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Your resume is more than a list of past jobs — it’s an opportunity to showcase the value you’ll bring to a potential employer. In today’s competitive job market, when recruiters typically spend less than a minute reviewing a candidate’s resume and often make a decision within the first 30 seconds, it’s crucial that your resume makes a good first impression. Although the full picture of your skills and experience can’t be summed up on a piece of paper, having a strong resume can help you stand out as a top candidate and set you up for a successful job search. 

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Freddie Mac spoke with senior talent advisor April Cook to learn some of the current best practices for writing and formatting a resume.

What makes a good resume stand out? How should I format it?


A great resume makes it easy for employers to locate your education, past employment, skills and experience. Competition for jobs is fierce, so the more effortless the employer review, the better.  

In most corporate environments, consistent formatting is key. You’ll typically want to avoid bolding, italics and any potentially distracting style elements, like images or photos. Resumes should generally be one page in length, and never more than two. A good guideline is one page for every 10 years of employment. 

More formatting tips:  
  • Keep your naming of the document simple: “Last name, First name – Resume” or similar is best. Both Word documents and PDFs are generally accepted, though a PDF is preferred because it uploads in a more readable format on employer systems. 
  • Check for misspellings, punctuation and grammatical errors. Tenses should be consistent: i.e., present tense for your current position, past tense for previous positions.  
  • White space should be balanced — not too much, not too little. 
  • Do not refer to yourself in third person.  
  • Do not list references on your resume. 

What is the best way to describe my current and past responsibilities? 


Use the top third of your resume to showcase your competencies by using terminology from your industry. Include buzzwords or keywords, but not company-specific acronyms.

It’s important to only include experience and skills that you are prepared to speak about. You should be able to answer questions that demonstrate the experience noted on your resume with concrete examples. Hiring managers often provide unfavorable feedback when a candidate is unable to demonstrate proficiency in experience and skills noted on their resume.

How often should I update my resume?


It’s a good practice to keep your professional accomplishments updated as they occur or at least every year as you take stock of your professional achievement. Use this annual review to update new skills and delete outdated or now standard skills like Word or Microsoft Office. Refresh your contact information as needed and be sure to proofread each time you make changes. 

Should I change my resume based on the job I’m applying for?

  
You may want to change your resume to highlight certain skills or competencies that are relevant to specific positions you’re pursuing. You may consider writing an “objective” statement or “summary” section at the top of your resume to express career intent or to showcase what you do best, but this is not required. This may be particularly useful if you’re looking for a career pivot, because it helps the recruiter understand why you applied to a particular job that may not exactly align with your main skill area and allows you to point out how your transferable skills will make you a valuable asset.  

If you decide to create multiple versions of your resume, make sure you can keep track of each one and are prepared to speak to all the information you add.  

What are the most common mistakes or areas for improvement? 


Recruiters and hiring managers often see duplication in how applicants describe their responsibilities from job to job. Instead, in these sections you should focus on contributions to the company or project, use specific examples, rephrase, and focus on growth and professional development to help each job appear unique. Include measurable accomplishments that are numbers-driven when possible. Note that one-line bullets are preferred over multiple sentences to keep your content “skimmable.” 

Can I use AI/Chat GPT to write my resume? Do I need to review my resume?


AI is here to stay and already assisting candidates with keeping their resumes short and concise and varying the word choices. You can input sentences and give prompts like “reword this sentence” or “make this sentence shorter.” But even with helpful tools like AI, there’s no substitute for an old-fashioned peer review! 

The process of preparing your resume takes diligence and attention to detail. You may need to rewrite and reorganize your content several times before you have a quality product, but once you do, you’ll be ready to stand out from the crowd.  

Once you’re ready to share your resume with potential employers,   apply for your next career opportunity at Freddie Mac

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