Ryan Kahn 8 Resume Tips to Rise to the top of the Stack

Ryan Kahn, Career Coach with Dream Careers and featured recruiter on the docu-series MTV Hired, has advised thousands of job seekers on how to get hired at the most competitive companies. Here are Ryan's top 8 Tips to get your resume to the top of the stack.

1. Industry Focused. Position your past experiences to relate to the responsibilities of the job you are applying to. Although summer jobs pay the bills, they won't get you hired. Replace your experience as a waiter/waitress, or paperboy, with internship experience in your field. This experience will give you credibility with the employer, and they will get an understanding of what you have already been exposed to in your industry. This could lead to more responsibility, or a higher starting salary as you are more qualified.
2. Gimmicks. Avoid gimmicks with your resume. Pink scented paper might work in the movies, but will most likely be discarded by the hiring manager. Be creative, but gimmicks tell the manager you are not confident.
3. Make it unique. What is going to make you stand out? Why are you better than the next candidate who is applying? Highlight your most marketable attributes, give it personality, and clearly show why you would be the best candidate for the available position.
4. Show your versatility. Too much of one thing is never good. You worked hard in college, now show it. Dig for relevant experiences, and don't be afraid to resort to intensive industry focused classes. Feature a variety of extracurricular involvement. Even if you were promoted three times within the Pan-Hellenic Council, there is no need to put each individual title you held. Combine the positions and include other talking points.
5. Dynamic Action Verbs. Spend some time making sure your action words are dynamic and move the reader. You will come across more professional if you start a bullet point with "Analyzed" instead of "Saw". Never use the same action verb twice. You may have to be creative, but there are enough action verbs to go around.
6. Be Specific and Quantify. Your bullet points should give employers insight into the scope of your projects and should showcase your ability to take a concept and drive results. For example, if you organized an event, instead of saying "I helped coordinate and run an event for my university". To have more of an impact, you may consider "Organized and led a team of 15 with the coordination and execution of an event for 1,500 administrators, netting a profit of $50,000."
7. Don't submit to the black hole. You worked too hard on your resume, don't waste your time submitting to an online databases. Network your way to a recommendation from someone within the organization.
8. Basics. Your resume should represent your best work. Grammar, spelling and formatting mistakes are unacceptable, and will instantly get your resume tossed in the paper shredder.

These are just a few resume tips that will help you get hired. Check back for more advice on my web-cast at http://www.SummerInternships.com/ryan-kahn or tune in to MTV's Hired weeknight's to hear first hand advice for job seekers.