Writing a Perfect Resume

Your resume is the first step towards corporate stardom, so it is imperative that it looks good and reads right. Your resume is your first reflection. People who haven't met you form a mental impression about you just by going through your resume. A company official asks for a resume so that he/she can frame questions according to the facts mentioned in the resume. This makes it imperative that you have an organized and impressive resume. It should be clear yet descriptive and should portray your best qualities. So, how to go about preparing your resume?

Write it in an order: Be careful about what you write. For example, all your personal details like name, address, etc must be clubbed together in one column. Similarly, all your academic details should be grouped together. There should be a logical sequence of putting down things. You should follow a logical track which will be appropriate.

Presentation is important: As the saying goes, "First impression is the last impression." Remember to focus on the way in which you present your data. The font and the size of the font should be taken care of. Try and keep the colour of the font either black or blue and do not add colours to your resume as that makes it looks childish. Leave a line or two between important points and maybe you could make the important data bold. In case you are mentioning a couple of points, for example, your achievements, then you could use bullets.

Do not be too elaborate: Mention things in brief but do mention all that you feel is important for the panel to make note of. Do not elaborate too much about something. For example, if you are mentioning about any training which you have undertaken, then mention the purpose of the training, its duration, location and what you learnt from it. Keep it to a maximum of four lines. For instance if, you have trained in a software company, then maybe you could put it down as – Trained on databases in xyz company for a period of three months. Leant how to work on Oracle. I also gained a lot of exposure about the workings of the software industry. Freshers must keep their resume restricted to two pages, preferably.

Your selling points: Summarize your top 2 to 5 selling points right under your name. For example, if you are a Game Producer what do you think are the most important selling points to a potential hiring manager? Answer: type of games you have created, size of budgets managed, whether you managed internal or external teams, and the number of titles you brought to market.

Be honest: Write only what is true to the best of your knowledge for it can be verified at any point of time. Carry your certificates along with you for the interview.

Last, but not the least, keep your resume in a folders or a file. Do not fold your resume if you are handing it over to the employer. In case of posting the resume, make a 3 folded paper not more then that.

Resume Writing

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.

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.

While writing your resume there are few points that you should remember. Don’t ever leave out your Job Objective! If you don't show a sense of direction, employers won't be interested. Have a clearly stated goal. Decide on a job target (or "job objective") that can be stated in about 5 or 6 words. Don’t use more then 5 to 8 words, because telling more indicates lack of clarity.

There are times when you have gaps in your work experience. Don’t be afraid about the gaps. Include everything you did in those days rather than saying that, you took a gap. For example, you can include all the work done even if unpaid or charity. Or Maternity leave, Study leave, etc. 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. This adds lots of freshness to the resume. Add every small detail like promotions activities, etc. But it is also to be remembered that over doing or writing may led to rejection. Just go around 6-7 years back not more than that unless its very big or important activity that you have done.

The best way to impress an employer is the “Problem – Action – Result” Method. 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. This adds lots of importance to your resume.

Including hobbies in a resume is a nice idea. But don't include hobbies on a resume unless the activity is somehow relevant to your job objective, or clearly reveals a characteristic that supports your job objective. For example, a hobby of Book Reading (vocabulary, grammatical skills) might seem relevant to some job objectives (Secretary) but not to others.

Now some minute detailing that needs to be remembered while making that very important resume. Always mention the prefix “Mr.” or “Mrs.” or “Miss” before your name. If your name is Kiran or a name which is common in both sexes, the employer might get confused while addressing you. Mentioning all the degrees you have is not enough! You must also mention the extra activities done by you. It will add to the treat if the activity is related to the work you are applying for.

Use simple while or ivory paper for your resume. Using a fancy or think paper out does the content of the resume making it look like a brochure with only design and no content (unless you are applying for a designers post)

How to write a resume

If you are looking for a job you need a résumé. Even if you are applying for a job in Burger King bring a résumé. Your résumé should have your name, address and phone number on it. Do not put cell phones on there because if a potential employer calls you on it and you don’t have the greatest reception, it is going to be a big turn off for them.
You don’t need to date the résumé, when you send a cover letter with it you can date that page.

The next thing you want to put on there is your objective, try to keep that to one or two lines. Keep it to the point. Try to make an objective where it will benefit the employer as well. You want to keep the entire résumé contained to one page, if you have to go to two keep it short. There is no interviewer who wants to read a multi page résumé.

Next thing to should have is your experience. Some résumés have education first, this can go either way but a potential employee wants to see what you can do and what you were doing before applying for the job. Don’t make them scan it; put it first where they could see it. List your last job first and so on. Tell them what they want to know in a couple of line. Put the company name and location, just the city will suffice. Then only put the years at the end of that line. Give a brief description of that job and list the important functions first.

Then is the education section, if you have been out of high school for more than 10 years, there is no need to write it. The same goes for job experience, don’t list jobs you had more than 6 years ago. They don’t want to see that far back. List the most recent school last and so on. If you did not go to college or are in the process of going, leave open the year to at the end. For example, XYZ University, Any town, USA 04 to .

Then you can list any achievements or special citations you have received pertaining to work. Then you can write down References available upon request. Make a list of 5 references; try to make them professional references.

Choosing the Perfect Resume

If you are preparing to write a résumé, you may be aware that are more than one style. There are 3 major styles of résumé writing, there is the Chronological résumé, the Functional résumé and the Combination résumé. We will go over each style and see if it will work for you. All a résumé is is a sheet of paper with all of your accomplishment in both education and work experience. An interviewer is looking for someone to hire who can get the job done and have the experience they are looking for.

The chronological résumé is formatted to show your employment experience and your education in time order. This can be done with the most current time or from oldest to newest. When an interviewer looks at a résumé he or she looks for the important information first. The will want to see what you did before or while you are applying for their job. They don’t really want to see what you did 10 years ago so try to use the most current jobs first, so they will look at what they need to know and not have to scan the entire document looking for simple information.

The functional résumé is a list of your work experience and skills that you posses and sort them out by job function or skill. This style résumé is not used that often. It works in the sense that the jobs are listed by job function. Interviewers want to see what you can do for them and if the job you were at before or still on is similar to what they need they want to see it. Interviews do not want to spend time reading a lot of information that is not pertinent to them, that is why it is recommended that you keep your résumé short and to the point.

The combination résumé is just that, a combination of a chronological and a functional résumé. You begin with a functional list of jobs and then a chronological list of employers. This style of résumé writing is not recommended. It comes off too confusing. If you send a résumé like that you may not get a chance to explain it, if an interviewer does not like your résumé they will just toss it aside.

Remember a résumé is a reflection of you. If you present a sloppy résumé, they will not give you a chance. A good résumé will guarantee you an interview.

How good is online resume posting

The newest and some say the greatest thing to happen to job searching in a long time is the online résumé posting. There are many companies out there that shall remain nameless who base an entire website on posting other people’s résumés. There are many people who do sign up for this service. Some services charge to use their site. The premise is that you post your résumé and then you wait for a company or employers to check it out and become interested in your posting and then they call you.

This service is great if you are looking elsewhere for work, if you are solely putting all of your eggs in one basket then you may be waiting for a long time. Sometimes it takes weeks to get a hit or a lead. Now, it would be a shame if you paid for a service and did not get one hit. You really have a better chance of looking through the newspaper and sending your resume out to 10 jobs. You will at least hear from 7 out of the ten jobs, unless it is not what you applied for.

It is all a hit and miss idea. Unless you have a spectacular résumé where you have exactly what people are looking for. You could be waiting a very long time. What makes this worse is that you may be paying for it by the week or by the month. If you have your heart set on doing this then try to find a service that will post your résumé for free. Then you have nothing to lose except time.

Technology is great and the concept of posting your résumé online is great. It does not guarantee job and some do not claim to do that but for people who need work and are constantly looking then maybe this service is not for you. At least if you do this, look in the newspapers or in penny savers or even on the online classified in your local paper. Just do not let this be your only means of looking for a job.

Some people have had great success with this service and that is great for them but there are just as many if not more that have no success and they only thing they do have is less money for the cost of the service.