Resume Writing

“It's not about how smart you are - it's about capturing minds.”

-Richie Norton

Every resume is unique in its own way of selling oneself. It should highlight your educational qualifications, work experience, key skills and achievements. It is important that all those knowledge and skills should meet the employer’s requirements to make your job hunt successful. Writing a highly effective resume does not essentially mean you should follow a specific format and a strict set of rules. However, it should stand out from plenty of resumes that the company receives for a particular job. In order to impress the hiring managers in less than a minute, there are certain basic principles that has to be followed which are described as follows.

 

Basic Components of a Resume

 

Personal Information

• Full name
• Contact details
  • Postal address
  • Home phone number
  • Mobile number
  • Email address

 

Career Objective Statement

This differs with various job positions that you apply for, while on hunt. Although optional, a job objective tells the employer about your work preferences, thus making him easy for analyzing your resume. It includes the position name, position level and your skills related to that particular position. If you are unclear about all these parts, it is better to skip this component.

 

Education and Training

This section includes information about your educational qualifications, alma mater, GPA (if it is outstanding) and relevant training/workshop experiences. It is better to list your qualifications in a chronological order starting with the recent ones.

 

Employment History

In a chronological order, elaborate your work experience, time span, roles and responsibilities and previous employers’ names. It is also important that you should list out the significant contributions and demonstrated skills. You must include about relevant volunteering work, if any. Be hard on yourself and avoid stating good facts if it doesn’t mean anything for an employer.

 

Skills and Abilities

This is where you list the things that you are excellent at, such as IT (Information Technology) skills, leadership potentials, communication skills, language skills, team work qualities and so on.

 

Awards and Honors

In this section, mentions all about the special awards, scholarships, achievements and other honorary recognitions.

 

Hobbies and Interests

This would be an added advantage, especially if the employer feels that it might be helpful for the company in any way.

 

References

Arrange at least three persons who can serve as your references. It is better to involve only people from academic level and employers, but not your personal acquaintances. Before quoting the list of referees in this section, make sure you get their permission in advance. Simple indicate that reference are ‘available upon request’ in your resume and wait for the employer’s request of referees’ contact information.

 

Checklist

Once you have completed the resume, make sure you follow the checklist below.

• Proofread thoroughly to ensure there are no spelling mistakes and typographical or grammatical errors.
• Ensure every information in the resume is relevant to the job specification.
• Make sure the resume is clear, concise and well laid out in a presentable format. Times New Roman, Arial and Verdana are the standard resume fonts that look neat at a standard 10/12 point font sizes.
• Attach a cover letter addressed to a specific employer.
• Check your employer’s address details before sending it.