Regardless of where you’re at in your career, it’s vital that you know how to put together a resume that works if you want to land the role of your dreams.

Have you been an educator for decades and are looking to get promoted or find a new job? Or perhaps you have just graduated from university and are looking for your first teaching position? There are numerous things you can do to ensure your document stands out from the crowd, impresses recruiters, and helps you land an interview.

Read on for some tips you can follow today to help you write an impeccable resume. For starters, it won’t matter so much what your content is like, if you don’t present it in a professional format that works well for recruiters and other readers.

You need to show, straight away, that you have a good understanding of how to create effective documents, and that you have the types of skills, education and experience required for the role. Remember that most recruiters look at dozens, or even more documents, each day.

This means they don’t have a lot of time to read each one.

They therefore scan them all to start with, to see which resumes can go on the ‘no’ pile quickly to cut numbers down. As a result, make your document scannable.

Use lots of headings, as well as bullet points, to make this happen.

Have separate sections for different information (e.g.

Profile, Education, Career History, Referees etc.) and keep paragraphs short, too.

Leave plenty of white space on each page, so that there isn’t a cluttered effect, and steer clear of using graphics, as these just aren’t needed. When it comes to your layout, always use a professional font.

Choose something that’s easy to read, such as Arial, Times New Roman, or Calibri.

Don’t try to fit too much information onto a page either; stick with an 11-point font, or thereabouts, so that people don’t have to squint to read anything. Next, it’s time to really zone in on your specific accomplishments, education, and other strengths in your content.

It is best to include as many concrete details and numbers as you can.

Rather than being vague, talk about the real results you got in past roles.

For example, perhaps you helped a child with a learning difficulty to jump up from a Level 2 reader to a Level 5 in six months; or perhaps you can talk about the specific glowing testimonials you have received from parents, etc. Make sure you document all the education you have completed, from an undergraduate degree through to an on-campus or online Masters in Education, for instance.

Also mention training you have done in various computer programs, since this is so important now; as well as any other specific strengths you have that you don’t think many (or any) of your competitors for the role will possess. It’s also necessary to tailor your content for each individual job application.

While it’s totally fine to have a template document you use as a starting point, make sure you tweak this to specifically suit each role and organization you want to work for.

Read over the job ad many times.

Be on the lookout for specific keywords and phrases which have been mentioned numerous times, as these clue you in to the most important things recruiters or other hiring managers are looking for in candidates. Note, too, that these days many HR workers use special recruitment software to go through applications in the first instance.

They input search criteria then get the software to whittle down resumes to the best, top, matches.

This means you must include all the keywords you think will be relevant to the job, so you don’t get passed over by a computer.

It also helps to research the educational provider you want to work for, to learn more about their culture, history, and other details.

Once you know this information, you can tailor your CV to suit. Lastly, never submit a resume that you haven’t checked over carefully for errors.

It should also have been examined by someone else who has fresh eyes and may spot problems you don’t.

Get people to search for issues such as spelling and grammatical errors; typos; words that are missing; sentences that don’t seem to make sense; changes to formatting for no reason; and the like.