3 Tips for Creating a Standout Resume

Let’s face it, the ultimate goal for completing your MBA is to get a job; not just any job, but the job of your dreams.

To get that, you need a knockout resume – that one singular, sheet of paper that showcases all the expertise you’ve gained throughout your life and career, and highlights why you’d be the perfect candidate for the position.

How can you make your resume standout from the rest? Here are three important tips I’ve learned:

Tailor your resume to the job that you are applying for: It can become tedious to continually update your resume for each of the jobs that you apply for, but it is essential that you do so. Use the right keywords! Change a few words or phrases to the ones used in the job description. This can be effective whether your resume is reviewed by a human or a machine. Modifying your resume to include the right keywords demonstrates that you put time and effort into applying for the specific role and company. You are not just applying for the sake of it, you are applying because you want it.

Tell a Story: Show how much you have grown throughout your career by telling a story in your resume. How have your experiences prepared you? How did your first position at the company carry over to your subsequent position? A recruiter will look to see how you have used your prior skills to develop and add value to an organization. Make it obvious for them; as you construct your resume, think about what story each bullet on your resume tells. You want a cohesive story, not a fragmented one.

Proofread Before Hitting Send: This may seem obvious. But recruiters see spelling and formatting errors all the time. You want your resume to be flawless. You don’t want to be that person who gets rejected for mistakes that could have been easily avoided.

Some Resources You Can Use

1) Have your resume edited by the career advisors at the Office of Career Services (OCS). Attend resume workshops provided by OCS to better prepare your resume.

2) Set up informational phone calls with Smith alumni at the organization you are applying for. Understand the role you are applying for and the skills it requires.

3) Talk to professors to understand about the business landscape and how it has changed over the years.

-By Ashraf Khan. Khan is a 2020 MBA candidate and dean's fellow at Maryland Smith. He is originally from Potomac, Maryland, and worked as a civil engineer in the Washington, D.C., area prior to pursuing an MBA with a concentration in marketing.