Ideal resume headlines to beat the competition

Do you recollect reading a physical newspaper recently? It’s unlikely you have done that! You probably get your daily dose of news online on an app. And even then you only read the headline.

In a day and age when attention spans have reduced, people depend solely on headlines for information. The same goes for recruiters who go through hundreds of resumes for each job.

They might not have the patience to go through each resume and would love headlines to decide! This is where resume headlines come into the picture.

It has become a necessity nowadays to ensure your job resume has a proper headline, else you will be missing out on grabbing the recruiter’s attention.

If you thought writing a job resume was a tough challenge, imagine putting it all together in one sentence! Writing resume headlines is probably the toughest part of writing a resume.

However, we have a short guide here on how to write ideal resume headlines that will help you beat the competition –

Stay relevant to the job profile – You should mention which job you are suitable for or what kind of job you have been doing in your resume headlines.

‘Digital Native with SEO Certification Seeking Digital Marketing Role’

It indicates that you are comfortable with digital platforms and also have an SEO certification that is geared towards performing a role as a digital marketing manager.

Use Keywords from the job description – You should pay attention to the keywords mentioned in the job description. Of course, you also need to use them appropriately in the job resume, but you must remember to include them in the resume headlines.

Graphic Designer with Skills in Adobe Photoshop/CorelDraw/Illustrator for Digital Designer Role

In this example, you can see the mention of Adobe Photoshop, CorelDraw and Illustrator which are all software that graphic designers use and are mentioned in job descriptions.

Mention key skills – Skill is the ability to do a job well and with resume headlines you have the chance to showcase your skill set to perform a particular job. You can add relevant skills to the resume headlines to make your profile seem more appealing.

Excellent Customer Service and Problem-Solving Skills with Two Internships in Service Sector

This is ideal for a fresher job resume who is searching for customer service roles, with information about two critical skill sets – customer service and problem-solving. Plus, information about real work experience in an internship.

Highlight key attributes – Your personality or attributes can also be highlighted in resume headlines. This is good for jobs where your attitude matters more than your technical skills.

Ambitious and Goal-Oriented Business Graduate Seeking Sales & Marketing Role

Since it is for a sales job and for a fresher who has no experience, there is little to boast. Hence, the personal attributes that are beneficial for a sales and marketing job are preferable in this job resume.

Include data and numbers – One of the best resume tips you can get is to include numbers in your job resume. It instantly breaks the monotony of words and ensures you grab the attention of the recruiter within seconds. 

Software Engineer 2019 Graduate Written Code for 5 Android Apps & 3 iOS Apps

This is one of the best resume headlines for those who seek jobs in app development. It provides the recruiter your information about the technical and work experience; including your graduation year. The numbers stand out and instantly the recruiter can see how many apps the fresher has worked on!

Additional resume tips for writing ideal resume headlines –

Don’t be generic – Students tend to write cliché or standard sentences like ‘Enthusiastic commerce graduate seeking a job in a growth-oriented company.’ That doesn’t say anything about you!

Just stick to one line – Don’t write more than one or a maximum of two lines, or within 25 words. Anything more than that is too long and cumbersome to read and won’t be called a headline, it will become a paragraph.

Capitalize the words – Ideally, you should capitalize each word in the sentence, like headlines are written in newspapers. It will grab attention as most of the words are going to be keywords, phrases, and information.

Do you now feel confident about writing resume headlines for your job resume? For more professional help, you can use the Resume Buddy which is a fantastic tool for creating impressive resumes. It has 25+ resume templates and resume tips for making resumes.

Also Read: 20 examples for fresher resume headline