{"id":443,"date":"2016-04-21T05:57:28","date_gmt":"2016-04-21T05:57:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/?p=443"},"modified":"2025-03-07T17:21:29","modified_gmt":"2025-03-07T11:51:29","slug":"how-to-write-an-effective-resume-top-five-resume-writing-tips","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/how-to-write-an-effective-resume-top-five-resume-writing-tips","title":{"rendered":"How to Write an Effective Resume: 5 Key Tips"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1719 alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/resumepic-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"resume writing tips\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/resumepic-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/resumepic-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/resumepic-1024x1024.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\nResumes are an important part of applications- be it a student aspiring to get into his\/ her dream college or a professional seeking employment. Think of the resume as a snapshot \u2013 not only of your professional accomplishments but your academic, personal and community ones as well . It\u2019s an opportunity to showcase how strong a fit you are for the school or company.<\/p>\n<p>So how do you maximize the impact a resume can make? Here are the top 5 tips for writing a college application resume as well as a\u00a0 professional resume:<\/p>\n<p><strong>1.<\/strong> <strong>Relevance<\/strong>. First and foremost, make sure you tailor the resume to where you are applying. Highlight your relevant strengths. Additionally, make sure that you do your homework on the specific requirements the company or college may ask for. For example, an MBA application resume generally needs to be 1 page long, whereas an employment resume can be longer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Action Verbs<\/strong>. Describe each of your accomplishments with strong verbs that clearly demonstrate both the breadth and depth of experience. Additionally, avoid using the same action verb multiple times.<\/p>\n<p>For example, instead of writing:<br \/>\n\u2022 Handled business development for\u2026.<br \/>\n\u2022 Handled campaigns for\u2026<br \/>\n\u2022 Responsible for handling\u2026.<\/p>\n<p>Replace with alternatives like:<br \/>\n\u2022 Spearheaded business development for<br \/>\n\u2022 Led campaigns for\u2026.<br \/>\n\u2022 Managed\u2026.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Quantify<\/strong>. Provide numbers wherever possible. Instead of general statements, include values that provide specifics including time, money or amount. Read the two bullets below and decide what leaves a larger impact on you:<br \/>\n\u2022 Headed a project to streamline business \u2026<br \/>\n\u2022 Led a team of 6 to streamline a $15,000 infrastructure project\u2026<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Be specific<\/strong>. Avoid generic statements. In addition to explaining to the reader what you did, include why and how you did it. What was the outcome? Since you have included it in your resume, the reader should be able to understand the role you played and why this activity is significant.<\/p>\n<p>For example \u2013 instead of writing \u201cLed the payment process initiative\u201d or \u201cEstablished the technical operation guidelines\u201d explain what prompted you to do this (e.g. identified gaps in\u2026) or how you did it (e.g. analyzed past data\u2026.) and was it successful (e.g. reduced time spent\u2026).<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Avoid Silly mistakes<\/strong>. I know this seems obvious but with stress levels high or deadlines around the corner this happens way too often. Silly mistakes come in many forms including spelling mistakes, grammatical errors or inputting the wrong word by accident. Can you spot what\u2019s wrong in the statements below:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Discussed growth opportunities with senior Management.<br \/>\n\u2022 Took a career break in 2003 to renovate my horse<br \/>\n\u2022 Bachelor in Science<br \/>\n\u2022 I\u2019m attacking my resume for your review<br \/>\n\u2022 Managed the daily operations<\/p>\n<p>You cannot proofread your resume too many times. The very best of us continue to make errors like these every day. If you feel like you\u2019ve read your resume over 50 times and there are no more mistakes \u2013 take a break and come back to it later. You will definitely see something else. Send it to close friends or family. Every eye gravitates toward and catches something different.<\/p>\n<p><em>A perfect resume allows you to make that perfect first impression. Unsure of how to make that perfect resume?<br \/>\nOur <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/resources\/tools\/resume-builder.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Resume Builder tool<\/a> automates it for you! <\/em><\/p>\n<p>Hope my tips help in writing your college application resume or your professional resume!<\/p>\n<p><strong>The article has been written by Grishma Nanavaty, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/our-team\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Lead Counsellor<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/\">ReachIvy<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Grishma Nanavaty has completed her MBA from the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University and a Bachelor of Science from the University of Warwick, having done her GCSE\u2019s and A-Levels in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>ReachIvy offers <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/study-abroad\/resume-review\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">college application resume writing services<\/a> to aspiring students willing to study abroad.<\/p>\n<p><em>ReachIvy sincerely hopes that this article serves as a critical tool to increase your knowledge base. For <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/study-abroad\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">study abroad consultation<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/career-compass\/career-counseling\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">career counselling<\/a> with ReachIvy, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/register\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Submit a Query<\/a> now! Also, review our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/free-resources\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">resources<\/a> section to access our free premium content.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading Time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 3<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span>Resumes are an important part of applications- be it a student aspiring to get into his\/ her dream college or a professional seeking employment. Think of the resume as a snapshot \u2013 not only of your professional accomplishments but your academic, personal and community ones as well . It\u2019s an opportunity to showcase how strong&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"default","_kad_post_title":"default","_kad_post_layout":"default","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"default","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"default","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,298,299,300,301,322,463,464,465,712],"tags":[42,47,49],"class_list":["post-443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-study-abroad","category-career-guidance","category-mba","category-undergraduate","category-high-school","category-adcoms-speak","category-masters","category-phd","category-exec-ed","category-business-school","tag-college-application-resume","tag-social-media","tag-facebook"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22324,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443\/revisions\/22324"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.reachivy.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}