A resume is the first point of contact between employers and their potential recruit. It documents an individual’s skills, qualities, and capabilities and serves as a critical tool in recruitment & employment scenarios. Freshers & graduates often need to avail professional resume writers who are well aware of developing an engaging resume, unlike academic or essay writers.
A well-structured and engaging resume is vital as it allows employers to sift through crucial information quickly and gain a better understanding of candidate skills, strengths & experience. And a highly effective way to craft an attention-grabbing resume involves adding stellar resume headlines.
This article analyzes the necessity of a good resume headline and dives deep into its writing process.
What Is A Resume Headline? Definition and Purpose
Resumes are much more concise than CVs and summarize events & achievements of approximately ten years of work experience and training. Therefore, they need to be tweaked as per job requirements, their content & structure optimized for the target audience and come with specific features to make them stand out from the rest.
A resume headline, also known as a resume title, is one such feature. It is a short phrase that highlights the essential skills and experience of a candidate. It informs the audience about the value of a potential candidate and helps recruiters quickly discern whether a person is suitable for a particular job position or not.
- Resume headlines are located appropriately right under the name and contact information in a document, making them easily one of the first things that meet the recruiter’s eye.
- Headlines and titles are ideal for individuals with lots of experience to present vital information in a condensed manner.
- Less-experienced candidates can also employ headlines to showcase their attributes.
- A well-written resume headline has to be written in a professional tone and can identify the eligibility of a candidate within a mere second of a glance.
Resume headlines, titles and one-liners are often left out of most resumes but are often one of the best ways of increasing the probability of getting a resume noticed as quickly as possible.
The Importance of Resume Headlines
Recruiters often do not have the time to go through the whole of a resume. But, as headlines summarize the value a candidate brings to the job, an impressive one vastly increases the chances of getting noticed.
And, that is why resume headlines need to focus on relevant skills & qualifications as per the job profile, apropos experiences, and any personal attributes that contribute to the job. All such information must be presented in a concise & precise manner.
A prim & proper resume headline:
Grabs the reader’s attention:
When your resume finally reaches the hands of a human recruiter, the headline is the first thing that catches their eye. Be it a digital document, PDF, or standard printed version; the headline is always the first thing they notice.
Headlines allow the recruitment team to estimate the value of a candidate quickly. They skim through resumes they deem relevant, and a good resume title or headline increases the chances of catching recruiter’s attention.
Shines light upon a candidate’s suitability:
A well-written title tells the hiring manager if a person is fit for the job role and is the kind of employee the company is looking for. It should, thus, be able to convey essential skills and qualifications in a precise and concise manner. The rest of the resume becomes relevant only when the resume headline makes a resounding impact.
Enables candidates to get past Application Tracking Systems:
Companies employ various procedures to go through massive volumes of submitted resumes. Human resource departments often use ATS (Application Tracking Systems), which are specialized software applications for screening applicant resumes.
Application Tracking Systems pore through every inch of a resume but one of the first things they scan is the resume title or headline. So naturally, an eye-catching headline that offers relevant information & employs relevant keywords boost a resume’s relevancy score.
At the same time, many ATS are notorious for rejecting resumes, even ones of potentially stellar candidates. A proper resume headline filled with the right keywords can help a CV get past an ATS with ease.
Summarizes the whole resume within a phrase:
Whether you are a fresher or experienced professional, the resume headline can act as the perfect summary of all your job-specific qualification, skills and experience.
Now that you have some idea about the criticality of a resume headline let us now take a thorough look at the general resume headline writing process!
Crafting An Excellent Headline: A Definitive Writing Procedure With Tips
As evident, the resume headline plays a critical role in any recruitment process as it helps a resume stand out from the rest.
So, let’s cut to the chase and get right down to business by looking at the generic resume headline writing process.
#1. Review The Job Description Minutely
Pore through the published job description to understand the underlying job roles, responsibilities and requirements minutely. Also, make sure to note any job-specific keywords in the resume headline and allow the resume to crack any ATS successfully.
#2. Create Job-Specific Headlines
Headlines should vary from resume to resume and from one job to another. Craft titles that focus on the specifics of a particular job profile. Tailor them accordingly to showcase your drive & dedication in securing the job.
#3. Choose Keywords Carefully
It is imperative to choose the right kind of keywords for a resume headline. Study the job description carefully and employ those to highlight your skills & capabilities. The necessity of using the right keywords stems from the fact that many companies use ATS to automate resume filtering and selection. Resume headlines with appropriate keywords can help you crack even the choosiest ATS out there.
HR managers also go through databases in their hunt for the right candidate. Resumes with the right set of keywords in their headlines are much more likely to get picked up by them. For example, if you are applying for the role of a professional essay or academic writer, then the keywords essay writer, essay helper, academic writer or assignment writer can boost the chances of selection exponentially.
#4. Keep Things Short & Precise
Write headlines that are easy to read and understand. Big phrases with complicated words and overtly technical language are a big no-no. Recruiters will often give just a cursory glance to your resume headlines and should be able to ascertain the value of your candidature swiftly through it. Any headline longer than a phrase can be distracting and deft the very purpose of the headline.
#5. Remove Any Clichés
The resume headline must not come off as mechanical or highly generic. It should b free of any clichés and avoid using common phrases as a hard worker, highly skilled, team player, etc., as much as possible. These do not provide any specific information and serve only to make the resume bland & common.
Make your resume stand apart from the rest of the lot by writing a compelling and informative headline peppered with appropriate keywords.
#6. Place It Right At The Top
Resume headlines must be placed at the top of the document. It is not strictly a part of the resume body and thus, should come right after the name & contact information. Profile summaries, career objectives and the rest of the content should come after the headline.
#7. Format It Right
The resume headline should be able to catch the eye of any reader. Therefore, it needs to be formatted differently than the rest of the resume. Bolded letters with larger font size and title-case capitalization are necessary to make headlines attention-grabbing. Use professional font styles and avoid informal ones, along with using too many different colors and fonts.
Some Handy Tips For Writing A Perfect Headline
- The things you must add to your headline are job-specific educational qualifications, relevant certifications, necessary skills, previous job designation (try to include a pertinent one), and any other vital information.
- Exhibit your language fluency by delivering an exceptional resume headline.
- Keep things short and sweet. For example, the headline should be a brief phrase and never be longer than one line. And, capitalize every word instead of writing the whole thing in full caps.
- Focused resume headlines tailored to specified job positions are a must. Never write the same headline for different resumes.
- Read the job description carefully, understand particular requirements and select the right keywords to use in your headline.
- Try to identify the things that will make your resume and its headline distinctive from the others.
Avoid using informal words, misleading terms and clichéd phrases.
And that rounds up this little guide for freshers regarding writing excellent resume headlines. Bookmark this guide for your future reference. Always remember, it is all about highlighting your skills & qualifications intelligently using keywords and adding some personal touch that leads to a successful selection.
All the best!
About the Author!
Clara Smith is a professional resume writer, essay writer and subject matter expert at AllEssayWriter.com, a leading academic writing service in the USA.
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