Resume Tips for Busy Professionals

Resumes are one of my favorite things to talk about.

But I know that puts me squarely in the minority.

While I’ve written pretty extensively about resumes before, I wanted to share resume tips with a particular nod towards busy professionals who may be short on time.

Appropriately customizing your applications so that they stand out takes time – and since we’re all busy people, let’s chat about making your resumes stand out in as little time as possible.

Write…then edit.

While you’re doing this work, feel free to begin writing on a blank document. This frees you of the constraints of a resume format and allows you to document important content. We’ll make editing your experience into clear, concise and compelling bullet points a second step. Trust me, this makes a huge difference!

Get in the right resume mindset.

You know you need to be customizing your resume for each job, but do you take the time to read the job posting like a hiring manager? Use your expertise to hone in on the potential pain points – and take the time to address as many as you can, as quickly as you can.

Writing a Summary of Qualifications

The top of your resume should quickly and clearly address the qualifications that are posted within the job description.

If you’re feeling stuck, we have prompts and samples included in our Work Words library.

Do yourself a favor and keep a running tab of bullet points that you can cut and paste into your resume. This makes your preparation a lot easier once you get started.

If you’re applying to different kinds of jobs or jobs in different fields, you may be able to rely on templates for each kind of role. You’ll still need to be sure you’re customizing them, but templates make for way less work!

Sure, you can obsess over your resume – but the job posting won’t be up forever!

You have to actually submit your resume to get results! I like to “sleep on” my resumes once I’ve made changes and then look at it with fresh eyes before send it off. Come up with a ritual that will work for you!

Busy people are usually efficient people – so don’t hesitate to apply those skills to your job search!