Resumes: What to Look for in 2018

When a new year arrives, humans tend reflect upon their current situation, whether it’s their health, their relationships, or their career. Many vow to make changes, their “new year’s resolutions”, to improve such situations. One common resolution is for a change or improvement in career. Whether that means a promotion, a move to a different department, or a fresh start somewhere else, the new year brings about a wave of career changes across the country. For some, change is forced at the start of the year for many contracted professionals who see their contracts come to term.

With this swell of career changes coming to mind this January, Blue Chip Talent has launched a new campaign, #jumpSTART. The goal of #jumpSTART is to assist those looking to “jumpstart” their new job search by providing complimentary resume critiques every Friday in January. The resume is the absolute first impression a candidate can make towards their hopeful employer. Blue Chip Talent understands how important that first impression is, so we want to help candidates put their best foot forward with a pristine resume.

Candidates can email jumpstart@bctalent.com with their resume attached for their complimentary critique this coming Friday!

There are also different trends to pay attention to in 2018 when it comes to resumes and the job search as told by Micheal Gilmore of TheJobNetwork.com:

Professionally Prepared Resumes – There are professional resume writers who can prepare your resume for a fee. These writers would ensure that all the i’s are dotted and the t’s are crossed and that just enough information is structured in the proper order.

Culture Fit and Personality Importance – While the resume opens the door, your character and personality will walk you in. It will be very important for candidates to work to get their persona associated with their name through emails, LinkedIn, or other media so a hiring manager or recruiter will remember them. Culture fit is also becoming increasingly important as skillset is no longer enough. How will you interact with their teams? Will you mesh with the environment? Candidates’ soft skills are being placed on the same level as their technical skills more than ever.

Social Media – Reputation and character checking through social media profiles is already a common practice for hiring managers but it will grow even more in 2018. While candidates may have their professional side on display on LinkedIn, recruiters and managers are moving onto Facebook and Twitter to really see who the candidate is. As it pertains to job seeking and applying, Facebook is on its way to eclipsing LinkedIn as the social media site to search. As more companies become comfortable using Facebook’s young jobs interface, the career opportunities will multiply.

Digitized Resumes and Portfolios – Paper just doesn’t have the same cache as it once used to. Another 2018 trend will see candidates hosting their resume or their work samples on personal websites or online portfolio services such as Carbonmade or Behance.