Test opportunity template

Serco receives an average of over 8,500 applications per month. Because Serco offers many unique roles and opportunities, we see a lot of interest from candidates in joining our outstanding team. Our dedicated team of Serco recruiters carefully reviews each resume that comes through our applicant tracking system to determine whether a hiring manager gets their eyes on your information or not, so why not make the best first impression that you can?

Whether you are actively applying to a role at Serco or passively keeping your options open, an up-to-date resume is a great thing to have in your back pocket. The secret is to update your resume for each opportunity so you can detail how you best support a specific role with your skills, experience, and background. A resume is not one-size fits all. Roles vary, and companies, including Serco, look for different things. You can increase your chances of being contacted for an interview by helping us learn more about your professional journey and tailoring the information that you share about your unique background and skills to the role you are applying.

Before you begin to write or review your resume, do your homework. Go to Google or Indeed and search. Find jobs you are interested in and resumes of people with similar backgrounds to yours to help you get started.

Let’s start with the foundations that make up a great resume.

Resume Basics

The below sections are standard which means including these sections will help you showcase what you have to offer. Keep in mind it is not recommended you use color, photos, or images on your resume. Recruiters and hiring managers are most interested in the details of your work history, certifications, awards, and education.

Section One: Contact Information

Your name and contact information should be the header of your resume. Following the header generally is a short paragraph of yourself that quickly summarizes your experience and highlights what you can bring to a new team. You can also let the reader know what you are looking for in a new position. Keep the length of this to a couple sentences that highlight the things that make you unique and showcase your capabilities and contributions as they relate to that specific role.

Section Two: Work History

Keep your listed experience relevant and order it in reverse chronological order so your current work experience is listed at the top. Include your job title, the company, and the dates of employment. Once your work history is mapped out, share details on your individual work experiences and the impact you brought to the role. Providing stats and stories keeps your resume interesting and informative.

Section Three: Education, Skills and Certifications

These details supplement your work experience. You can also add any awards in this section as well as leadership involvement in organizations or associations, as this is a great way to showcase your interests as well as your engagement in networks outside of work. For early career candidates, you may want to start your resume with your education.

Beyond the Basics

Remember you’re telling a story with your resume, so keep it interesting by highlighting your successes. Resume reviewers want to know what you did in your previous roles, but also how you did it and whether you were successful in that role. It’s important to keep your information relevant, but it’s equally important to keep your information recent. Removing outdated work experience that doesn’t benefit the role you are applying to is important and will help your resume stay current and concise for recruiters. If you’re more experienced in your career, it is recommended you include your work experience from the last 10-15 years. If a Recruiter requests a full resume, you can always provide that later, but it’s best to keep your resume at two pages or less. If you are an early career candidate, keep your information to one page.

If in your objective statement at the top of your resume you mention what you are looking for in a new role, remember to tailor it depending on the opportunity. If you don’t update that part of the paragraph and it doesn’t make sense for the opportunity you’re applying to, a Recruiter might move on if they aren’t able to support your objective. Unless you are applying for a subject matter expert role, general rule of thumb is to avoid being too specific so the Recruiter can envision your broader skillset. If you choose to write a cover letter for the position, this is another opportunity to tailor your message to the specific role at Serco.

When writing about your experience, be truthful and use strong, powerful verbs to describe your actions, using keywords where you can. Avoid cliches, filler words, and jargon. Your work experience section is an opportunity to go beyond the job responsibilities and duties and share your accomplishments. What projects did you manage and what was the outcome? How did your work benefit the company as a whole? What was the impact? Use the work section to illustrate your soft skills and list out your hard skills in the skills section.

Your resume is an opportunity to tell a potential employer why you are the best candidate for the job, so put your best foot forward by sharing your passions as they apply to the role or company. Research the company you are applying to beforehand and check out their company culture. If you can, weave in some of the culture into your resume. Is the organization you are applying to passionate about giving back to the community? If so, maybe mention your work on a previous philanthropic initiative at your current or a previous company. It might not be job related, but its company related which shows a little bit of your personality and can make a difference.

Final Review

Now that you have all the right components, a final review will ensure your resume is tailored, relevant, and most importantly highlights the unique skills you bring to the table. Ask yourself…

1. Do you have all your relevant and recent experience organized into sections?
2. Do you tailor your experience and skills to the job you are applying to?
3. Is your resume free from spelling and grammatical errors and is your formatting consistent?
4. Do you share your accomplishments and your passions?

If the answer is yes, it might be time to share your resume for review. Send it to as many people as possible for suggestions. Additionally, try sharing it with someone outside your field. Are they able to understand what you do? If the answer is yes, you probably have a stellar resume to share that will stand out in the sea of other applicants. Recruiters will thank you! Do you already know someone at Serco who could review your resume? Start there and be sure to ask them to submit through our internal employee referral program.