The New Rules of Writing a Successful Resume In 2014

If you are looking for a job change in 2014, the first thing that you should care about is your CV. Here are some tips that will help you make your resume present a stronger picture of your candidature for any open vacancy.

A recruiter gives an average of six second glance to your resume. All your achievements, academic record, and employment history, all in six seconds. This is a fact that was highlighted by a research conducted in 2012. The study utilized eye-tracking technology to be sure of how long recruiters engage with resumes.  Thus, if you think in an objective way, you have got only six seconds to make your case and therefore, it is essential to have a killer resume in order to be ahead of the competition. A successful CV should be written in a style that conforms to the current standards of recruitment. You can surely experiment a little here and there, but that doesn’t mean that you ravage the basic tenet of a resume. Similarly, it shouldn't highlight outdates practices as it demonstrates your disconnect with the changing times. The New Year is here and that calls for a fresh look at your job search and your CV. Below are listed some of the new rules, or trends that will prevail in 2014:

Shorter, crisp, and specific

Brevity is the soul of wit. This saying couldn't be truer for resume writing. Gone are the days when most executive pages would extend to 2-3 pages, having detailed records of each of your educational degree or professional work history. The necessity of the present times is to cut the crap, and include only the relevant details.  Relevance here is relative to the particular job that you are applying to. It also means that the concept of one-resume-fits-all is all but dead now. For every job that you apply, the resume should be specific as to how your candidature is a perfect fit for it.

Offer some social signals in CV

Most potential employers these days check for a candidate’s profile on social networks. You can enhance your appeal, as well as, your chances of getting noticed by including some proof of your presence on social media in the resume. That doesn't mean that you have to provide a link of your personal Facebook profile. However, a LinkedIn profile URL or a professional Twitter handle can add a lot of value to your CV.  This also implies that you should spend some time building a credible reputation on social media, by having a complete profile and becoming a member of professional groups.

Infographic Resume

Forgive yourself if you haven’t heard of it as infographic resume is still a novel concept. However, going by the way recruitment industry is reacting to it; this new trend is here to stay for at least a long time to come. The concept of infographic enables the job seeker to visualize his career achievements and employment history in a colorful and fun way, while standing out from the crowd. However, not everyone has the graphic designing abilities required for making a professional-looking infographic resume, & therefore, you should try it out at your own risk.

Improving the cover letter

Although a cover letter is a separate document, still, since it is a prelude to the resume, therefore you should be making sure that it doesn’t distract the recruiter from going forward with your candidature. Some sectors are there which do not require a cover letter at all. If you belong to one of these, then good for you, but if you don’t then its better that you buckle up with a strong and sound cover letter. Think of it as a place where you can have a conversation with the recruiter and convince him to at least consider you for a face to face round. Try to sound enthusiastic and relevant through your cover letter. Besides the usual paragraph style, you can also use bullets to emphasize your points.