Should You Prepare an Outline for Your Resume?

Do you think you can write a perfect resume on the first try? Are you sure? You may remember all your important accomplishments and details about your career, but when it comes to writing a resume, you may find out that there are many things that you have already forgotten. If you’ll read your resume to your friends, every one of them will notice some details that you’ve missed. Even if you think that you’re a resume expert, it’s hard to create a proper structure without an outline. The structure of your resume must include the following information:

*Your objectives (a job you’re looking for);

*Your skills;

*Education;

*Experience;

*Accomplishments;

*A cover letter;

*Your contact information;

*Keywords associated with the job.

Did you change your mind after looking at this list? According to recruiters and hiring managers, 65% of resumes include two or more items from the list above. If you want your resume to impress a company, you need to include them all.

Too Much Information, Not Enough Space

Take your resume and look at it. There is a place your thumb points to when you hold the paper. This is the place where most managers will stop reading your resume. A proper structure not only allows you to include all the important information but it also helps you sort it by priority, starting with the most important things.

Communication Skills

The outline for your resume allows you to better analyze yourself and read it out loud. The majority of applicants never do it, but we suggest reading your resume out loud, and here’s why:

1. You will be able to find more mistakes and see whether the information is coherent.

2. It helps you understand what points are most important for the interview.

3. You can get rid of unnecessary facts.

4. You can better prepare for the interview.

While reading the resume, try to record yourself. Don’t rush and read it slowly. Play the record and you will hear exactly what hiring managers will read. This simple method helps find more mistakes and understand if something is missing. If you’ve read your resume before, it will improve your communication in an interview because you’ll be better prepared.

Types of Resumes: How to Outline

Chronological resumes require you to list your previous jobs, which is a good solution to demonstrate your experience. However, if your experience isn’t your strongest side, we suggest writing a skills resume. This option will be especially useful for those who have just finished their education. Writing a skills resume is a more difficult task, so you need to prepare an outline first. We also suggest getting professional help. Skills resumes allow you to hide poor experience. For example, if you haven’t worked for a few years, you still can include such skills as “independent contractor,” or “freelancer,” while in a chronological resume, you will need to write “out of work,” which makes a bad impression. In a skilled resume, a paperboy can write that he maintained the marketing territory of one of the leaders in the industry, serving up to 300 people every day. This is why you need to prepare for writing and get help from a professional. Sometimes you may not see opportunities to portray yourself in a positive light, losing great jobs.

Investing in Your Future

Cover letters and resumes introduce you to a company. Given that most modern companies use various tracking software, a mediocre resume has great chances to end up in a pile with hundreds of similar papers. Your outline is the first draft of the resume, so you need to revise, improve, and polish it. We also suggest that you contact people who can write a recommendation letter for you. Even if managers don’t ask for such papers now, it’s better to have them in case they need them in the future. If you want to get a job, you need to be prepared, so start by writing a good outline.