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Employing Some Resume Tricks Can Help Land You a New Job

Data-driven resumes and some professional advice can make a big difference when you're job hunting.

Chandra Steele
 & Chandra Steele Senior Features Writer

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With so many people looking for jobs right now, you want every advantage you can get over other candidates. ResumeLab surveyed over 1,000 people on their resume and LinkedIn habits to see what worked best for them while trying to find work.

The survey was taken this past spring, and the majority of respondents (66 percent) were actively job hunting. For most, this of course meant that they had updated their resumes (54.3 percent).

Those who reported the most success in getting offers said they had hired a professional resume writer; the 19.5 percent who said they had done so received 3.3 offers on average. Candidates who included data in the form of charts, graphs, or diagrams received about 3.2 offers.

While these are not commonly employed tactics, they may be ones you might want to add to other strategies, such as tailoring your resume for each job application, adding keywords to it, optimizing formatting for applicant-tracking systems, and having others who know your industry review your resume.

While all of this is practically a full-time job in itself, it's also important not to ignore LinkedIn. Of those surveyed, just 59.6 percent said their profiles on the site were fully representative of them. LinkedIn is a crucial tool for many, particularly those who earn the most. While income isn't a result of the frequency of updates, adopting the habits of high earners can be of benefit.

Related

Enhancing a LinkedIn profile with your latest skills, examples of your recent work, and data and keeping it updated periodically can make a difference in the effectiveness of your search and are among the top things you should do to make yourself appealing to prospective employers on the site.

Times are certainly challenging, and giving yourself every advantage you can (and a break) will be useful in your search.

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About Our Expert

Chandra Steele

Chandra Steele

Senior Features Writer

My Experience

My title is Senior Features Writer, which is a license to write about absolutely anything if I can connect it to technology (I can). I’ve been at PCMag since 2011 and have covered the surveillance state, vaccination cards, ghost guns, voting, ISIS, art, fashion, film, design, gender bias, and more. You might have seen me on TV talking about these topics or heard me on your commute home on the radio or a podcast. Or maybe you’ve just seen my Bernie meme. 

I strive to explain topics that you might come across in the news but not fully understand, such as NFTs and meme stocks. I’ve had the pleasure of talking tech with Jeff Goldblum, Ang Lee, and other celebrities who have brought a different perspective to it. I put great care into writing gift guides and am always touched by the notes I get from people who’ve used them to choose presents that have been well-received. Though I love that I get to write about the tech industry every day, it’s touched by gender, racial, and socioeconomic inequality and I try to bring these topics to light. 

Outside of PCMag, I write fiction, poetry, humor, and essays on culture.

My Areas of Expertise

  • Making incomprehensible tech news easy to understand
  • Expanding the boundaries of topics covered in the industry
  • Figuring out tips and tricks in apps and on devices and letting you know about them
  • Putting together gift guides for everyone in your life 

The Technology I Use

All that gadgets is gold for me: my iPhone 11 Pro, my fifth-generation iPad that I use only for streaming videos and music, my iPad mini 4 that I like to take with me whenever I carry a bag that can fit it, and my MacBook Pro. Why are they all different shades of gold, though? What’s going on, Apple? 

None of them quite live up to my two past loves: my LG Lotus LX600 phone and my Sony Walkman NW-E005 MP3 player. 

I've never given up wired earbuds so I was ahead of all those trend pieces. I use a Mangotek Lightning-to-3.5mm headphone jack adapter to connect them to my phone. 

I have had so many ebook readers, but I prefer paper to them all. Still, my Kindle Paperwhite is perfect for traveling or when I’m too impatient to wait for a book to be released in paperback.

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