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September 17, 2018   Written by: Katie Khoury

We get it. Most resume tips out there are geared towards office jobs, so it can be difficult to find resume tips that apply to jobs in the manufacturing and automotive industries. Lucky for you, at Career Building Solutions, our sole focus is on filling manufacturing and automotive jobs, so we are constantly sifting through resumes and know what makes the best resumes stand out. The strongest resumes we see aren’t the most complex; they’re actually the ones that keep it simple and make it extremely obvious as to what makes the applicant qualified for the position they’re applying for. Here are five boxes you need to make sure your resume ticks before applying to your next job in the manufacturing or automotive industry:

1. List previous jobs in chronological order, beginning with your current or most recent position.
A recruiter or hiring manager should be able to take a quick glance at the employment history on your resume and get a pretty clear idea about where your experience is. How far back your job history goes is debatable, but a good rule of thumb is that you should include everything recent and relevant to the position you’re applying for. If you worked for a year at a restaurant while earning your degree, leave it out. If you worked in a factory for a year ten years ago that gave you some fundamental experience to the position at hand, leave it in. Also, always be prepared to explain any big gaps in employment history.

2. Make sure the information you provide is accurate.
If you’re not sure when you worked at a company, call your previous employer and get the information. Your recruiter or future employer may call them anyway to verify what your resume says. If the information you provide isn’t accurate, it could indicate that you’re incompetent, or worse, dishonest.

3. Demonstrate where and when you acquired certain skills.
You can list whatever you want in your qualifications list, but your assertions don’t hold much weight unless you can back them up in your employment history or education. Make it obvious where you learned each skill and for how long you practiced each one for.

4. Use clear, consistent document formatting. 
If you’re in manufacturing, putting together a strong document may not be your biggest strength, but submitting a resume with hard-to-read and inconsistent formatting isn’t going to help you get the job. There are many easy-to-use resume templates available online that you can download and customize. Click here for a resume example for a Production Line worker from Monster.com.

5. Only use a cover letter for highly specialized positions.
You may have heard that you need to submit a cover letter with your resume for every job you apply to. However, it’s really only necessary for some select jobs so don’t waste your time creating one for a job that doesn’t require a cover letter! Usually the employer will request a cover letter explicitly if one is required. If you’re not sure whether you should include one or not, call your recruiter and ask. Your recruiter should let you know if you do need to submit one, so use it as an opportunity to display your personality and make an argument for why you’re a good fit for the position. It should go beyond what your resume already says about your relevant experience.

Tick all 5 boxes and still have questions or concerns? Feel free to contact our team of skilled recruiters directly.


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