview.

Remember that a resume really shouldn’t go over two sides of paper so edit it as necessary to keep it to this ideal length.

Conclusion

Is it harder to create a resume with this formula than the way most people write one? Frankly the answer is “yes”. It may take a day or two of work to brainstorm all the examples, gather all the information and present it in a clear, crisp, snappy fashion.

But, as I’ve already mentioned, I’ve personally seen the results that this formula can produce time and again so I know it’s well worth the small additional effort.

Depending on the job advert in question, once you’re done either email it off or print it on top-quality paper and post it off as soon as possible; the sooner the recruiter sees your killer resume, the sooner you should start getting phone calls.

Good luck – and please let me know how you get on 🙂

What are your favorite tips for landing new jobs? What has worked best for you in the past? Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below…