Making an effective resume is easier than you think. But you must know the attributes and how to present them.
Are you thinking “why the hell is my resume not getting short listed?” or, “Why am I not getting a single call?” then this post is for YOU.
With changing times the industry is changing. The processes it follows, the standards, the requirements everything is changing rapidly. And to be competitive you need to change too. You need to be updated, upgraded and smarter to flourish, to attract recruiters, to get selected for your dream job. Having a good resume/CV that attracts attention of recruiters is foremost. Also, now a days it is very likely that first round of short listing of your resume will be through an automated tool. So, your resume need to have some specific attributes to make it through and reach to the recruiters desk. And then it needs to have other properties to get the attention of the interviewer. Believe it or not, there are 10000s of resume gets submitted for different positions and 1000s make it through the first round of filtering, 100s attract HR and then 10s reach the interviewer’s desk. Now that person doesn’t have the whole lot of time to analyze each resume in details. He/she would spend at max 30 seconds on each. And that’s the time you have got to make 1st impression.
I will try to explain few important points to consider when preparing your resume. With out much ado, let’s get started..
First thing first..
Resume and CV though used interchangeably at times are different piece of documents. They have there own attributes. You must do some research and understand what works better in your field, for e.g. in IT sector ‘resume’ is preferred (though many people use a CV too). While is core sectors and non-technical jobs a CV could be preferable.
Definitions:
Resume –> A resume is a one page summary of your work experience and background relevant to the job you are applying to. (you can make it 2 pages at most)
Curriculum viate –> A CV is a longer academic diary that includes all your experience, certificates, and publications.
Who should have what:
Resume–> Experienced professional (especially IT professionals).
CV –> Fresh graduates, free lance workers, non-technical professional.
Let’s take a look at some specifications of a good resume.
1. Header:
Header as the name suggest is present at top of your resume and is the first thing on your resume or CV.
What to put in header?
Full name, Designation, email, phone number, linkedIn/Github profile link.
What not to put in:
Residential address, full length name of you current/previous employer, photo, Date of birth.
- Do not make a list on the header, you have limited space make good use of it.
- You can divide the section in 2 columns for better use.
- Do not put heading as “Resume” on top. Simply not required.
- Write your name in big and bold letters.
2. Summary:
This what your interviewer may read first (after checking your name/designation obviously, that’s kind of prerequisite isn’t it? ).
- A summary should not be more than 4-5 sentences. otherwise simply the interviewer would choose to skip it.
- Write short and effective sentence mentioning your skills, experience, attitude and attributes to convey why are you a good option for the position you are applying for.
3. Skills/Professional skills:
Irrespective of if you’re a fresher or experienced, this should be the next block after summary. Make a bullet list of categories or put simple tabular data of your skills. Remember that you have got only one page and must use it efficiently.
Note – Many freshers put a big table of their academic details right after summary. Do not do that.
4. Work Experience :
Applicable only for experienced professional. If you have worked on multiple projects then you can make list of them with project name as heading (mention time period when you worked on it in right side or just below the project name).
- Give an account of roles, responsibilities performed by you and business impact of it.
- Don’t just say what you did. Show the impact.
- Use keywords like headed, initiated, managed, displayed, collaborated, achieved etc. where ever applicable.
- Keep it short. Remember 1 page only !!!
5. Independent projects/Trainings:
If you have done any independent projects or attended any trainings which is relevant for the applied job mention them. This part can be very helpful for freshers as they cannot show any work experience so, trainings and projects will be counted.
6. Educational Qualification:
- if you are an experienced professional just give your most recent or highest qualification.
- Otherwise, make a simple tabular data of your educational qualification/degrees.
Do not brag too much here. keep it simple. e.g:
7. Achievements:
You can be boastful here. Mention your signficant achievements. This section will show your personality.
End Note:
- Certificates/Extra curriculars/Personal details: Mention these if you have
1. Something significant to showcase
2. If still have space left.
These are more useful more fresh graduates, while could prove of little or no use for experienced folks (simply because you are pass that point in your career, companies have different set of expectations from you). but, if you are making a CV! Go on write all you have.
- Though not fixed, a good order to could be as below –
Summary –> Professional Skills –> Work experience –> Achievements/ Projects –> Educational qualification. - If you are making a CV i.e. you have liberty to use 2-3 pages, give a detailed account of your projects/roles played by you.
- Be prepared for cross questions on what ever you put in the document.
Also, You can use some of the below keywords in your resume/CV to get through the filters and catching the attention of your interviewer
To show a personal award or achievement:
Recognized for
Succeeded in
Earned
Won
To show leadership:
Guided
Headed
Oversaw
Organized
To show your impact on company revenue/growth:
Maximized
Generated
Expanded
Boosted
For improving a process:
Re-engineered
Overhauled
Restructured
Transformed
For creating a new process or initiative:
Initiated
Implemented
Established
Introduced
Launched
PS: the list of keywords are collected from another post on linkedIn and presented as is. These are perfect and enough.
Hope this proves helpful. Best of luck.
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