ch.anirban
Anirban Chakraborty
Guys here are some important tips regarding resume writing. Please let me know whether they are helpful or not.
Every resume you write has to be customized as per the requirements of the job you are applying for. There are many things you need to keep in mind while writing resume like what format should you use, how to frame the right object to suite new job's description. You need to create a resume that actually generates results.
What is a resume?
Resume is a self-promotional document that presents you in the best possible light, for the purpose of getting invited to a job interview. It's not an official personnel document. It's not a job application. It's not a "career obituary"! And it's not a confessional.
What should the resume content be about?
It's not just about past jobs! It's about YOU, and how you performed and what you accomplished in those past jobs--especially those accomplishments that are most relevant to the work you want to do next. A good resume predicts how you might perform in that desired future job.
Why your resume is important?
It's the first meeting between you and a prospective employer. First impressions are lasting ones. Well, your resume is the first meeting between you and a prospective employer more often now than ever. So, how do you want to be remembered? Wrinkled and unorganized or neat and structured; long and boring or Precise and interesting?
Your resume is a tool with one specific purpose: to win an interview. A resume is an advertisement, nothing more, nothing less. A great resume doesn't just tell them what you have done but makes the same assertion that all good ads do.
Your resume should not be seen as a history of your past, as a personal statement or as some sort of self expression.
Focus on the employer's needs and not yours
The employer is more interested in the company's needs than yours. Ask yourself what would make a perfect candidate for this job. What does the employer really want and need? What special abilities would this person have? What would set a truly exceptional candidate apart from a merely good one?
Great resumes has two sections
In the first, you make assertions about your abilities, qualities and achievements. You write powerful, but honest, advertising copy that makes the reader immediately perk up and realize that you are someone special.
The second section, the evidence section, is where you back up your assertions with evidence that you actually did what you said you did. This is where you list and describe the jobs you have held, your education, etc.
Objective of Resume Writing
Your resume should be pointed toward conveying why you are the perfect candidate for one specific objective or job title. Good advertising is directed toward a very specific objective.
Formattting for success
Do remember that the appearance of the resume is very important. It must look neat, professional and crisp. Print on good paper. Make sure it looks 100 % professional and up to date.
NO PHOTOS PLEASE ON RESUMES, unless you are applying for the post of Miss Universe!!!
Resume Writing Tips
Here are the few professional and technical resume writing tips.
1. Use titles, words, adjectives or headings that match the job you want. Customize your resume so that it responds to the job profile the employer is looking for.
2. Use resume designs that grabs attention. Be sure it looks professional.
3. Analyze advertisement for job description and identify the key words.
Use these keywords in your resume.
4. Identify the employer's hidden needs.
Solve these hidden needs in your resume. Project yourself as the right person for the company.
5. Create an image of yourself that matches with the salary you are expecting. For example, language used in a resume for a Rs 200 an hour position is much different than the language used for a Rs 5000 an hour position.
6. You can generate many more interviews by tweaking your resume and adding a cover letter so that they address the specific skills each employer requests.
7. List your technical knowledge first, in an organized way.
Your technical strengths must stand out clearly at the beginning of your resume.
8. List your qualifications in chronological order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for which you are applying. If you've already done what you want to do in a new job, by all means, list it first, even if it wasn't your most recent job. Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological ordering of your experience ( or highlight the relevant experience in bold)
9. Quantify your experience wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, such as monetary budgets/funds saved, time periods/efficiency improved, lines of code written/debugged, numbers of machines administered/fixed, etc. which demonstrate progress or accomplishments due directly to your work.
10. Begin sentences with action verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets things done. e.g. completed diploma in Retail marketing, grade ‘outstanding’ (topper)
11. Don't sell yourself short. Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume as an advertisement for you. Remember all that you have done which can be used judiciously to portray you in a strong, positive light.
12. Keep your resume concise. Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part. But describe succinctly certain job functions you have done which the employer may not understand or know. e.g. summer 2007: worked as placement executive ( middle management position handling 15 staff and 100 clients on a weekly basis)
13. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and never use "I" or other pronouns to identify yourself. Keep that for the career objective line if possible.
14. Proofread. Your resume should never go with errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalizations. Format properly. Make your resume look attractive.
15. So what if you never had any "real" paid jobs?
Give yourself credit, and create an accurate, fair job-title for yourself.e.g. A&S Hauling & Cleaning (Self-employed) or Household Repairman, Self-employed.
16. Best way to impress your employer is, fill your resume with "PAR" statements. PAR stands for Problem-Action-Results; in other words, first you state the problem that existed in your workplace, then you describe what you did about it, and finally you point out the beneficial results.
17. How can a student list summer jobs? Students can make their resume look neater by listing seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 1996" or "Summer 1996" rather than 6/96 to 9/96.
DOS’ AND DONT’S OF RESUME WRITING
Things to Be Included in Resume
• Include a career or job objective if it's specific. If your objective is general, instead include a summary of skills and qualifications.
• Include relevant work experience and education.
• Include any strengths and accomplishments in your job descriptions.
Things Not To Be Included in Resume
• Do not list salaries for any job.
• Do not include personal information, such as date of birth, marital status, religion, ethnic group, height, weight, or health.
• Do not include names of supervisors or references. You may end your resume with statement "References available on request," but this is optional and can be omitted if you have space concerns.
• Do not use the word Resume on the top of the page.
How To Make Your Resume Stand Out
• Keep it clean, crisp, and neat. Save your smiley face icons for your email; do not use them for bullets. You can smartly use lines, margins, fonts, and font effects to differentiate your resume and focus the reader's attention on the most important text on the page.
• Put the most important and applicable facts in the first page. The most important thing about yourself that makes you a good candidate for the position should be in the top of the page. Once you've been identified as a qualified candidate, the rest of your resume comes into play.
• Use action words that convey your participation and role in the various parts of your experience that you highlight. Speak in terms of accomplishments and achievements. Quantify results when possible. Vary font effects to call the reader's attention to the most important facts. Use bolding, italicizing, underlining, and capitalizing to highlight areas of interest, but don't overdo it. Make sure the end result is clear and organized, not busy and amateurish looking.
• When you think your resume is complete, print it out and have multiple friends read it. Ask each one what three things in your resume stuck out. Most likely, these are the first three qualities about yourself that will catch your potential employer's eye. If you've structures your resume right, these should be the qualities that make you the person for the job.
• Always carry 4-5 copies of your resume in a special ‘interview folder’ along with your passport photos and copies of certificates. You never know when and where they can be needed.
Please add your valuable comments.:clap2:
Every resume you write has to be customized as per the requirements of the job you are applying for. There are many things you need to keep in mind while writing resume like what format should you use, how to frame the right object to suite new job's description. You need to create a resume that actually generates results.
What is a resume?
Resume is a self-promotional document that presents you in the best possible light, for the purpose of getting invited to a job interview. It's not an official personnel document. It's not a job application. It's not a "career obituary"! And it's not a confessional.
What should the resume content be about?
It's not just about past jobs! It's about YOU, and how you performed and what you accomplished in those past jobs--especially those accomplishments that are most relevant to the work you want to do next. A good resume predicts how you might perform in that desired future job.
Why your resume is important?
It's the first meeting between you and a prospective employer. First impressions are lasting ones. Well, your resume is the first meeting between you and a prospective employer more often now than ever. So, how do you want to be remembered? Wrinkled and unorganized or neat and structured; long and boring or Precise and interesting?
Your resume is a tool with one specific purpose: to win an interview. A resume is an advertisement, nothing more, nothing less. A great resume doesn't just tell them what you have done but makes the same assertion that all good ads do.
Your resume should not be seen as a history of your past, as a personal statement or as some sort of self expression.
Focus on the employer's needs and not yours
The employer is more interested in the company's needs than yours. Ask yourself what would make a perfect candidate for this job. What does the employer really want and need? What special abilities would this person have? What would set a truly exceptional candidate apart from a merely good one?
Great resumes has two sections
In the first, you make assertions about your abilities, qualities and achievements. You write powerful, but honest, advertising copy that makes the reader immediately perk up and realize that you are someone special.
The second section, the evidence section, is where you back up your assertions with evidence that you actually did what you said you did. This is where you list and describe the jobs you have held, your education, etc.
Objective of Resume Writing
Your resume should be pointed toward conveying why you are the perfect candidate for one specific objective or job title. Good advertising is directed toward a very specific objective.
Formattting for success
Do remember that the appearance of the resume is very important. It must look neat, professional and crisp. Print on good paper. Make sure it looks 100 % professional and up to date.
NO PHOTOS PLEASE ON RESUMES, unless you are applying for the post of Miss Universe!!!
Resume Writing Tips
Here are the few professional and technical resume writing tips.
1. Use titles, words, adjectives or headings that match the job you want. Customize your resume so that it responds to the job profile the employer is looking for.
2. Use resume designs that grabs attention. Be sure it looks professional.
3. Analyze advertisement for job description and identify the key words.
Use these keywords in your resume.
4. Identify the employer's hidden needs.
Solve these hidden needs in your resume. Project yourself as the right person for the company.
5. Create an image of yourself that matches with the salary you are expecting. For example, language used in a resume for a Rs 200 an hour position is much different than the language used for a Rs 5000 an hour position.
6. You can generate many more interviews by tweaking your resume and adding a cover letter so that they address the specific skills each employer requests.
7. List your technical knowledge first, in an organized way.
Your technical strengths must stand out clearly at the beginning of your resume.
8. List your qualifications in chronological order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for which you are applying. If you've already done what you want to do in a new job, by all means, list it first, even if it wasn't your most recent job. Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological ordering of your experience ( or highlight the relevant experience in bold)
9. Quantify your experience wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, such as monetary budgets/funds saved, time periods/efficiency improved, lines of code written/debugged, numbers of machines administered/fixed, etc. which demonstrate progress or accomplishments due directly to your work.
10. Begin sentences with action verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets things done. e.g. completed diploma in Retail marketing, grade ‘outstanding’ (topper)
11. Don't sell yourself short. Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume as an advertisement for you. Remember all that you have done which can be used judiciously to portray you in a strong, positive light.
12. Keep your resume concise. Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part. But describe succinctly certain job functions you have done which the employer may not understand or know. e.g. summer 2007: worked as placement executive ( middle management position handling 15 staff and 100 clients on a weekly basis)
13. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and never use "I" or other pronouns to identify yourself. Keep that for the career objective line if possible.
14. Proofread. Your resume should never go with errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalizations. Format properly. Make your resume look attractive.
15. So what if you never had any "real" paid jobs?
Give yourself credit, and create an accurate, fair job-title for yourself.e.g. A&S Hauling & Cleaning (Self-employed) or Household Repairman, Self-employed.
16. Best way to impress your employer is, fill your resume with "PAR" statements. PAR stands for Problem-Action-Results; in other words, first you state the problem that existed in your workplace, then you describe what you did about it, and finally you point out the beneficial results.
17. How can a student list summer jobs? Students can make their resume look neater by listing seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 1996" or "Summer 1996" rather than 6/96 to 9/96.
DOS’ AND DONT’S OF RESUME WRITING
Things to Be Included in Resume
• Include a career or job objective if it's specific. If your objective is general, instead include a summary of skills and qualifications.
• Include relevant work experience and education.
• Include any strengths and accomplishments in your job descriptions.
Things Not To Be Included in Resume
• Do not list salaries for any job.
• Do not include personal information, such as date of birth, marital status, religion, ethnic group, height, weight, or health.
• Do not include names of supervisors or references. You may end your resume with statement "References available on request," but this is optional and can be omitted if you have space concerns.
• Do not use the word Resume on the top of the page.
How To Make Your Resume Stand Out
• Keep it clean, crisp, and neat. Save your smiley face icons for your email; do not use them for bullets. You can smartly use lines, margins, fonts, and font effects to differentiate your resume and focus the reader's attention on the most important text on the page.
• Put the most important and applicable facts in the first page. The most important thing about yourself that makes you a good candidate for the position should be in the top of the page. Once you've been identified as a qualified candidate, the rest of your resume comes into play.
• Use action words that convey your participation and role in the various parts of your experience that you highlight. Speak in terms of accomplishments and achievements. Quantify results when possible. Vary font effects to call the reader's attention to the most important facts. Use bolding, italicizing, underlining, and capitalizing to highlight areas of interest, but don't overdo it. Make sure the end result is clear and organized, not busy and amateurish looking.
• When you think your resume is complete, print it out and have multiple friends read it. Ask each one what three things in your resume stuck out. Most likely, these are the first three qualities about yourself that will catch your potential employer's eye. If you've structures your resume right, these should be the qualities that make you the person for the job.
• Always carry 4-5 copies of your resume in a special ‘interview folder’ along with your passport photos and copies of certificates. You never know when and where they can be needed.
Please add your valuable comments.:clap2: