Write the right resume

Getting ready to prepare that all-important resume? Well, the Daily Writing Tips website has a few suggestions to make your task easier.

Know the purpose of your resume
Some people write a resume as if the purpose of the document was to land a job. As a result they end up with a really long and boring piece that makes them look like desperate job hunters. The objective of your resume is to land an interview, and the interview will land you the job (hopefully!).

Back up your qualities and strengths
Instead of creating a long (and boring) list with all your qualities (eg, disciplined, creative, problem solver), try to connect them with real life and work experiences. In other words, you need to back these qualities and strengths up, or else it will appear that you are just trying to inflate things.

Make sure to use the right keywords
Most companies (even smaller ones) are already using digital databases to search for candidates. This means that the HR department will run search queries based on specific keywords.

Guess what, if your resume doesn’t have the keywords related to the job you are applying for, you will be out even before the game starts. These keywords will usually be nouns. Check the job description and related job ads for a clue on what the employer might be looking for.

Use effective titles
Like it or not, employers will usually make a judgment about your resume in 5 seconds. Under this time frame the most important aspect will be the titles that you listed on the resume, so make sure they grab the attention.
Try to be as descriptive as possible, giving the employer a good idea about the nature of your past work experiences. For example, Bad title: Accounting, Good title: Management of A/R and A/P and Recordkeeping.

Proofread it twice
It would be difficult to emphasize the importance of proofreading your resume. One small typo and your chances of getting hired could slip. Proofreading it once is not enough, so do it twice, three times or as many as necessary.

Use bullet points
No employer will have the time (or patience) to read long paragraphs of text. Make sure, therefore, to use bullet points and short sentences to describe your experiences, educational background and professional objectives.

Where are you going?
Including professional goals can help you by giving employers an idea of where you are going, and how you want to arrive there. You don’t need to have a special section devoted to your professional objectives, but overall the resume must communicate it. The question of whether or not to highlight your career objectives on the resume is a polemic one among HR managers, so go with your feeling. If you decide to list them, make sure they are not generic.

Put the most important information first
This point is valid both to the overall order of your resume, as well as to the individual sections. Most of the times your previous work experience will be the most important part of the resume, so put it at the top. When describing your experiences or skills, list the most important ones first.

Attention to the typography
First of all make sure that your fonts are big enough. The smaller you should go is 11 points, but 12 is probably safer. Do not use capital letters all over the place, remember that your goal is to communicate a message as fast and as clearly as possible. Arial and Times are good choices
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Do not include “no kidding” information
There are many people that like to include statements like “Available for interview” or “References available upon request.” If you are sending a resume to a company, it should be a given that you are available for an interview and that you will provide references if requested.
Just avoid items that will make the employer think “no kidding!”

Explain the benefits of your skills
Merely stating that you can do something will not catch the attention of the employer. If you manage to explain how it will benefit his company, and to connect it to tangible results, then you will greatly improve your chances.

Avoid negativity
Do not include information that might sound negative in the eyes of the employer. This is valid both to your resume and to interviews. You don’t need to include, for instance, things that you hated about your last company.

Achievements instead of responsibilities
Resumes that include a long list of “responsibilities included…” are plain boring, and not efficient in selling yourself. Instead, describeprofessional achievements.

Use numbers
If you are going to describe your past professional achievements, it would be a good idea to make them as solid as possible. Numbers are your friends here. Don’t merely mention that you increased the annual revenues of your division, say that you increased them by Rs.100,000, by 78%, and so on.

No pictures
Unless you are applying for a job where the physical traits are very important and unless the employer specifically requested it, you should avoid attachingpictures.

Source : DNA INDIA

Highlight what matters in a resume

A resume is a document that summarises your skills, education and job experience in such a way, that everything of importance is mentioned for the employer to know you as a prospective employee. The bestresumewriting.com website points out that since this document is seen and analyzed before they call you for an interview, the resume has to be well written and be influential enough for you to be called in for an interview and, later, end up getting the job. These are some of their basic tips for freshers.

Organise and highlight you technical skill
If you are applying for a technical job, undoubtedly, it is your technical proficiency that is going to be the most prioritised by the employer as your job qualification. The resume is studied by experts at the time of your interview, however before that it has go through many hands, most of which may not posses expertise technical knowledge. In such cases, if your resume highlights the technology part by emphasizing the keywords, it gets more chances to be sorted by non-technical people, such as the clerks, who work with the buzzwords only! The immediate question is how to achieve this? By listed or tabular representation! A list or table groups all the related keywords together and catches the attention of the viewer.

Relevance and order of qualifications controls the viewer's perception 
Listing qualifications attracts viewer's attention. In addition, the list expects an order, with the highest qualification at the top and the lowest at the bottom. It follows from two general observations. The employer is interested in knowing your highest qualification at the first viewing. The next observation is a fact that acquiring a higher qualification is possible only after an immediate lower qualification.

Grade and quantify your work experience 
Grading the work experience can be done with respect to the assigned responsibilities/targets. Work performances exceeding the work targets can be surely graded as 'outstanding'. Moreover, mentioning statistical facts in the resume such as cost saved, reduction in duration and number of work cycles, other cost saving or efficiency raising tasks can add an extra ordinary edge to your current work experience.

Add dynamics to your resume by beginning each sentence with an action verb 
If you simply mention the job responsibilities that were assigned to you, it would look like a typical job description rather than your work experience. Your active participation into it would be felt only through the action verbs. However, you should use appropriate action verbs for tasks, or else it would be misinterpreted by the reader.

Sell your skills without hesitation
Applying for a job itself indicates that you are looking for financial compensation for you skills and qualifications. How would you be getting good compensation if you are not highlighting them? Advertise your strengths/abilities as much as possible. At times, you may find that a particular skill of yours is not directly linked to the job requirements. Even then, you can add it to your resume as an extra asset.

Resume descriptions - Keep it short and focused 
How experienced you are, is what determines the length of your resume. If you are only an entry level person or holding an experience less than five years, your resume should be fit in a single page only. People who are more experienced can extend the limit up to two or three pages. However, moving beyond that would be simply wasting paper, as hardly anyone would be able to keep their patience after the third page. The only way to achieve this is by summarizing the long paragraphs describing the complete project details or company details.

Exclude irrelevant data 
Your resume is a means for in-sighting to your professional personality. Hence, including skill competencies and past work practices are necessary. Apart from these, employer may need to know some of your personal details for their office work purposes, such as the contact address, phone number, email and the date of birth. Including other personal data such as likes/dislikes, etc, all proves to be 'unused data', as they are never used.

Seek assistance from an expert to review you resume 
It may not be a professional expert. Any of your friends who you think can justifiably review your strengths and weaknesses can assist you in removing discrepancies and improving the quality of your resume.

Avoid lingual mistakes by repetitive proof reading 
Once the resume is prepared, the next task is ensuring its seamlessness. Undoubtedly, we commit numerous structuring and spelling mistakes while writing. Most of these would be encountered by the software only; still we need to perform manual proofreading again and again before printing it.

Print it on a plain, white paper
Avoid all kinds of colourful, fancy printing tricks and go for simple laser printing. After all, it is the content in resume that matters the most to the person, who is dealing with hundreds of papers daily!

Source : DNA INDIA

An impressive résumé is a direct ticket to your job

No one can deny the importance of a well-written résumé. It is your first impression for the employer and if written well a direct ticket to the job. As the competition increases, the need to making a lasting impression is growing more than ever. Here are a few simple tips for you to put up the best resume so you can nail that job!
Keep it concise: Says education counsellor Sarla Patil, “The employer has a hundred résumé to sift through and will take no special effort to spend more time on yours. You can choose to come across as a boring or crisp and interesting depending on the way you frame your résumé. Keeping it to the point and concise is the trick.”

Mention relevant facts:
 Very often people mention their achievements in secondary school while applying for the third or fourth job. “What matters at this point is only your immediate past experience. Mentioning achievements from far back give an impression that you’re trying really hard to fill the space and have no other things to boast of. Make sure you only mention things that highlight activities that will make you a stronger candidate for that particular job,” adds Sarla

Update it regularly: 
While it is important to leave out trivial details, it is equally important to include every relevant one. “Make sure you update every single development that has happened since you first drafted your résumé. A new skill developed, a course undertaken, a summer job taken or a social cause or charity event that you contributed to should feature on your CV,” says Parul Vakharia who benefited from an internship at an advertising agency.

Attach a cover letter:
A cover letter to a résumé is like biscuits with tea. It gives an extra edge. “While a resume does all the talking, an attached cover letter always helps. The cover letter should show the employer that you’ve done research. Talk about the organisation and which particular aspect of it you really admire. It gives an impression of an informed applicant and know exactly what you’re aiming for,” says Deepika Jaju, an HR professional.

Source : Deccan Chronical