Ready to write your best resume ever in 2024?
Your brand needs to stand out immediately in order to counter intensive competition.
- According to HR Executive, up to 90% of employers may be planning 2024 layoffs and Newsweek adds that a hiring freeze could be instituted at companies anticipating a recession.
- To write a resume that outpaces your competition, you’ll need to convey your value proposition (by getting in touch with your own leadership brand), keep your resume succinct, and limit your content to salient details.
Use these tips to market yourself effectively on your resume in 2024:
Focus on What Differentiates You in 2024.
Too often, job seekers look to other sources for resume writing inspiration, such as a colleague’s resume or examples of resumes in your field. However, employers are interested in what sets you apart.
This could be the speed in which you deliver projects, the revenue you make for your employer, how you coach teams to peak performance, or how you cut costs. Employers are less interested in your basic tasks, unless you’ve handled some unusual duties that set you apart from other candidates with the same job title.
Your resume needs success stories that PROVE your readiness for the new job. Write these achievements in short, powerful sentences, such as:
- Created training programs educating 200+ sales reps and enabling 85% better close rate for a VP of Sales role
- Realized 26% lower expenses by restructuring divisions for a COO position
- Regained Joint Commission hospital accreditation with top-ranked patient safety metrics when targeting a healthcare CEO job
Bonus: you can also use these success stories for your interview after crafting impactful, memorable accomplishments for your resume.
Pare Your Resume to Essential Facts.
Even if you have decades of experience, employers may NOT have the time to read about it!
Most hiring managers are looking for standout achievements and information on your career progression, typically tucked into 2 pages or less.
Trying to fit decades of detail into your 2024 resume? Ask yourself:
- Are my most important qualifications presented in sufficient detail? (Great! You’re covered.)
- Will employers care about achievements from more than a decade ago? (Not unless they’re directly related to your goals. Cull older accomplishments to make room for more recent wins.)
- Does this resume need ALL the detail used to land my previous jobs? (Probably not. Focus on skills that are relevant NOW.)
Ruthlessly edit until you’ve reached 2 pages (3 at most) that contain compelling, data-driven examples of your strengths.
Show Employers the Money.
In other words, focus on how you’ve made it or saved it.
For every success in your career, ask yourself how much it affected the company’s bottom line:
- If you’re known for fast results, such as projects completed ahead of time, estimate how much money your employer saved if stakeholders could use new software or other capabilities faster.
- Involved in negotiating vendor contracts? You have have reduced operating expenses, gained more purchasing power, or cut deals for better long-term savings.
- If your career includes mentoring employees, consider whether you influenced retention, and then take a shot at how much it costs the company to hire new staff.
Keep going until you have a group of achievements with dollar figures and percentages useful in writing your 2024 resume. There are MANY ways to quantify your impact in terms of dollars, new growth opportunities, or cost savings.
If you struggle with this type of writing, make a list of your top 10 career successes, then work backwards to shorten them and add figures.
Make More Space for What Matters in Your Resume.
To help make more space on your resume or LinkedIn profile, summarize the high points of your career.
Consider writing a succinct headline to quickly point out your top achievements.
As shown in this example of an award-winning Engineering leader resume, “Market-Leading Software Quality & Scalability” tells employers this executive delivers high-value products.
A bullet-point list underneath also includes “11 Consecutive Quarters of Profit” and “Innovative ERP Startup” in bold text. Each of these successes is quickly framed for easier reading and navigation.
Think about headlines or summary statements that apply to you. If you’ve been repeatedly sought for new roles, try “Promoted 4 Times in 6 Years at XYZ Company,”
If you’ve led changes that improved team retention, “Trusted Turnaround Leader & Mentor” might be suitable.
The sky’s the limit with these summary statements for your 2024 resume.
These tips will help you write the best resume in 2024.
By analyzing and writing about your top qualifications and impact, you can shine brighter, even if you’re facing a market filled with highly qualified job-seeking competition.
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