In order to make your next hospitality career move, having a perfectly built resume is a prerequisite. A Perfect CV leaves an impression that gives you a head start to the career opportunity with the prospective employers.
It leaves an impression which makes your job during the interview a lot easier. In this article, we will quickly take you through a 7 point checklist that will help you create a perfect hospitality industry resume.
Various industries like the Hospitality industry has huge employee turnover. Human Resource department of the hotels and other hospitality organisations are swamped with hundreds of resumes and thus a perfect hospitality resume can be the first and probably the last chance for an invite to the interview for hotel industry professionals. And it’s quite similar for a lot of other industries including the IT industry.
Your resume is a sneak peek to your personality, expertise, education, skills and experience. So, it must be perfect.
In this article, we have compiled 7 crucial points to ensure that you have a perfect resume for your next job.
Your resume is the first touchpoint for your dream job. It’s the first time the employer meets you virtually and this creates a big impression in their minds.
It must be perfect to ensure your resume doesn’t land in the junk folder or the trash bin. If you are an experienced professional then you must also follow the 10 Resume Tips for Managers already covered in an earlier article.
1. Have you limited your resume to 1-3 pages?
Yes, it’s not the quantity but the quality that is crucial.
Most of the recruiters would not invest more than 1-2 minutes on each resume and thus it is important to respect the time of the recruiters.
A study by Time in 2012 found out that a recruiter invests on an average only 6 seconds per resume for a first look.
Yes, you read that right. You just have 6 seconds to make the first impression.
It’s crucial not to be too creative in approach. Keep the key points at important locations that can stand out to ensure proper attention of the concerned hiring manager.
Thus, it is crucial that you don’t have a resume that is over 2 pages in length.
2. Did you use lots of Action Verbs?
This point is also crucial because of the 6 seconds attention of recruiters.
These words grab eyeballs and force the recruiter to read details.
Words like Executed, Delegated, Achieved, Monitored etc. create a huge impact on the mind of a recruiter. A good number of examples are given in an article by Monster. For more action verbs just google ‘Best Action verbs for Resume” and you will have hundreds of super useful words that can add power to your resume.
Treat this as one of the 101 for an awesome resume and a crucial point for a perfect resume for your next career move.
3. Use numbers – Did you Quantify your achievements?
Numbers stand out in your resume.
Few examples are like.
- Increased sales by 30% in one year.
- Managed 35 team members
- Reduced Departmental Cost by 12%
and so on.
Numbers catch the attention of the recruiters who then explore your capabilities further.
So, try to quantify all your achievements. It is both prudent and classy.
4. Not overdoing the use of soft skills for a perfect resume
Soft skills are crucial. Interpersonal skills, leadership skills, good communication, emotional intelligence and so on. It is these that will matter in the long term. However, the resume should not be overstuffed with these. A recruiter can’t and won’t judge a resume by the mention of soft skills.
It is better to leave the discussion of soft skills to the interview.
Preparing a properly written Cv also prepares you well for different types of job interviews. Most popular interview questions and common interview questions would be based on discussions of soft skills. So, you will have ample opportunities to discuss them during the interview.
So, treat this as an important point to create a perfect resume– never overdo the usage of soft skill mention in your CV. It’s not something flashy to do. The optimum usage is the key as overdoing it can be more damaging that doing any good to your cause of grabbing the eyeballs of the hiring manager.
5. Have you used Standard Fonts in your CV?
Another important tip is to keep your CV in standard fonts.
Yes, you love to express yourself, show your creativity and all! We know that. But, it is important to not be too creative while curating your awesome resume.
The use of Standard fonts in the CV is important due to below important points.
- These are universally accepted
- These are compatible with all operating systems and devices (Microsoft, Apple etc.)
- These are pleasing to the eyes (and keep the recruiters happy)
and various others.
6. Is your CV unique? – Don’t use prototypes
Do you love to pick up a template from free resume templates that are available on the world wide web and then make some changes to complete your resume?
It would be a big mistake if you do this. We don’t advise you not to refer to standard templates but your resume is your personality. Free templates are a good place to start and there are various professional Resume building services with hospitality and catering resume examples and various other standard and popular ones like Canva, CraftResume etc that help in creating a customised resume. One size fits all doesn’t work in job searches.
A custom made and unique resume is all that gives the first good impression to the recruiters. So, don’t dilute this first impression by using templates and prototypes.
7. Have you checked Spelling and Grammatical errors – Proofread
A few spelling mistakes here and there leaves a very poor impression on your prospective employer.
In the current era of technology, services like Grammarly and others can easily do this for you at no cost and within minutes.
It is also advisable to get your hospitality Cv proofread by some other people to give you first-hand suggestion and a few ways to improve.
It will help you achieve that perfect resume that sticks out in front of hospitality recruiters and that gives you a head start to your next hotel job that you would love.
Conclusion
Here you go, the 7 points checklist to a perfect resume. CV is a mirror reflection of your personality. Build it with utmost care.
It is extremely important to speak the truth in your resume. Your resume speaks of your personal brand. Make a quick but great first impression with a terrific resume.
We wish you the very best for your next career move! Make a great first impression with a perfectly crafted CV.
