If you are a coop or regular student and applying to job, whether it’s a coop or your first real job, you may want to alter your resume to make your credentials stand out.

There are a few ways that resumes fail to attract the attention of the person      accepting and reviewing the documents.

Style

Most student resumes we see look the same. Essentially they reflect what  their university or college career services recommend. Unfortunately, having  the same style of resume as everyone who is eager to apply to the best  positions, will greatly hinder your chances of getting a call and interview.  Changing the style is important because the first step to having your resume read, is it needs to get noticed. You can change up the headings, remove the Objective and insert another heading, and play around with the margins. There is no right way of writing a resume, but there are ways to increase your chances of getting the attention of your targeted employer.

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Lack of focus

We see a lot of resumes that lack focus. They all have good information and for the most part they look good. We recommend taking a good look at the job description and tailor the resume to that role. Don’t forget that job experience is much more important than education, so always list your work experience (if you have it) before education. Most career centres are out of touch with this fine detail.

Ask someone to look over your resume

If you have someone look over your resume and cover letter, they can provide some good feedback. Essentially, our rule is that if someone is unsure about your style and content, this is probably a good sign as you will want  your documents to look different. Different is good!

We outlined a few items regarding tips and suggestions related to increasing your chances of getting an interview. There are many more that you can utilize.

If you have some suggestions about what worked best for you, please send us an email and we can share the tip with the rest of our readers.