If you have been away for six months or more, here are some ways to optimize your resume and highlight your strengths through skills.

The drop in unemployment rate is usually regarded as a sign of economic recovery and deserves to be celebrated, but a glimpse shows the whole leopard.

For those who leave their jobs for a long time, the longer they leave their jobs, the harder it is to find a job. People who have been away for a long time (defined as six months or more) are less likely to be re-employed in the next one to two years.

But economic development will bring more jobs, which means more employment opportunities. If you leave your job for more than half a year, you should optimize and adjust your resume to increase your chances of winning.

1. Explain the unplanned period

Daniel Quillen, the author of The Perfect Resume and a senior human resource manager, said, don't hide unplanned work for a long time in your resume, but explain it clearly. Whether in your resume or cover letter, you should state your full-time job and establish some contacts. It will be very helpful if you leave your job just to take care of your children or suffer a big layoff.

"This makes me understand that it is very important that job seekers are not laid off because of their performance. If they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, or they were the last to join the company, which led them to leave the company at the earliest, I don't think these facts are a problem of broken files, "Quillen said.

Create a job

John Paul Engel, the founder and management consultant of knowledge capital consultancy, suggested that if you have left your job for some time, you can create a job yourself. According to your skills or knowledge, you can sell yourself to the market. For example, you can do some consulting work independently or contract some sales work.

"You need to be loyal to what you do, but it can get you out of the plan and get some income," he said.

3. Jump out of time series recovery mode

The traditional resume mode is to present one's experience in time series, which will highlight the off-schedule period. Quillen suggests giving up this tedious mode and making a summary resume for the job you are looking for, emphasizing your strengths and achievements item by item.

"You may have 9 to 65,438+00 sub-items, which can really summarize who you are and what advantages you have-I am a human resources specialist, and I expect to do X, Y and Z, which are my strengths-so that I can account for one-third of my resume and the rest are arranged in chronological order," he suggested.

4. Focus on results rather than experiences

Engel said that you should beautify your resume and make it an opportunity to "eliminate the risk of hiring you". Every part of your resume should focus on your achievements in your previous organization. He said that too many resumes only focus on experience. If you want to stand out, you must pay attention to what you have achieved.

5. Show that you are still keeping up with the times

List contract jobs, temporary jobs and even volunteer jobs to show that you are still active in the work environment. In addition, Cheryl Palmer, a career planner and resume writer, suggests using the rest time to improve skills, learn new skills, or get industry certification, and put them on your resume-even if these are still in progress.

"In many fields, certificates have become very common. It shows that you have been studying this field recently, which is a plus item. This shows that you are moving forward, "Palmer said.

6. Customize your resume for each job

The era of the same resume is over. Quellen said: Customizing a resume is very simple, just emphasize some parts and make some adjustments, but few people will tailor a resume for the position they are pursuing. If you want a sales job, carefully study the position in that company, then emphasize the most relevant content of your past experience and rearrange the order of those disciplines and skills. These works will make you the perfect candidate. He also added a warning: multiple versions and revisions mean that you need to constantly proofread your resume. In case of grammatical mistakes and spelling mistakes, you will be out soon.

7. Send it to everyone you know

Once you have written a resume, send it to all the people you know who may circulate it, says Quillen. You may think that everyone knows what you do, or you have left your job, but it is often not, or they may ignore you. If someone opens a clue in the future, you can send a new customized resume. And send a resume and tell it widely. You can't predict where the clues to a good job will come from,' Mr. quilllen said

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