How to Write the PERFECT Resume for your DREAM Job

Facebook Tweet LinkedIn Email

Whether we like it, or not, a single piece of writing could be the difference between our dream job and no job. The perfect resume gives you the absolute best shot at landing your dream job. It gets your foot in the door! Here’s a guide on how to write the perfect resume for your dream grad job…

Resume building is a skill not often taught during high school. Sure, we learn what a resume is and we kind of learn about how it should look, but we are never directly taught how to create our own resume. That’s why I thought I’d solve the problem myself, with this blog post!

The following post will divulge the common shortfalls of most resumes, along with a recommended structure and some other hot tips that are going to give you the best chance at landing that ideal job out of university. I’ll also share with you my resume as a little guide to follow when you begin writing your own :))

p.s. this post isn’t just for uni students, you can use this for your first job during school, or any job after school!

What is a Resume?

First thing’s first, what is a resume?

Basically, a resume is a document that highlights your skills and experience to potential employers. Your resume is like a screening document that allows employers to quickly filter through potential employees.

A resume is like a snapshot of your best qualities. Think of it like a super-short document that tells someone why you are AMAZING! But, it’s also a way of giving a glimpse into your personality, so there’s certainly balance to be had between arrogance and pride…

Point is, 9 times out of 10 a resume is what you will use to get a job in an industry that interests you. It’s the first step in a much longer process that involves interviews and trial periods. But, for now, we’ll just focus on that first step – getting your foot in the door.

The goal: to have a resume that STANDS OUT from the hundreds of other potential employees. A document that tells the employer exactly why YOU would make the perfect employee for THAT business.

10 Common Resume Shortfalls and How to Avoid Them

Resume writing is an art that many never master. There’s a significant correlation between the quality of a resume and the outcome of a job application. The simple fact is, a bad resume, no matter how great an employee you may be, won’t get you close enough to the business to prove your worth.

For that reason, let’s start off with the 10 mistakes to avoid when writing your resume:

1. Using the same resume for multiple job applications

No employer wants to read a generic resume that they know has been sent to every business on the block. An employer wants to hire you because you care about their business!

Nothing screams “I don’t care” like a generalised resume. I know it takes more time, but if you want the job, make them feel like you’ve never wanted any other job as much as you want this one!

2. Making it WAYYYYY too long

Let’s think about it:

An employer may have 30-50 resumes to read in a day
If each resume is 2 pages long and takes 5 mins to read;
The employer will spend 250 mins reading resumes that day (over 4 hours)

They WILL SIMPLY SKIP your resume if it’s longer than 3 pages because they can’t be bothered reading it! Do yourself a favour and keep it short, sharp and concise!

3. Including personal information and a headshot

It’s standard practice to include your email, phone number, relevant social media profiles and any other contact information. But, what you don’t need to include is your marital status, religious beliefs and nationality. In fact, it’s actually illegal for an employer to make their hiring decisions based on that info!

Leave it out and use that valuable space for more job-specific information!

4. Using your 2012 email address

An unprofessional email address looks DISGUSTING. It screams immaturity and a lack of independence.

It literally takes 2 mins to create a new email address! Go do it…

Examples of a bad email address: (these were my real addresses at one point…)

Examples of an acceptable email address:

5. Lies.

Just don’t. You will get caught out and it will be embarrassing for you.

It’s fine to exaggerate the truth. I mean, after all, you are trying to sell yourself here! But, there is a fine line between true and not true, know where that line is or at least be able to back up your furphy if asked about it…

6. Gross-looking fonts and designs

Yuck.

Keep it simple, keep it clean, keep it consistent, match the vibe of the role you are applying for.

7. Including large chunks of writing

Dot points are your best friend when writing a resume! The goal is to make your resume skimmable…

Can an employer look at your resume, skim over the paper and come to a conclusion about who you are, what you’ve achieved and what your skills are?

Yes? Good job.

8. Poor spelling and grammar

It really can’t be that hard to run your resume through Grammarly! Just do it. Please.

9. Including irrelevant qualifications/experience

No one cares about the dance award that you got in Year 3. Least of all, your new potential employer. Use that space for something more worthy… like the volunteering you did with underprivileged youth last year!

10. Focusing on qualifications over experience

An employer is going to hire you based on what you know, what you can learn and how you view things. Those shine much brighter through the way you describe your experience than the experience itself!

Focus on making that description of your learnings absolutely perfect over the job title that you held for 6 months…

Your Resume: A Recommended Structure

I’ve been lucky enough to have my resume looked over by EY, one of the largest employers of uni grads in Australia! They had some feedback to give which certainly included some criticism, but, they also made it clear that the structure and design of my resume was SPOT ON in terms of making it “easy-to-read” “revealing” “clear and concise” and “adequately appropriated to the job role.”

I also had my resume reviewed by an AI Career tool that my university has subsidised for students to use. This structure has come straight from that and into my resume!

It’s sooooo important to tailor your resume to suit the role you are applying for, so this is just a general structure, but, it’s certainly a strong place to start!

Introduction

So, the first thing to include in your resume is a super-short introductory section. Start out strong with that professional-looking email address, hobby section and a few quick lines that highlight why this specific job is perfect for you.

Here’s an intro checklist:

Your location
Your contact info – email address + phone number
4 hobbies to give a glimpse of who you are away from work
Career objective – 2 lines that describe the role you are applying for + 2 lines that highlight why you are applying

Education

Now we move onto the formalities. Your education section is used to show your employer what you’re made of. What has influenced you to be the person you are today?

It highlights how disciplined you are, how you’ve improved (or gone backwards) over time and how well you do at tasks you may not necessarily love doing.

Here’s an education checklist:

Start with the most recent education first (reverse chronological order)
First line = qualification
Second line = institution
Include any acheivements in dot point form
Finish with a right-aligned date of study in this format – (MONTH YEAR – MONTH YEAR)

Work Experience

Now it’s time to show your new employer where you’ve been! What has brought you to this new job? It’s important here to include the lessons you learned from your past jobs and DO NOT, under any circumstances, try to explain why you left your past job.

Your work experience highlights how much experience you have in the industry, this helps you stand out over other potential employees so it’s important to talk yourself up a bit!

Here’s a work experience checklist:

Start with the most recent experience first (reverse chronological order)
First line = job title
Second line = employer
Third line = location
Include a short description of your job role and the lessons you learned / tasks you had to complete
Finish with a right-aligned date of experience in this format – (MONTH YEAR – MONTH YEAR)

Extra-Curricular Activities

This is your chance to show that you care about more than paid work! Show that you are passionate about bettering yourself in ways other than work or study.

Don’t just throw anything under the sun in here – focus on the things that are relevant to the industry or job you are applying for.

Skills

Use the skills section to demonstrate why you’re the perfect fit for this job. Highlight the skills that you think the employer is looking for (but don’t lie if you’re terrible at that thing).

Focus on your skills, but also, take note of your weaknesses! Don’t put those weaknesses on the resume but do keep them in mind for the job interview.

Some common skills to look for, evaluate and include:

Active listening
Problem-solving
Strategic thinking
Communication
Leadership
Time management
IT skills
Attention to detail

References

This section is crucial! Don’t use the old “references available on request,” just give them the damn references…

Some things to think about:

Is this reference reputable?
Will they speak highly of me?
Are they going to be shocked if a new employer calls them?
Do they even remember me?
Are the approachable?
Do they highlight your range of work experience?

My Resume

Now I’ve talked that talk, time to walk the walk!

This resume was created for a specific job role with EY. It was a pretty bland role, hence the bland design!

I’ve heard of someone who once designed their resume to resemble a Spotify playlist when applying for a job with Spotify… GENIUS!

Use this resume as a guide for structure and then add your personal flair!

*note: the names and emails on this resume have been changed for privacy purposes

And there we have it! A guide for how to write the perfect resume for your dream grad job + an example :))

Remember, there are plenty of different ways to write a good resume, and the methodology behind yours is likely going to differ slightly from mine, especially if you plan on working in a completely different industry to me!

SO, take this post with a grain of salt – use it as a guide.