How to Build a Strong Resume
It’s no secret that the apparel industry is highly competitive. Therefore, any advantage is huge when it comes to outshining your competitors. One easy way to get ahead of others is to have a strong resume.
First and foremost, you should understand that, on average, recruiters spend about 15-20 seconds looking at a resume before moving on to the next one. Therefore, your resume must be engaging and presented in an easy-to-understand way. This can be accomplished by using brief action verbs. Your resume should also be one page long for every ten years of experience. In other words, if you are still in college, your resume should not be more than one page.
Secondly, your resume should be focused on your experience and supported by your education. Your accomplishments, such as results, impacts, promotions, and growth, should be emphasized more than anything else. However, make sure the experience and accomplishments are relevant to the potential job or internship. Some appropriate sections to include in your resume are:
Relevant coursework
Relevant experience
Campus involvement
Leadership
Organizations and involvement
When it comes to talking about what all you did for a company or organization, it all comes down to how strong your bullet points are. Your bullet points should describe your position held and your specific responsibilities. A strong bullet point can be accomplished by combining a strong action verb, a description of the activity or skill, and an end result or purpose.
Some common mistakes that students often make on their resumes include:
Incorrect verb tenses
Inconsistent formatting of dates
Rounding GPAs
Incorrect capitalization
Misspelling words
Inconsistent spacing throughout the document
Resumes are meant to highlight you as an individual. They are essentially a company’s first impression of who you are and what you can bring to that organization. Therefore, it is crucial to have a strong resume to land that job and jump-start your career!
