Let’s be honest, writing a resume is hard work. It’s your one chance to get through the door of the interview room so you can really sell yourself in person. Unless you are one of the tiny minority who benefits from a referral, your resume can make or break you in the job market.

With hundreds of candidates - and sometimes even thousands - chasing the best jobs can be the contest of your life. If you don’t stand out, you don’t stand a chance.

Let’s consider some facts. Recruiters are deluged with applications daily. Like it or not, they browse through resumes, pausing to glance at each one for maybe only 6 or 7 seconds. Your resume has to catch their attention quickly to avoid oblivion.

Sometimes recruiters won’t even be the first to see your resume. It’s very common in HR to use AI to look for specific keywords and phrases and eliminate those applicants that don’t throw up matches. Fortunately, there are some very good online tools where you can find dozens of phrases and keywords relevant to your application that are most likely to be picked up. Another way to get past the AI gatekeepers is to avoid submitting your resume as a pdf, which is far more likely to get scanned. Stick with Word.

Avoid using an unconventional or quirky email address, or you could be eliminated immediately. You might think it gives your resume a witty, personal touch, but it’s far more likely to brand you as unprofessional and simply not ready for a responsible job.

Similarly, including a photograph of yourself may seem like a great way to make an impression, but it can backfire. If you weren’t asked for one, it looks presumptuous and risks inviting all kinds of judgments based on your appearance that may negate the positive material in the body of the resume.

This point seems obvious, but stick to the truth. Even white lies about qualifications can be exposed by simple online checks. Don’t take the risk, and be careful that there aren’t any ugly stains on your social media history - it’s not a good look!

With that out of the way, let’s consider some positives. You’re no longer on your own when it comes to writing a resume. Helpful websites have been around for years, but now there is also a whole host of powerful, intuitive apps employing templates and AI to help you create an effective, highly professional-looking document. These apps can’t alter the facts about you, but they can help you present them in the best possible light.

You only have a few seconds to get your resume past the glancing stage and into the next round of serious consideration. First impressions won’t get you the job, but they could mean the difference between being in with a real shot and being immediately disqualified.

You need to make your resume clear, simple and brief. Don’t clutter it with expansive prose - use bullet points, facts and metrics. Choose a strong, clean, professional font that will make it readable and demonstrate your seriousness. Don’t cram everything into a small space, but don’t go overboard with white space - it won’t make it more readable and it may make it look like you are stretching your material too thin. Be sensible. Recruiters have seen everything, so you won’t stand out by being offbeat; you’ll do it by being direct, professional and confident.

Although this sounds like quite a challenge, help is available. At Freight Appointments, it’s our business to help candidates give themselves the best possible chance. Our expertise and AI tools enable us to advise and assist, helping you to hone and revise your resume as many times as necessary. We focus on the best interests of both employers and employees. It’s our job to find the perfect jobs for candidates and the perfect employees for clients. Everybody wins!

To go one step further, we have free, downloadable resume templates specifically designed for the freight & logistics sector - https://www.freightappointments.com/resume-template-download

For help with all things resume based call us today at +1 (646) 977-7946, or get in touch via our website https://www.freightappointments.com/contact-us.