Life & Work Skills

How to Marie Kondo Your Resume

Source: Stocksy
Source: Stocksy

If you haven’t already fallen into a Marie Kondo obsessive state, cancel your weekend plans and curl up with your Netflix subscription! But beware, this series will make you want to reorganize and declutter everything around you. I shamelessly stayed up until the wee hours of the morning Marie Kondo-ing my apartment several nights a row. This got me thinking about what else I could reorganize for maximum benefit, and as a certified professional resume writer, I wanted to share tips for how you can implement Marie Kondo’s KonMari method on your resume. Here’s how to Marie Kondo your resume:

 

1. Evaluate your resume and see if your document sparks joy

This might sound odd, but take a look at your document and see if it sparks joy.

Think of your resume as a snapshot of your career and a representation of you. A resume is a tool to help you get to an interview, and it’s important to keep in mind that when you apply for a job, your resume is your potential employer’s first impression of you. A resume alone will not get you the job, but it will help you get through the first step of the application process. The key to creating an effective resume is presenting a document that highlights your value and illustrates why you’d be a good hire. If you look at your resume and notice that it doesn’t spark joy or represent what you can do, chances are that the reader will feel the same way.

 

READ: Do I Really Need Different Resumes for Different Job Applications?

 

 

2. Get rid of the fluff

Part of the KonMari method is to declutter, and when you want to streamline your resume, it is essential to get rid of the fluff (unnecessary information). The easiest way to determine what information you can cut is to evaluate if the information highlights your value.

Are you listing a general responsibility just for the sake of listing it, or does it articulate what you’ve accomplished and what you bring to the table? If it doesn’t add value, remove it.

For example, look at the following two sentences:

“Maintained awareness of industry trends and solutions…”

“Integrated strategic product enhancements and innovations to support business strategy…”

If both of the above sentences are listed on your resume, you can get rid of the first sentence, “maintained awareness…” because it doesn’t add value. The second sentence infers that you’re aware of industry innovations, so there’s no need for both sentences. Removing the first sentence will help you streamline your resume.

 

 

3. Create a resume that’s balanced

Everything on your resume should be balanced. There should be a balance between an aesthetically pleasing document and a document that has the information you need, balance between text and white space, balance between creating a document that will get you through an applicant tracking system and a document that will engage a real person. Your resume might be eye-catching and spark joy in that sense, but if the content isn’t there it won’t be effective. Your goal should be to create a resume that highlights your value and is aesthetically pleasing.

 

4. Remove repetitive information

This is an easy way to streamline your resume and remove additional information to reduce clutter. If you’ve held multiple jobs at the same company, the same company name does not need to be listed over and over again, instead, format your resume like this:

 

Company

Job Title [date – date]

Job description…

Job title [date – date]

Job description…

 

This will help you keep your resume clean and clutter free. If you continually rewrite the company name, you’re just using up precious space.

 

 

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