I’ve been reviewing resumes and CVs for many years. Whenever we open a vacancy, hundreds of candidate emails arrive—some well-prepared, others that give a little shame to others. I often hear people say, “I’ve sent over a hundred resumes, and nobody calls me for an interview. It’s tough out there.”

Before thinking that you have no luck, reevaluate your strategy, reevaluate your resume. Take the time to sit at the computer and carefully read every word you include in it. Is it well written? Does it make sense? Or are you just copying your friend’s resume because you don’t know what to write in it?

In this article, I wanted to share with you 13 tips that I believe you should follow so that your resume will motivate an employer to interview you.

1. It must be clear: When I refer to clean, I mean that you must have the information organized in an easy to understand way.
2. Must be concise: A sophisticated resume should not have more than two pages. In many cases, only one page is sufficient. If you want to include additional information, you can make a “Cover Letter,” or if you are a technical resource, you can submit a separate sheet with the certifications you have.
3. Do not use the same template: Today, there are hundreds of models that you can use that give you an advantage over those who use the same resume format provided by Microsoft Word. If everyone looks the same and yours is different, you will get attention for an additional few seconds.
4. Tell your story in twenty or thirty words in the objective: Apply what’s called an “Elevator Pitch.” Imagine that you meet the recruiter in an elevator, you have 15 seconds to tell him why you should be the chosen candidate. Why are you better than the others? What is your expertise?
5. Don’t have much experience? Don’t worry: Place information about projects you’ve worked on in college or in your free time. What was the impact? Who benefited? What technologies did you use? Can you include some metrics?
6. Don’t make abbreviations: Do not abbreviate technologies or project names. The person reading the resume maybe does not know what you are talking about it. Ex. “SPMFR Capstone Project.”
7. Don’t list the ten places where you have worked in the last six years: No recruiter wants to interview a resource that can’t stay for at least two years in a job. Select the most significant experiences meticulously and talk about the goals achieved while you were there.
8. Don’t lie: If you are not bilingual or don’t know how to do something, don’t include it. The recruiter could give you a test, or they could ask questions in another language.
9. Make it a work of art: If it’s not formatted, has no titles, has spelling errors, does not make good use of tabs, paragraphs, font, etc. the message you are carrying is that you don’t know how to do a resume. The recruiter will not believe that you are organized or have mad Word skills and work well under pressure, as most of the candidates say.
10. Don’t send the resume in Word format: The resume must be in a non-editable format such as Adobe PDF.
11. Make sure your contact information is correct: Many people misspell their email, their phone or do not include it.
12. The name of the file should be your name: If you send the resume by e-mail, do not put a name like “Mark_Res_Version_8_Private_Company”. You don’t want to let know that you have multiple versions of your resume. Just write “Resume of So-and-so.”
13. Don’t carbon copy six companies when sending your resume by email: Do not let your potential employer know that you are looking for any job.

Did you know that a recruiter sees hundreds of resumes for each call he makes? Your resume should stand out. Each resume is seen for a few seconds before moving to the next. If it doesn’t stand out, you may have missed your chance.

#GoodLuck