RESUME
A resume is a document used by individuals to present their background and skill sets. Resumes can be used for a variety of reasons but most often to secure new employment. A typical resume contains a summary of relevant job experience and education. The resume is typically one of the first items, that is used to screen applicants, often followed by an interview, when seeking
employment.
employment.
Most successful resumes have a few things in common in terms of their layout. These are:
- Contact Information
- Job Objective
- Education
- Work History/Experience
- Reference
The order and amount of information you give for each of these depends on the resume format you use. There are many resume formats you can choose from such as the chronological format, the functional format, the skilled format and so on. To start, your contact information should simply state your name, mailing address, permanent mailing address, and phone numbers, fax numbers and/or email addresses you want employers to contact you at. This information must always be at the top of your resume.
Your job objective is best positioned directly below your contact information. It must be
short and precise. Using a specific job title like mechanical engineer or administrative assistant is
usually best. Where you place the education section of your resume depends on how relevant this
information is to the job you're applying for. It also depends on how relevant and substantial your
work experience is. In this section you need to place your most recent or highest degree first.
Choose the one that is most relevant to your job objective in the number one spot. Then put the
name of the school below.
The information you include in your work history / experience section depends on the
resume format you have chosen. This is not an autobiography; you may not want to include every
job you ever did. Unless of course all the experience you have had is relevant to the job you’re
currently seeking. In this section state the positions you've held, the dates you held the positions
and the relevant and specific tasks you accomplished.
A curriculum vitae, commonly referred to as CV, is a longer, more detailed synopsis than
a resume. It includes a summary of your educational and academic background, as well as
teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations, and
other details.
Summary:-
The summary should be short and sweet, no more than four or five lines of text and
should highlight your key skills and attributes. This should portray a highly favourable picture of
you and indicate your strengths which are relevant to the position you are applying for. Your
summary, however, must be completely truthful.
Major Achievements:-
After the summary you should list three to six major achievements that are
directly related to the job you are applying for. It is important to pick achievements that are
relevant as this shows that you have understood what the recruiter is looking for.
If possible you should mention facts and figures, although you may feel that these are confidential
and you may not want to disclose them. They do however make the CV more interesting and give
the recruiter a better idea of your capabilities.
Work Experience:-
Your work experience should come next and should describe your
responsibilities, skills attained and achievements in each position that you have had. This should
always be in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent position and working
backwards from there. You should concentrate on your two most recent jobs, unless these are not
relevant to the position you are applying for or you were only in these positions for a short time.
Mention budgetary responsibilities, number of staff managed (if applicable) and try and give a
good picture of where you fitted into the organisation and what interactions you had with other
companies and departments.
Education / Qualifications:-
Provide details of your educational qualifications in this section.If
your educational achievements are not so excellent, then you should not waste too much space on
it, because your work experience will be far more important to the recruiter. It goes without
saying that you must actually have all the qualifications you have claimed for yourself.
IT Skills / Training / Other Skills:-
You should list your up-to-date IT skills, training and other
skills (such as language skills and typing speeds if relevant). For IT skills you may want to
include hardware (PCs, Macs), operating systems (Windows 95/98) and applications (Microsoft
Word, Excel, PowerPoint).
Personal Details: This should include your date of birth and age, marital status (optional) and
nationality (optional).
Hobbies/Interests:-
Hobbies and interests are generally not considered very important on a CV.
However they may be able to tell a recruiter a lot about your personality, leadership potential and
team working skills. So they should not be overlooked completely.
References:-
References do not generally needed to be included on a CV unless specifically asked
for.
Follow up Communication
Employers—in any kind of labor market—are not going to looking for you. You need to
follow-up on your contact with employers—either by phone or by mail, depending on the
circumstances. Be sure to follow-up on ALL resumes that you send to employers. This will
separate you from the competition and help you glean more information about the hiring process.
If the job posting does not have a contact number, look up the company on the web and use the
contact information provided. When you call, ask to speak to the person in charge of the particular
job opening. You will most likely be directed to Human Resources. Find out who you would
report to and contact them via phone preferably or email.
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