Staffing Agency Insurance: Making Your Resume Stand Out
The resume is a highly formatted, structured document. Name; address.; job title; description; no more than two pages; size 12 font; no color; there are very specific rules on how to draft your resume. Add it to the thousands of resumes that recruiters receive through online submission engines and it is very easy to get lost in the shuffle. So it elicits the age old job hunt question- how do candidates make their resume stand out?
There are several approaches on this subject. Some recommend bucking the system entirely and getting creative with resumes. This movement has reproduced everything from gorgeous graphic design, resumes shaped like cereal boxes or entire webpages that look like Amazon ads, facebook ads or through a ransom note. While these ingenious resumes have gone viral, they haven’t necessarily gotten candidates the job. And, highly creative resumes may be better suited for particular industries, such as advertising, graphic design or social media, where a creative presentation demonstrates skills that are applicable to the job position.
Other approaches have focused on resume language. Liz Ryan, founder and CEO of Human Workplace, recently published an article on LinkedIn entitled “Put a Human Voice in Your Resume.” Ryan refers to traditional language as “Zombietastic Corporatespeak.” She argues that popular resume buzzwords such as leverage, paradigm, cross-functional teams, and synergy have made resumes into reproductions of clichéd business jargon. Instead, she argues to use a more human, natural voice to stand out in your resume, one that exudes warmth. A few of her ideas; write full sentences instead of fragments; ban jargon such as “results-oriented professional”; shares your experience in short stories; speaks in a first person voice.
As a recruiter, what do you think about these two very different approaches to resume writing? What does make a candidate’s resume stand out to your or an employer? Should the resume format be changed? We’d love to hear from you.
World Wide Specialty Programs has always had a singular purpose – to design, develop and provide staffing insurance products for the staffing industry. Working with over 2,000 insurance brokers nationwide, we know the staffing industry better than anyone, and can provide great options for your staffing industry insurance needs. Contact us today for more information about our staffing agency insurance solutions. (877) 256-0468.