Accelerate Your Career: How 10 Minutes of Resume Updates can Increase Your Salary

The first step to landing your dream job usually involves crafting an engaging and informative resume. Yet some job candidate fails to allocate time and energy to fine-tune their resumes. The end result: a seemingly endless job search fraught with pitfalls. In today's highly competitive global job market, a good resume is simply not enough. Lucky for you, it generally won't take long to improve your resume to ensure it hits the mark with a wide range of prospective employers. Spending even 10 minutes to revamp your resume can help you score your dream job, boost your salary and much more. Now, let's take a look at five tips to help you quickly improve your resume:

1. Create A Headline

You only get one chance to make a positive first impression on a prospective employer. As such, it is important to do whatever you can to make the most of this opportunity. If you start your resume with a headline, you can show an employer who you are as an individual. An attention-grabbing headline often consists of a few words or a short phrase, and it should highlight the value you can provide to an employer. Additionally, don't forget to update your resume headline for each job application.

2. Review the Job Description

Research indicates that employers use applicant tracking systems to immediately eliminate more than 50% of job candidates. Therefore, if your resume does not match up with a job description, it may be automatically removed from an employer's search for the ideal applicant. Take some time to review a job description and hone your resume accordingly. Include keywords and phrases from the job description itself in your resume to help you highlight why you are the best candidate for a job.

3. Focus on Your Accomplishments

Prospective employers want to know how you can contribute to an organization's success. As you craft your resume, provide details about your career accomplishments and explain how you helped past employers solve various day-to-day challenges. That way, you can use your resume to show prospective employers how you deliver meaningful results.

4. Make it Easy for an Employer to Contact You

Merely including your phone number and email address in your resume is insufficient. Instead, provide an employer with as many contact channels as you can. For example, you can include links to your LinkedIn profile, professional blog or portfolio in your resume. These links enable an employer to learn about you, connect with you and determine if you are the ideal candidate for a job.

5. Improve Your Resume's Readability

Formatting your resume properly is key. Before you submit your resume to a prospective employer, proofread it and correct any grammatical or punctuation errors. You also should use the same font throughout your resume, along with sub-headings to separate resume sections. Keep an eye out for redundant information, too.

Thanks to the aforementioned tips, you can instantly transform your ordinary resume into an exceptional one. As a result, these tips could help you speed up your career growth.