Lets discuss the best Resume writing Tips to observe, before you submit your Resume for any job opening. A resume is your most important tool when looking for a job. Having a well written Resume can greatly improve your chances of landing that dream job. One fact every job seeker needs to keep in mind is that, it might only take the hiring manager a few seconds to toss your to the trash. Before you go ahead and write your next resume, consider first impression your number 1 priority.
It doesn’t matter how qualified you are or how much experience you have. If your resume is poorly presented, the chances of getting an interview shortlisting will be quite difficult. When it comes to first impression, many people fail because, they write a resume as if the purpose of the document is to land them a job. This leads to very long and boring resumes which only portray a job desperate candidate. Lets all nail it in our heads that the objective of a resume is to land you to an interview, and then use the interview opportunity to prove your worth hiring.
Enough of the introduction story lets now to our main discussion by first clearly explaining what a resume is.
What is a Resume?
A Resume is a job selling tool that will briefly state your profile, a summary of your skills, education background including a training attended, and lastly a summary of your skills and experience. A resume will enable the employer to know what type of job your seeking, and clearly portray your relevant traits. The most important thing to keep in mind. Make sure the shortlisting manager gets a reason to go through your resume after the first 30 seconds impression time. To do this, you will need to put a summary statement, that speaks directly to the needs of the employer at the top of your resume. This is where the recruiting manager will look first.
Lets now jump into the discussion of how long should your resume be. What to include and finally most important best practice of making a good first impression
How Long should your Resume be.
Like we have just said, most hiring managers will only spend a few seconds reviewing your resume. Make sure your resume makes a good first impression, to give the recruiting manager a reason to continue reviewing your CV. This is usually achieved by starting off your resume with a powerful summary statement. Include your qualifications and accomplishments, that adds value to the employer first.
The second and most important ting is your resume format. Make sure you employ a clear hierarchical format when presenting your Resume information. This will enable the employer to skin your resume, and quickly pick out the most important information.
Lastly the issue of length. A standard resume should be no longer than two sides of A4. Only include the main facts, because the employer only wants to read relevant information. Some medical or academic resumes may be longer, depending on your working experience.
What to include in a Resume.
Below we are going to discuss what information your required to include in your resume. We are also going to list them in the order, from top to bottom.
- Contact details: Details of how the employer is going to reach you. Include your Full Names, Home address, Mobile Number, and your Email address. In some cases where age limit is stated, include your date of birth.
- Profile: A profile is a concise statement, that is usually placed at the beginning of your Resume. It highlight your key reason for deciding to working a particular field. Pick a few achievement and skills, focusing on the sector your applying.
- Working Experience: List down your working experience in a reverse chronological order. Make sure they are relevant to the position your applying for.
- Education Background: Briefly list all your education achievements, including all your professional achievements. Make sure you place the most recent first.
- Skills and Achievements: This is where you state all the training you have attended. State all the computer software packages you can drive, but remember you might be required to support your claim during the interview. But also remember they have to be relevant to the position
- Interests: State your interest and remember if they are relevant to the position, they will provide a more rounded you. eg: If your looking for a Journalist job, developing own blogs, would be an interest that glorifies you.
- References: Mention three references in this order.
1. Resume Writing Tips to make a good 1st Impression.
Employers and Hiring managers review thousands of resumes every year. This means they don’t have much time to read every resume they receive. Make sure to include a concise, yet descriptive summary of your qualifications. This enables the employer to quickly identify you with the position advertised. Lets discuss most important practice to keep in mind, avoiding flooding your resume with irrelevant information.
2. Resume appearance:
Make sure that the recruiting manager can quickly review your resume, and find the most important information about you. Include appropriate use of boldin and bulletin to help qualifications stand out.
3. Proper separation of resume sections:
Proper delineation and labeling of a resume is very important. Make sure you separate each section of a resume from the others, by use of adequate space. Also ensure that all sections are labelled so that the reader knows what they are looking for.
4. Always back up your strength & qualities:
Never ever inflate things in your resume. Rather than creating long and boring stories of your skills, remember the practical or behavioral interviews we earlier discussed. Give short practical examples.
5. Make use of effective titles:
Believe me or not, employers will make a judgement about your resume in a few seconds. During this time, most probably they will only be looking at the titles that you’ve listed. Make sure you grab their attention, eg: ”Talk of Application development with Java” rather than computer software engineer.
6. Career Goals:
Ensure that your resume explains your career goals, as it helps the hiring manager better understand where your heading. Avoid having a special part where you discuss them. Make sure they are self explanatory through your entire resume.
7. Avoid irrelevant information.
This is what i would refer to as ”Kidding information”. I have gone through a few samples of my friends resume, and found some statements like, ”Referees available upon Request”. Its just common sense that if asked for referees, you will definitely provide some. Its just better to provide them, rather than using such statements.
8. What to list on your working experience:
Make sure that the working experience you give, is relevant to the position your applying for. Don’t mention working for an Ice cream pa-lour 17 years ago, while applying for a software engineering job. They just don’t tally.
9. The salary range question:
Always keep this in mind. The image your Resume will create, must match the salary you will be asking for. People simply fail, because they send out Doctorate resumes, but at the end ask for technician salary. This beg the question of competency hence leads to disqualification. For more info on how to respond to this question ”check out our discussion here”.
10. Avoid Technical Jargon:
Never assume that the shortlisting manager is eg a Technical guy like you, hence will understand what exactly your talking about. Slang and Technical jargon should never be present in your Resume. The person who will read it first time might not have any Technical expertise.
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