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Not every resume is created equal, and you shouldn’t design your resume the same way someone looking for a desk job would. Light industrial work requires special skills and unique experience. When you design your resume, you need to highlight those so a perspective employee can see — at a quick glance — that you’re a candidate worth considering.

Front Load Your Qualifications

Employers receive hundreds of resumes, so you need to give them a reason to read yours. Cheap gimmicks like using colorful paper or sending chocolates won’t work — in fact, there’s a chance they could get your resume tossed in the trash — but providing critical information up front can make sure employers read all the way to the bottom.

To do this, add a skills section at the top of your resume. This can be a bulleted list or a series of quick sentences describing your skills and past experience. Make sure to put those most relevant to the job at the very top — and change them for every job you apply to.

List Your Experience

Now that you’ve told them what you can do, you need to back it up with a list of your work experience. For each position, include a brief summary of your role and provide examples of your on-the-job accomplishments, times you went above and beyond, and any transferable skills you gained.

You may be tempted to list every job you have ever had, but in most cases that will be overkill. Instead, stick to jobs that are related to the work you’re applying for or that showcase your versatility. If you’re new to the workforce, it’s okay to include less relevant positions in order to bolster your work experience. Just don’t get too crazy. Those two weeks you filled in for your friend’s paper route in seventh grade aren’t going to sway an HR rep.

Education and Certifications

Next, list your education and any certificates you may have. If you have college experience — even if you didn’t graduate — it’s worth listing here. If you have taken any trainings, mention them. And, of course, if you’ve received any job certifications that relate to the position — or that the employer might find useful in the role — mention them.

Everything Else

You should have already listed your relevant skills at the top of your resume, but chances are you have other skills that might be valuable to an employer. For instance, if you’re a word processing pro or you can create complex Excel spreadsheets, add a small section listing your additional skills.

If you’re part of a professional organization, you’ve won any academic or work-related awards, or you volunteer, make sure to mention those things as well. If the hiring manager is on the fence, these extra details might be just enough to land you an interview.

For more advice on creating your resume, or to start looking for your next career, contact an Action Group Staffing specialist today.


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