- A good résumé can improve your chances of landing a job.
- A recent study of more than 133,000 résumés from the career site Zety, found most are personalized, use keywords, highlight relevant skills, and have an "extra" section.
- Adding these sections into your application may help improve your chances of getting hired.
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A good résumé can mean the difference between landing a new job or at the bottom of a hiring manager's inbox. If you're in search of a new gig, you need to have a résumé that will attract the attention of your future employer.
A recent analysis of 133,000 résumés from career site Zety found a few key insights on the skills most curriculum vitae's highlight. The findings show applicants often have résumés that are highly personalized, use keywords, highlight relevant skills, and have an "extra" section like a space for languages and certificates. While the analysis did not look at how likely it was for an applicant with these sections to get hired — career experts do advise incorporating many of these categories into your résumé.
Having a solid résumé may also improve the trajectory of your career. But it takes a committed applicant to get there. Data from Zety shows prospective candidates send between 30 and 50 résumés before securing a job.
Here are some of the most common characteristics of a successful résumé, according to data from Zety.
Personalize your résumé for the position you're applying to
While it can be tempting to mass apply to jobs, you're better off creating a job-specific résumé. Findings from Zety show candidates usually create one résumé per job search.
According to Zety, 63% of recruiters want to receive résumé that is specific to the open position. This strategy can help keep your application top of mind for hiring managers.
Use key words
It's likely that your résumé will go through an applicant tracking system before it's in the hands of an actual hiring manager. Using key words can help recruiters identify the right candidates and remove ones that aren't a good match. According to Zety, the most common key words include coding languages like Java, Python, and HTML, and adjectives like visual, web, and mobile.
Highlight relevant skills
Soft skills are always in high demand.
Zety found applicants highlight skills like communication, leadership, time management, problem-solving, customer service, teamwork, adaptability, organization, creativity, and conflict resolution. Communication skills were cited on 11% of resumes.
Consider adding an "extra" section
Having an "extra" section on your résumé can also help you stand out among a crowded field of applicants. According to Zety, 31% of résumés have a "languages" section and 27% have a section specifically for "certificates." If you have a certificate in your industry, you will be about 73% ahead of other job seekers, according to Zety.
