“Recruiters take an average of six seconds to decide if your resume is worth their attention.”

You may have heard this insight from a popular study multiple times. While there are differing views on whether such a fleeting statement can be generalised or not, the key takeaway from the statement is much true. Make your resume eye-catching so that it grabs the recruiter’s attention at the first glance.

Recruiters go through tons of resumes for the same position. It is only human for them to go through mental fatigue and start skimming past resumes. So it is your responsibility to create a résumé that will make them ask you for an interview!

Here are a few tips to up your résumé game:

Keep it crisp

This is critical. Keep your resume content clear and concise. The easier it is for a recruiter to read, the better are your chances of getting an interview (if not the job), at the very least. Don’t put all your achievements and clog up your résumé. Prioritize them and place them in order. Ensure your resume doesn’t go beyond two-page, preferably one page.

Use headers

 A nice, neat resume arranged in chronological order with clear headers and line separations is more likely to make a recruiter go through each section of the resume. Having a resume that looks professional and reads well can cause them to spend more time examining it.

Add colour

 Colour blocking helps to highlight important information and keep recruiters engaged while reading your résumé. In case you need help with adding colour at the right places, there are loads of templates available online. Pick the one that you believe works best for you.

Use infographics

 Humans are undoubtedly visual beings. 90% of the transmitted information in the human brain is visual. So, if you want to stand out from the crowd, adding graphics will definitely help. However, ensure that you use graphics which make sense for the type of data you’re trying to visualize. For example, use bar or column charts for displaying skills expertise, but don’t use a line or area chart for this.

Sell, don’t tell

Prove your claims! Stating that you worked for ABC, doesn’t have a punch. Give more information to impress them! Did you work on a project that generated “X” revenue? Make sure you mention it in your resume. Took up a distance education course from a reputed university? Tell the recruiter how it helped you grow your skills.

While these were a few tips on improving your resume, we want to leave you with a few people who went the extra mile and created some really off-beat resumes to land a job.

The website résumé

 It’s hard trying to get a job among the premier companies in the world. Especially, if it’s a unicorn startup such as Airbnb! So after Nina’s umpteen mails went unanswered, she created a website – nina4airbnb.com. The website had a detailed analysis of the global tourism market and what Airbnb should focus on next. And it didn’t go unnoticed. Brian Chesky, the CEO of Airbnbresponded to her on Twitter and eventually Nina landed the job at Airbnb!

Image Source: http://www.nina4airbnb.com/

Image Source: https://goo.gl/5KCyaO

The magazine résumé

Want a job at GQ? Create a resume similar to the GQ magazine cover. Simple, right? That’s exactly what Sumukh Mehta did with his resume. His magazine resume went viral and the British GQ Headquarters offered him an internship.

Image Source: https://goo.gl/GsJMmu

Don’t hesitate to be different. It’s a competitive world out there and the job scenario is even more competitive in India.

So, think differently and change your traditional résumé into a ‘job-grabbing’ resume. The clichéd line ‘Think out of the box’ exists for a good reason!