WRITE TITLE AND BOOST YOUR CAREER

The main goal of your resume is to summarize all of the skills and experience you possess in order to show hiring managers that you are a perfect fit. One of the best tools to grab attention is to use a catchy and precise headline.

Title of a resume is a one-line short phrase, which summarizes and highlights your strong sides and renders how you can contribute to the company you are applying to.

As the title of an article or book, your resume’s headline should be readable and brief. It must focus on the most relevant qualifications for the job you are applying to. Even though it is a small piece of your resume, it must catch the attention of your hiring manager at once.

What is a Resume Headline/Title?

Let us start with a definition. Headline or title of your resume is a brief statement, which includes the main achievements and skills you possess. The title of your resume must be a sort of an introduction to your professional qualities. Basically, it is a single line, which needs to sum up what makes you a good candidate for a particular vacancy.

Is It Important to Have Titles on a Resume?

Every person working on a resume knows that there should always be a headline. Imagine a magazine article or a book without a title. Would you read it? The same applies to your resume and greatly improves your chances of being noticed and hired. We have made a list of the key features of resume titles, their importance, and distinguishing features.

• The title or header you choose for your resume will contribute to the appearance: it will be situated on top of the CV in a nice colored or bold text;
• The headline of the resume will set the tone for the whole document, so you need to make it not only memorable but also professional and relevant to the job offer;
• Getting familiar with samples of similar titles is a great way to learn about the most common mistakes or winning tools. With the help of samples, you will be able to choose the most appropriate title and to make your candidacy stand out from thousands of others. Just make sure that examples are professional and not just written by first-year students;
• Consider the title of your resume as the first impression you make on a person during a meeting. The better your title is, the higher the chances are that the hiring manager would want to read your resume from A to Z;
• Titles are a great tool to show the world that you are qualified enough for the job. That is why the selection of words must be tactful and appropriate. Do not limit yourself in words and never use abbreviations just to save space. If the header requires long words to render your skills, use them!
• You should always remember that the main goal of a title is to motivate hiring managers to go on reading your CV. When the title is ready, ask your friends or relatives to read it and say whether they find it engaging.

If you are serious about applying for a job and you want to increase your chances of being hired, it is important to work on the title as thoroughly as you would work on resume’s content. If you lack inspiration, try putting your resume aside: have a break, drink some coffee, go to the cinema and then get back to work!

Tips For Writing Effective Resume Headline/Title

When a new vacancy opens, hiring managers and recruiters need to review hundreds or even thousands of resumes during a limited period of time. That is why they often look at a few details instead of reading the whole document. One of such details is the title of your resume, so if it is not written properly, you risk losing the job of your dreams.

We have talked to tens of hiring managers, carefully read hundreds of resumes and have come with the most important tips that may greatly help you to create an outstanding title and to catch the attention of recruiters.

Use keywords

Start with reading the description of the vacancy, searching for relevant keywords. They must relate to main requirements, experience and strengths. Adding such words to your resume’s title will show the reader that you are the right fit and will motivate them to go on reading. The key to attract attention and stand out from the rest is to make your title relevant to the vacancy.

Remain specific

If you want to impress hiring managers, there is no need to include vague words and clichés to your title. Don’t use ‘team player’ or ‘go-getter’. Instead, you need to provide specific and clear skills, which make you a relevant candidate. It will be a great idea to include numbers, which can quantify your achievements.

Make your title simple and short

You may feel tempted to include many details to your resume’s header. However, this may play a bad joke with you and easily bore the hiring manager. That is why you should keep the headline short and easy to read so that recruiters could review the resume quickly and remember the content of its headline.

Place it on top

This may be quite obvious advice, but we wanted to emphasize it once again. The headline of your resume must be the first thing recruiters read when they open the document. The chances that your resume’s title will be seen and noticed by recruiters are much higher if you place it on top of the page right after your personal information (name and contact details).

Read it carefully

Most of the employees are willing to send their resumes as soon as they finish them, which leads to one of the most common mistakes: poor structure, misprints, and irrelevant content.

If you want your header to be professional and straight to the point, it is important to read it attentively, fixing all of the mistakes. Pay additional attention to the sound and structure, because the header must be engaging and smooth. Luckily, this stage won’t take you long, as you will only need to work on a few words.

As you see, all of the tips are quite common, and you won’t find any troubles following them even if it is your first time creating a resume.

Catchy Resume Titles For Different Professions:

Resume title is a very personalized thing, so you need to adjust it not only to the skills you possess but also to the vacancy you want to apply for. We have selected the most popular categories to provide you with winning headline examples:

Administration

• Experienced bilingual Secretary;
• Administrator assistant, MS expert.

Nursing

• Nurse, Medical service;
• Emergency room experience, medical qualification.

Human Resources

• I have the resource to manage people;
• No MBA but still good at HR;
• HR and that’s all you need to know.

Military to Civilian

• Objective training General;
• Applying once learned skills.

Retail

• Manufacturing and production of clothes;
• Retail is my lifestyle.

IT Professional

• Technical guru;
• Technologies are the future; I dictate it.

Teacher

• Serving and teaching others since 2005;
• Education can solve all our problems.

Engineering

• Sigma Manufacturing Engineer;
• Machines are my biggest passion in life.

As you see, the headline of your resume might not be boring and strictly professional. Depending on the company you are applying to, you may add some humor. However, it is important to conduct previous research to make sure that the hiring manager will understand and appreciate your jokes.