9 Easy Tools to Help You Write a 21st Century Resume

9 Easy Tools to Help You Write a 21st Century Resume9 Easy Tools to Help You Write a 21st Century ResumeMay 12, 2015 By Pauline Delaney Reviewed by Mark Slack, CPRWWhat are the best apps for job seekers? Weve compiled a list of the top nine apps that every job seeker needs in their toolbox. Make a Resume in MinutesNeed to track your finances? Theres an app for that. Need to improve your sleep cycle? Yup, theres an app for that.Need to keep a detailed map of all the places youve pooped?You guessed it theres an app for that too.Truly, we are blessed to be alive in the 21st century.What about apps for job seekers?There are hundreds But lets winnow down to the part of job seeking many people fear writing the resume. Fortunately, there are severalinteresting online tools (not just apps) that can help you write the ultimate resume that will land you more interviews.Here are 9 of them. Ive ordered unterstellung toolsin logical steps, but towards the end you can gebru it up.Step 1. Use a resume builderThe harte nussThe worst part about writing a new resume, or updating an old one, is having writers block. I dont blame you if youre biting off your nails and gritting your teeth at the thought of sitting in front of your computer writing up convincing resume bullet points.Its not fun.The 21st century solutionThe Resume Genius free resume builderwill help you automatically generate bullet points for any job role youve had, saving you hours of excruciating brainstorming.Just export your completed resume into a .txt document for free, and copy paste the results into a downloadable resume templatethat you find appealing. Thatbrings us to the next toolStep 2. Download a resume templateThe problemIf youre like me, you dont have an artistic bone in your body. Also, you quickly lose your patience with Microsoft Word when bullet points fly everywhere and your document loses its formatting for no reason.Using a resume template is a lot like using Google Maps on your smartphone i nstead of pulling out a tattered Rand McNally Road Atlas.The 21st century solutionDownload a resume template. You may have heard that hiring managers can recognize and look down on resume templates. Dont listen to those people.Using a resume template is a lot like using Google Maps on your smartphone instead of pulling out a tattered Rand McNally Road Atlas. Its a no-brainer.Here are some examples of templates you can useClassic B&W Open GalleryModern Dark Blue Open GalleryElegant Burnt Orange Open GalleryStep 3. Use an action verb list and synonymlexikonThe problemYour resume might sound a little bland to a hiring manager if youre not using the right keywords. For instance, the verb used isnt quite as exciting or descriptive as the verb operated when youre talking about forklifts.The 21st century solutionUse a list of action verbs, or use a thesaurus. The action verb list (longest on the Internet, we can proudly claim) can give you inspiration, and the thesaurus can give you gui dance when the word you want is just on the tip of your tongue. TipSometimes, simpler is better. For instance, never use the word utilized when you can just write used.Step 4. Put the hiring managers job description into your own wordsThe problemIdeally, youre supposed to target your resume for every new position that you apply for. A big reason for that is because robotic Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) can actually reject your resume before a hiring manager sees it, based on whether your resume seems relevant enough.One way of beating the ATS is to read the hiring managers job description, and sprinkle the most important keywords from that job description into your resume when appropriate.A little troublesome, isnt it?The 21st century solutionUse a word cloud generator like Wordle, which can help you sift through the job descriptions important keywords in mere seconds. Just input the description into Wordle, and watch as the most important keywords are displayed in large, easy t o read font.Example I input the job description for a healthcare industry administrative assistantfrom Monster.com. Check out the Wordle belowInsert those big keywords where you canStep 5. binnensee if your resume matches the hiring managers job description with JobscanThe problemOnce youve inserted those job description keywords into your resume, youll need to double check whether youve done a good job. The best you can do is eyeball it, or have someone else give you a second opinion.Or is that the best you can do?The 21st century solutionJacob Shriar of Officevibe thinks you can do better. He recommends using Jobscan to make an instant comparisonbetween your resume andthe job description.Jobscan will tell you if your resume is likely to pass the ATS judgment.Just copy and paste your resume and the job description into the two input areas, and receive criticalfeedback.Step 6. Use the Hemingway AppThe problemWith Jobscan, you created an ATS robot-proof resume. However, you also need to make sure humans find it pleasant to read Unfortunately, not all of us are naturally brilliant writers. So what to do?The 21st century solutionThe Hemingway App can help you improve your writing. It automatically determines where your writing is too hard too read, where youve used too many adverbs, where your words and phrases can be written more simply, and where youre using the passive voice.Correcting these mistakes will make your writing bold and clear.Step 7. Put your resume through RezscoreThe problemDespite all of the work youve put into your resume by this point, you still might feel a bit insecure about its quality. How about one more app, just to be safe?The 21st century solutionStephanie Flank, Director of HR at AKAM recommends using Rezscore.Rezscore reads your resume and gives a comprehensive 0-100% score of its overall quality. It also breaks down which industry your resume is best suited for, and which of your skills is in highest demand.As a bonus, it also gives you job leads based on your resume. Not bad. Heres a little taste of RezscoreWriting resumes is my job, after allStep 8. Crowdsource a resume critique through redditThe problemDespite all of the software out there that can judge your resume, nothing beats another person proofreading it. Thats so 20th century or is it?Dont worry, this subreddit is very polite, even if their advice can be blunt.The 21st century solutionYou can crowdsource your resume critique using reddit. The subreddit https//www.reddit.com/r/resumes/ is filled with job seekers and resume experts who are willing to give an unvarnished opinion.Just upload your resume (remember to remove or blur personal information), and watch the comments stream in.Dont worry, they are very polite, even if their advice can be blunt (and therefore useful.)Step 9. Read cutting edge career adviceThe problemIf you currently have a job, job searching is probably last on your to do list. Unfortunately, this means you might be out of the jo b search game for years at a time. You can become out of touch with new strategies and trends that give advantages to job seekers who are in the know.The 21st century solutionMs. Flank recommends that you start start reading online publications focused on job seeking. We highly recommendUndercover RecruiterMashableBrazencareeristAnd of course, dont forget about us here at Resume GeniusConclusionWriting a convincing resume has never been easier, provided you know which tools to use. Sure, its not required that you use a resume builder, but hey, its 2019 and why wouldnt you want to use something that makes the whole process a walk in the park?So use the Internet to your advantage, and give yourself a boost above your competition.