You have just graduated and are looking for a job. 👨🎓 A good and eye-catching resume is going to help you do just that! But where should you start? Our recruiters know exactly how to go about it. What should and should not be included? And what order should you follow? We have collected all the tips and written them down for you below! ✅
1. Clear and professional appearance
A first impression counts, and so does your resume. In general, recruiters decide within 9 seconds whether you are suitable for the job or not. So they estimate this before they even look at your entire resume. So make sure your resume is organized. That makes scanning much easier. How do you do that? Use recognizable headings, be specific and choose a logical order .
Got that right? Then look at the look-and-feel of your resume. For almost all but the creative positions, a businesslike format works best. No matter how nice all those graphic designs look, first check if they are appropriate for the job you are applying for.
3. Education(s) and courses
All those years of studying are now going to pay off! Put them down in the right order, including year and location. Did you get great grades, e.g. cum lade passed? Don't be shy! Add your grade point average (GPA). Also describe what you wrote your thesis about and what grade you got for it. Did you also take a relevant course in the meantime? Then put those here as well!
4. Profile
Your resume is all about you; so introduce yourself through a short intro text. What are your character traits? And what motivates you? This waya recruiter can better assess whether you are a good match.
Tip: Don't quite know where your passions lie or what motivates you? Discover what your motives are with the Golden Circle.
5. Photo
Choose the most representative photo and add it. It is nice for a recruiter to have a face with an applicant. Because with a photo you will be remembered faster.
6. Skills
A list of skills should not be missing. It is best to separate your technical skills, such as which systems you can work with, from your soft skills. Also list the languages you speak and at what level .
If you have no idea which soft skills are really useful to have, here are 6 useful skills!
8. No longer than 2 A4 sheets
Is your resume too long? Nobody wants that. Preferably everything fits on one A4. Do you really need more space? Then add a second page. But don't make your resume longer than that. Think carefully about how you formulate everything and what is really important to mention.
9. Your details
Don't forget to include your (contact) information: include your name in the header of your resume, your date of birth, email address, phone number, city of residence and your LinkedIn profile. Make use of a hyperlink so that your LinkedIn profile is directly clickable.
10. Tweak your resume
One final tip: adapt your CV for each application to highlight the qualities that best match the vacancy. For example, change the order of your skills or tweak the wording in your profile to better show why you're the ideal candidate. Save your CV as a PDF and don’t forget to rename the file appropriately.
Got your CV sorted and an interview lined up? Here's how to best prepare for a job interview.
Ready for your first real job?
We can match you with the best clients in the financial sector. View our vacancies in Finance, Risk, Data or IT or discover our traineeships.
