From first jobs to career-defining roles, Top Applicant is happy to help everyone at any stage of their career. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re looking for that next big opportunity, you’ll need a bulletproof resume. Let’s dive into our best practices when it comes to resume building for modern careers.
Not Just a Great Band: K.I.S.S.
At Top Applicant, K.I.S.S. means: Keep It Super Simple. You don’t have to put down every job you’ve ever had on your resume. But, if your duties from that summer job align with the role you’re applying for, write it down! Your typical resume should only be a page to a page and a half, so make sure to keep it concise if you’re not using our free resume builder.
Education and Certifications
Top Applicant makes adding your education easier than ever by keeping your educational info to just the basics. We’re proud of you if you won your 8th-grade spelling bee—but let’s save that conversation for over the water cooler at your new job. Instead, use just one entry to add your degree, school, dates attended, and, if applicable, your enrollment status.
Certifications are some of the hottest things that employers look for in resumes. From CDLs and RNs to CDPs and PMPs, every certification is valuable! Every field has ways to level up your knowledge, so make sure you share your hard work with our custom text or portfolio fields. No matter what level of education or certifications you have, we make resume building easy and effective for every field.
References
“It’s not what you know, it’s who you know.” While this isn’t our favorite saying when it comes to resume building, professional references are essential. Sure, we can’t stop you from adding Bill Gates as a reference. But even if you did work at Microsoft, would he really be able to speak to your character?
References should be able to speak to your reliability and your personality on the job. This helps employers get a true understanding of how you’d fit into their company culture. To add references to your resume with Top Applicant, just add a new custom text field or attach a document. Avoid putting down your friends as a reference. Most employers can smell a fake recommendation from miles away.
Employment History
This is where resumes can get confusing, which is why K.I.S.S. is so important. Our top applicants keep it simple by adding their company, location, title, employment type, and dates employed in their profile. As you list your work experience, make sure to include every relevant job to your desired career path.
For example, if your first job was flipping a sign for your uncle’s gas station, many aspects of that job may not apply if you’re pursuing a career in computer science. While that job may not be the best to include for a concise resume, Top Applicant gives you an opportunity to share aspects that employers look for.
In a short video, you can share your full work experience to describe things you learned in that job like punctuality, work ethic, and more. Just be sure to upload it to your Youtube or Vimeo account so you can link it to your resume on our platform!
Bridging the Gaps
At Top Applicant, our mission is to help people from all walks of life create a career they can be proud of. We built our platform to help everyone present themselves in the most professional and personal way possible. Bridge any gaps in your employment or educational history with ease.
Resume building can be hard if you don’t feel that your history is up to par with other competing applicants. Here’s how to talk about gaps in your resume.
Stay Honest
Honesty is the best policy. So, instead of lying to fill in the gaps, it’s time to get real. Whether you took a few months to find yourself on a backpacking trip, or you just did a nickel behind bars, Top Applicant gives you the platform to be professional and forthcoming.
With our video portfolio, you can explain how that trip changed your life, or how that time behind bars set you on the right path. We believe that everyone has the right to professional resume building. That’s why it doesn’t cost a thing to sign up.
Stay Positive
Everyone’s job search is different. Some people get amazing opportunities on their first try, but others may try for years until the perfect opportunity presents itself. No matter how long your job search is, staying positive is the best way to ensure your success. Top Applicant also has a few tools that can help your job hunt move in the right direction.
By utilizing our resume tracking system, you can see who’s looking at you at every stage in the hiring process. To optimize your resume for success, take a look at the type of company and industry your resume is the most successful in. Then, utilize our resources for ideas on optimizing your resume for things like careers in IT, leadership roles, and more. As you improve your resume-building skills, it’s helpful to know how to speak to the people reading your resume as well.
How Employers Read Resumes
A 2018 study revealed that employers typically only read resumes an average of 7.4 seconds. While this is an improvement from 2012, it’s still barely long enough for you to read this paragraph.
Digging Into Details
Those details need to stand out. Education and employment are crucial things when it comes to resume building. However, don’t get bogged down in the details. Remember: You only have a few seconds to make an impression.
Learning What to Ask About
Employers are looking for things that make them want to ask questions. How boring would it be if they already knew everything about you? It’s an interview after all! So, to prepare for interviews, hiring managers typically schedule people who stand out to them.
Matching Paper to People
Your experience as a camp counselor may provoke different questions than another applicant’s experience on probation. So, Top Applicant makes matching people to paper easy. Our platform prioritizes professional communication for everyone. Make sure to utilize all of our tools for your best chance at landing that next job.
Revolutionary Resumes With Top Applicant
The ideal job can change a lot of things. That’s why we designed Top Applicant to create the ideal space to professionally share the real you. Since everyone’s different, we created a few tools built to revolutionize resume building. Here’s how we’re leading the revolt against boring resumes.
Giving Everyone a Voice
Everyone has a voice on Top Applicant. So, if it’s easier for you to talk about your work rather than write it down, we’ve got you covered. Record a video about your experience as a professional, upload it to your Youtube or Vimeo, and voila! Video resume building made easy. Just don’t forget to include the link on your resume!
Professional, Personal Profiles
Bios are hard. The good news is that you’re not writing a dating app bio, you’re trying to get hired! So, instead of gamifying our user profiles, we opt to provide a template that’s designed to highlight the best in everyone..
Applicant profiles are easy to find, and companies only get the best matches possible based on your information, not your engagement. You can always include links to social media profiles, but your profile on Top Applicant is not designed to be a social media channel. It’s designed to get you connected and hired.
Tracking Your Progress
To help you get the best insight into your resume performance, make your way to the analytics tab when you log in. There you can track multiple resumes over different hiring processes. We built this feature to help applicants understand more about the hiring process. One hiring manager may have multiple rounds of interviews and several people reading resumes. By tracking your resume through the entire process, you’ll know what to expect for every job you apply to.
Build Your Future
While we have great jobs for everyone, sometimes applying alone can be hard! Here are a few additional resources we’d like to share to get even more help building your career.
The DAV – Not just your grandma’s favorite thrift store!
The DOL – Great resource for people of all abilities.
H.I.R.E. Network – Helpful guidance for formerly incarcerated job seekers. They promote sober living and mental health services as well.
We also recommend looking into your state resources as well. There are many local programs built to help applicants from all walks of life find purpose in an honest day’s work. Get started on your journey by signing up. Then, subscribe to our newsletter to get monthly insights! We’re proud to help everyone become a Top Applicant.
