Crafting an outstanding resume can be challenging. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or a new job seeker, your chance of scoring an interview will be higher if you have a clear, concise resume to showcase your education, skills, and professional experience.

The following resume tips will help you succeed in your job hunt, whether your CV is being assessed by an automated resume checking system or reviewed by a hiring manager.

1. Structure. Your CV needs to be clear, logical, and contain key details. While there is no one right way to format a CV, we suggest the following structure:
   • Name and contact details
   • Education, qualifications, and security clearance (if applicable)
   • Career history. List your roles from most to least recent, outlining your key duties and achievements for each
   • Volunteering or extracurricular activities
   • Referee details
     
     
2. Security clearances. If you are applying for contracting opportunities in the federal government, always mention if you have a security clearance. This is often highly regarded, if not a strict pre-requisite, so existing clearances are very valuable.
   
   
3. Career summary. Include a three to five sentence “elevator pitch” to sell yourself. Tailor this to the particular role for which you are applying to highlight the aspects of your professional and academic experience that are most relevant. Use words from the job description so that automated resume checking systems can easily match you to the role.
   
   
4. Career history. Ensure that for each role you list the employer, your position title, and the time period for which you held the role (include the months you started and finished, not just the years). If there are significant gaps in your professional history, provide an explanation to pre-empt the hiring manager’s queries. We suggest using crisp bullet points rather than paragraphs to outline your responsibilities and achievements, as this makes it easier for hiring managers skimming through CVs to review your experience.
   
   
5. Referees. Include the names of at least two professional referees who have worked with you in a supervisory capacity and who you’re confident will provide a positive reference for you. It is acceptable to write “contact details available on request” if you’d like to make sure that you are notified before your referees are contacted.
   
   
6. Creativity. Consider injecting some creativity into your CV. A splash of colour may make your CV stand out and help catch a hiring manager’s eye. However, make sure your resume stays in Microsoft Word format so that all the text is machine readable and so that recruiters can quickly reformat your CV if necessary for submission to a client.
   
   
7. Spelling, grammar and proofreading. Check your grammar and spelling using the checkers built into Microsoft Word, or consider using a service like Grammarly. Make sure that your CV is consistently formatted (e.g. you have used the same style of text for every heading) and check carefully for typos.

Your CV has around seven seconds to grab a recruiter’s attention, so make sure it’s concise, well-structured, and provides all the most relevant information upfront. A strong resume will greatly increase your chances of getting an interview, and will help convince hiring managers that you’re a competent professional who can communicate with influence.

If you’d like to discuss how to get the best out of your resume, please contact us.