After the rise (and rise) of LinkedIn over the past 12 months, many people assumed this social media phenomena will herald the death of the traditional resume. However, in reality this could not be further from the truth.

LinkedIn has a firm place in the recruitment process: an automatic CV checker to ensure dates and job roles have not been fabricated or embellished and secondary reference provider in the form of recommendations.  However the easy ability to endorse any Tom, Dick or Harry renders this feature of LinkedIn next to pointless.

Ensuring you have a fabulous and effective CV when job seeking is paramount.  We all know to proofread our CV at least 3 times before sending it off, however, have you thought of the following?

No photos

Unless you are applying for a modeling, acting or other position where your appearance is important, your resume is not the place for photos (even if you are blessed with the looks of Gisele Bundchen!)

Harness the power of Keywords

Many organisations (both large and small) utilise a multitude of digital databases in their hunt for candidates, running search queries based on specific keywords.  If you resume doesn’t have the keywords related to the job you have applied for, you will be persona non grata and out of the race before the starting gun is fired. Keywords are generally nouns, check the job advertisement and other similar job advertisements for a heads up on what the employer may be looking for.

Do not include “obvious” information

Bizarrely, many people like to include statements such as “Available for interview” or “References available upon request”.  Yes, of course, you are available and have references, otherwise you would not be searching for a new job. This information is completely unnecessary.

Hide your hobbies

Unless your hobby will explicitly guarantee to enhance your chances in a role (and these are few and far between) it is best to leave this off a resume.  People are different, stereotypes can be formed and it would be devastating to have all the attributes for a position yet be discounted due to a recreational activity.

Sarah Morrissey is the Marketing Manager at JobFlex – Australia’s leading destination for Part Time, Contract, Casual and Temporary Jobs.

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