10 resume writing tips for 2018 that you can use to update your resume and advance your career. Get past applicant tracking systems and generate a lot of interest from employers with these 10 resume writing tips.

1. RESUME WRITING TIPS
CONSIDER WHAT DEFINES YOU
Why do you
do what
you do?
What are you
passionate
about?
What’s
your
purpose?
Which values
are driving
your goals?
What vision do you
have for your career
over the next 1, 3, 5,
or 10 years?

2. Consider some of the
struggles and obstacles
facing the employer and
the industry. Make a list
of the most critical ones,
and reflect on times in the past when
you’ve confronted similar challenges
RESUME WRITING TIPS
SPEAK TO YOUR AUDIENCE
Are there specific
companies I’m
interested in?
What will the
company be lacking or
missing if there’s no
one in this position?
What advantage
or benefit does
this position bring
to their business?
Am I aiming to
secure a position
in a specific
industry?

3. Start by asking yourself some questions
to uncover the distinct benefits you
offer the employer
Ask others what they think about you
What benefit or
contribution do
you add?
What key
accomplishments
or successes
have you
delivered time
and time again?
What would you
say is unique
about yourself
and how you do
what you do?
What are
your greatest
strengths?
Reach out to friends, family, and your
network and ask them which words
they would use to describe you.
Read through your LinkedIn recommendations and past
performance evaluations and look for themes. When you put
similar words and phrases together what picture do you get?
What do others
see as the value
you add?
What do others
say are your
greatest strengths?
How do others
describe you?
What do your boss,
team, direct reports
come to you for on
a regular basis?
RESUME WRITING TIPS
UNCOVER YOUR UNIQUE PROMISE OF VALUE

4. What benefit
or value did
you bring to
your
previous employers?
How have
you positively
influenced
others?
What was the
challenge?
What was the
result of the
action that
you took?
What would
others say is
fascinating,
compelling,
or interesting about you?
What benefit
would an
employer or
company get
from choosing you over
another candidate?
What steps did
you take to
resolve the
challenge?
RESULT
Take a few minutes to reflect back on the last three positions you’ve held.
Write down at least one challenge that you overcame in each of the three
positions. Now, answer these questions about each challenge
RESUME WRITING TIPS
CAPTIVATING, INFLUENTIAL, AND BENEFICIAL

5. Be real and be
yourself. When you
write your resume,
be authentic.
Authentic
You want your resume
to be a reflection of
yourself and not a
canned template.
RESULT
Resumes are meant to
be a genuine
reflection of who
YOU are—not
some random person
on the Internet.
Templates and fluffy sales
talk, clichéd phrases,
and overused terms
are glanced over
when employers
screen resumes. It’s
actually a waste of space.
TERMS
A practical way to cut the sales
talk and fluff is to remove
adjectives. Especially
multiple adjectives in a
row. Replace adjectives
with accomplishments.
Your accomplishments
are unique to you—and
compelling to employers.
RESUME WRITING TIPS
CUT THE FLUFFY SALES TALK

6. EXAMPLE RESULT
Generated $3M in
revenue growth.
Start with
the result
ACTION
Repaired damaged
client relationships and
restored trust with
three multimillion-dollar
client accounts.
Talk about the
steps/action you took
to resolve the problem
PROBLEM
When I stepped in as
sales executive, the
company had lost 15 of
their major client
accounts due to
mismanagement by the
sales team.
Share the problem
or pain point
RESUME WRITING TIPS
WRITE YOUR STORY
WRITE YOUR STORY

7. Numbers are very persuasive
and hard to argue against.
They provide tangible proof
that you provide real results.
RESULT
What someone else says
about us can be even
more impressive or
impactful than what we
say about ourselves.
TESTIMONIALS
LinkedIn can be a great
resource to support and
validate your brand, career
successes, and what others
have to say about you.
Don’t wait for someone to
recommend you. Be
proactive about requesting
recommendations from
supervisors, clients,
coworkers, colleagues,
direct reports, or others you
know professionally.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Endorsements support
your personal brand in a
few ways. At a glimpse
employers are able to see
which skills you have
been endorsed for, and
by how many people.
ENDORSEMENTS
RESUME WRITING TIPS
PROVE YOURSELF

8. Use a modern resume design
that is easy to read.
Employers scan your resume
and search for your summary,
position title, employment dates, and
past positions. Make this information
easy to locate.
Create graphs or pie charts
that convey important
information or tell a story. It
could be a pie chart that
breaks up the different keyword/skills
areas you want to bring attention to or
highlights the main industries you know.
Industry
memberships or
leadership
organization logos
are a great way to highlight
industry-relevant associations
or leadership experience.
Testimonials or
quotes can be
offset in nice
visuals. You’re also
conveying validation/proof
while doing so with a great
visual. Double bonus!
Sales data is
great to convey
in a graphic.
RESUME WRITING TIPS
MODERN DESIGN, STUNNING VISUALS,
GRIPPING GRAPHICS

9. First impressions
are critical and
they’re visual.
Resumes receive an
initial six-second eye
scan to make a fit/no
fit determination.
Using color
draws the eye in
to the resume.
RESUME WRITING TIPS
WHAT COLOR AND BRANDING
HAVE IN COMMON

10. Infuse branding and
your message into
your LinkedIn
profile, professional
blog, social media
profiles, and all of your career
documents—and talk about
them with your network.
It’s about your entire career portfolio. Once you’ve defined
yourself, given a vision to your career path, discovered your
unique promise of value, and found common themes and
stories to share, you need to communicate this same
message and brand across all other platforms.
IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT YOUR RESUME
RESUME WRITING TIPS