Are you ready to take the next step in your career but unsure how to best showcase your skills and experience? At Travelers, as well as across the job market, countless opportunities are waiting for you. My team wants to ensure you are fully prepared.

Let’s start with how to write a resume. As one of the first pieces of information an employer or recruiter sees about you, your resume is one of your most effective personal marketing tools. It’s crucial that it communicates your qualifications, who you are, and what makes you unique.

Follow our essential resume-writing tips to help your application stand out, whether you’re ready to submit it now or just keeping it updated for when the right opportunity comes along.

Set Your Goals and Determine Your Skillset

Before you can sell yourself, you must know yourself—your work style and what you want out of a role. Consider your career goals, interests, and skills, and make a list. Include your strengths, experiences, and the aspects that have shaped you into the professional you are today. If it helps, complete an online self-assessment. Use the results to determine which skills are most transferable to the industry or company you aspire to join.

• Here are a few competencies you may want to consider including if they relate to you and the role: customer service or consulting skills, project management experience, mentorship/coaching, relationship building, adaptability, creative problem solving, effective communication skills, influencing decision-making, organizational/time management skills, and delegating work or assignments.

Do Your Research

Now that you have your lists of skills and strengths, you can match the most applicable ones to the resume you want to create for a specific role.

When it comes to your resume, it’s not one size fits all. Your resume should be tailored to the job you are applying for. Review the job description you are targeting and highlight the key competencies, required skills, and responsibilities. Match your top strengths to the role and incorporate them into your resume. This will help you stand out to the recruiter or hiring manager.

What to Include on Your Resume

Aside from including the top skills and strengths that align with a role, there are a few additional housekeeping items to note.

• Education and Certifications: Education is an important piece of information employers review on your resume. If your degree is specific to the job you are applying for, be sure to include this section at the beginning of your resume. Otherwise, listing your education at the beginning or end of your resume works just fine. If you have obtained any specific certifications, those can be placed under the education category as well.
• Work History: Your experience section should list your work history in chronological order, with the most recent position at the top. Your most recent position should also include the most detail. Be sure to include numbers or statistics to highlight your strengths, influence, and successes.
• Resume Length: While prioritizing the most relevant experience and skill set, aim to keep your resume to a realistic length—ideally one to two pages.

Given the length limitation and the fact that your resume is a snapshot of the skills that best align with the role you are applying for, including your LinkedIn profile URL offers additional space to expand on professional skills and experiences. If you decide to include the URL, ensure that your profile is active and up-to-date.

What Not to Include on Your Resume

Limiting the length of a resume isn’t always easy, but here’s some good news: there are a few resume sections that are no longer trending.

• Objective or Summary Statements: An objective or summary statement is no longer a requirement. Save space and focus more on showcasing your relevant skills through action statements in your experience section. Reserve summary statements for your LinkedIn profile.
• Interest Section: Interests are also no longer required on a resume but keep them in mind as they can serve as great talking points during your interviews or screenings with your recruiter.

Formatting and Consistency is Key

The appearance of your resume matters. If your experience shines through, but your fonts don’t match or your lists aren’t succinct, the recruiter or hiring manager may doubt your attention to detail. Be consistent throughout your resume with style, font, and spacing. Ensure you use the same tense when writing—your current skills and work experience should be in the present tense, while former experiences should be in the past tense.

Use regular margins and a 10-12-point font in a basic, easy-to-read style. Utilize bullet points to highlight your skills rather than narratives or paragraphs.

A second set of eyes is always a great idea. Have a friend, colleague, or family member check your work to catch any errors or inconsistencies.

Finally, save and send your resume document as a PDF. This ensures all your formatting remains intact. You can also upload your resume to your profile on our Talent Community where our recruiters can see it, and send you relevant career opportunities. Not a member? Join here.  

In Conclusion

We know that getting your resume up to snuff can be daunting, but your time is well worth it because your resume is your first foot in the door. A great resume that aligns with the company and specific role may lead to an interview with the recruiter or hiring manager, giving you an additional opportunity to shine as a professional in your industry. But interview tips? That’s a topic for another blog! Come back soon for more job seeking tips from my team at Travelers.

Brianna Sacerdote is a Senior Recruiter in HR Talent Acquisition at Travelers. With more than 5 years in recruiting, Brianna’s resume tips have helped many employees at Travelers to update their resumes to achieve career growth within the company, and now we bring them to you.