Top 2019 Resume Writing Trends, Handpicked by Experts

January and February are the best months in the year for a job hunt. Companies have plenty of money and are determined to fill the open positions with the best candidates. What does it mean for you? Lots of jobs are being advertised and the budget isn’t tight so you can negotiate the salary you want.  To make this scenario happen, though, you need to have a well-written resume at hand.

The rules and standards of resume writing change with lightning speed; so if yours was written a few years ago, it probably looks outdated. If you plan on getting a new job, do familiarize yourself with the hot resume trends you’ll need to make your application look competitive in 2019.

Hiring a resume professional is still trending

Writers of Resumeperk.com keep the hands on the pulse of the most recent practices in resume writing that help our clients land more interviews. In particular, we’ve launched a new service – infographic resume writing. It allows the job-seekers have their qualifications presented in the visual form and stand out from other applicants. We also stay true to our philosophy of providing the top-notch quality of resume writing to help you succeed in the job hunt. Just a quick reminder – our experienced resume writers respect deadlines, provide customized writing and guarantee your complete satisfaction with the written work.

Now, here are the insights you’ve come here for: the trends in resume writing that will be absolute must for your resume during this year.

Trends in resume writing in 2019

Skimmability is the key for helping you get noticed

Instagram has turned us into visual beings – so, the first impression is substantial for the success of your resume. Hiring people are really busy, and they’ll only spend time on your resume if it’s skimmable, or easy to browse through. Recruiters don’t have time to read into the dense blocks of text, and the resumes which are difficult to read will get thrashed.

So, to avoid putting your interview chances at stake, make that resume as easy to read as possible. Line up the sections neatly, use the same font, and let the document look airy by adding enough white space around the text. Make your qualifications and achievements instantly noticeable; only in this case they’ll get enough consideration.

Ask yourself the right questions as you write

Not a resume trend actually – but this tactic will help you produce a significantly better resume. Many candidates struggle identifying what to include in each section of their resume and what to leave out. To look at your experience under the right angle, try asking yourself the questions as follows:

• Which of the responsibilities I have had were the most important?
• What results did I manage to achieve and can those results be supported with figures?
• Which of my experiences/accomplishments are crucial for the target job?

Asking the right questions will help you sort things out and focus on the most significant things in your resume.

Use the PAR approach

Employers are tired of faceless resumes that do nothing but list the daily responsibilities of the applicants. If your resume consists of such statements as “Managed a team of sales associates”, not only it sounds like everyone else’s but doesn’t make it clear what your real professional value is.

Understanding their real value is like an obstacle course for most job-seekers. In this case, a “Problem-action-result” formula might help. Beat the temptation to list everything you’ve ever done and formulate your past experiences like this: “Increased the in-store time by training sales associates which resulted in exceeding sales targets by 20%”. Sounds a lot more impressive, doesn’t it?

Quantify your accomplishments and value

Adding figures and percentages to your resume is the top resume advice of all times. But that’s only because it really works. Employers see figures as the proof of your professional value, your orientation on the result and your willingness to outperform. All of these traits are sought after by the best employers (see more qualities of the ideal employee here.

As the number of resumes sent per each job opening will only grow in 2019, supporting your statements with figures will remain the time-proven way for your resume to stand out.

Provide examples for your skills rather than list them

Listing the key skills right after the career summary is another popular resume advice you have probably used yourself. However, in 2019 it isn’t going to be enough just to list that you have a team leadership skill to make the employer believe you. The next big thing is proving your skills by giving practical examples of where and how you used them. For example, the above-mentioned team leadership can be justified by such accomplishment as “Optimized team effort to ensure the project delivery 2 days before the deadline”. You can keep that list at the top of the resume for the sake of keywording, though.

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Make it ATS-optimized at all costs

The number of companies that use ATS to streamline the process of hiring will grow over time. That’s why if you’ve never optimized your resume for robots it’s high time that you learnt it. If your resume doesn’t use the keywords from a job posting, it’s going to be trashed by software even before a hiring person first sees it.

Keyword optimization assumes using the particular words from the job posting and external resources to help your resume pass the automated selection. Good news for you is if you master resume optimization, your application will get higher rating from the ATS and more consideration from a human recruiter.

Lack of experience doesn’t excuse a poor resume any longer. If you’re a fresh graduate, here’s how you can make your resume shine: https://resumeperk.com/blog/creating-a-resume-with-no-experience-step-by-step-guide.

Use the power of quotes and testimonials

One of the most powerful but little-known trends is to include a testimonial from your former client or supervisor into your resume. You can go to great lengths describing how much money you saved for the company or how many customers retained; but often a few words from a happy customer make a stronger impression.

Where to get that testimonial from? Ask for feedback from someone you worked with or copy/paste the existing one from your LinkedIn profile. Avoid the vague statements like “Jon did a great job for us and the team really enjoyed working with him”. Pick for your resume something more specific, such as “Not only did Danielle create a new website design that doubled the number of visitors, but also simplified the ordering process for the customers and we’ve received loads of positive feedback. Great job!”

Make it an eye-candy

In 2019, plain black and white resumes look outdated. With the growing number of people using resume builders, infographic and video resumes, your application needs to be engaging visually to get noticed. Use color, borders, lists and charts – everything that can help catch the reader’s eye and engage them into reading more.

However, it’s important to keep the balance between the attractive design and keeping your curriculum vitae ATS-compatible. Think things through and do a research to find out which types of visual elements and formatting are ATS-friendly.

Keep your focus sharp

There’s only one way to make your resume truly interview-winning –customizing it to the job posting. Your resume shouldn’t look like your career history any longer. Only closely tailored, highly-focused resumes are working in the current job market.

Mimic the word combinations and formulations from the job advertisement, list the exact qualification and mention the required years of experience. The higher is the similarity between your resume and their description of an ideal candidate, the more odds of getting an interview call you have. Can’t work out which qualifications to show off? The experts of our agency can come to a rescue, maximizing your resume’s potential and downplaying any negative issues.

Create a professional online profile

The hiring process hasn’t become entirely digital so far, but in 2019 it’s a must for you to have a professional online presence. The easiest way to build is through creation of a professional-looking LinkedIn page. Never copy and paste your resume into it – writing an online profile requires different approach. It should be less formal, more detailed and support your statements with the digital samples if possible.

What will the job market look like in 2019?

Specialists say that the job market is currently 90% candidate-driven. It means that it’s not the company who pick the right candidates but the job-seekers who pick the best companies to work for. However, it doesn’t mean that you should ignore all resume writing rules as the competition is still fierce. As a candidate, you should narrow down your focus and make your resume closely targeted – you’ll get more chances to find not just another employment but a dream job. In this regard, check out the sensible questions to ask before the acceptance of job offer.

Get your resume created as per the freshest resume trends

Some attributes of a good resume remain unchanged throughout the years. Nevertheless, new rules and approaches to writing appear every year. Find it hard to keep in touch? Pick a resume writing provider using professional resume writing service competent reviews or contact us for help. We realize it’s tough to stay updated on the resume and HR trends not being a professional in this field. That’s why we can leverage our expertise to help your resume look modern and maintaining your zen-like calm while we work on it.

A professional writer of Resumeperk com will make your resume look extremely modern and eye-catching. Check out our fees for resume writing and editing (if you already have a resume and only want a revamp).