As the weather heats up, many people focus on spring cleaning. While it’s common to focus on your home, desk, or other physical spaces, polishing your resume is also a smart move.

If you want to stand out when applying for positions through a technical writer employment agency or another resource, you’ll want to refresh your resume to ensure it stands out. Here are some tips that can help.

Start with Spelling and Grammar

In many cases, the first thing you want to do is give your resume a good spelling and grammar check. Even if you use tools built into your software or extra plug-ins, it’s always wise to review the document again yourself.

Along with reading it, you can paste sections into a text-to-speech program to see if anything sounds odd, as that might help you catch mistakes you overlooked. Additionally, ask a trusted family member, friend, or colleague to give your resume a once-over, increasing the odds that every error is caught.

Get the Page Count Under Control

Generally speaking, your resume should be one or two pages long when you submit it. While it’s okay to create a master resume that’s longer, make sure you can pare down the content to hit the proper page count with relative ease.

Review every bullet point to see if you can shrink it down. Additionally, remove old jobs that aren’t necessary to showcase your skills or value.

If you’ve focused on one career path, you can typically trim anything that’s more than ten years old. For career changers, you want to focus on positions with transferable skills. If a past job doesn’t help showcase your potential, either cut the entry or trim it down significantly, depending on where it falls in your work history.

Trade Objective Statements for Professional Summaries

Overall, objective statements are antiquated resume sections that don’t provide hiring managers with value. That’s why, if you still have one, you’ll want to replace it.

Trading your objective statement for a professional summary is essential if you want a modern resume. It allows you to grab the hiring manager’s attention early, showcasing some of the best of what you have to offer right at the top.

Add New Achievements

If you haven’t updated your resume recently, you likely have some new achievements to add. Adjust your current job’s entry to include your freshest accomplishments, quantifying the details whenever possible. That ensures your resume is up-to-date and ready to submit after a few simple targeting tweaks.

Update Your Volunteering and Certifications

Similarly, you want to look at any volunteer work or certifications to make sure they’re both current and relevant. Generally, if a volunteer experience doesn’t showcase skills hiring managers want, pair back that entry. Irrelevant or expired certifications should also be removed, making your resume more concise.

Use a Fresh Design

Once you’ve updated the content, take a look at the visual aspects of your resume to see if it needs a design update. You want to balance text with white space, ensuring it’s easy to read. Additionally, use bullet points and clear headers to improve readability, making your resume simpler to skim.

Ultimately, the tips above can help you ensure your resume is in great shape. If you’re looking for new opportunities and want to partner with a standout technical writer employment agency, the staff at Alpha Consulting wants to hear from you. Contact us today