Making a good resume is simple, but making a wrong resume is simplest.
Narish Moyla
A resume create the first impression that decide whether you are going to receive an interview call or not. More than half of the job seekers don’t qualify to attend an interview simply due to the mistakes they make in their resumes. They are rejected at the first impression. Therefore, your resume must be able to tell about you in the way the recruiter wants to know. And hence, it’s crucial to learn how to make an effective resume, before applying for a job position.
Here is the guideline that can help you in making a very good, effective resume.
Know the difference between a Resume and a CV
A resume is not a CV. Though, few people use both resume and CV interchangeably. There are many differences between the two.
Resume or résumé is a short document meant to give brief and quick overview of your eligibility for a job position to a future employer. The term “résumé” is a French word that means “to sum up.” A resume is to sum up your job-related qualifications, knowledge, skills, experiences and other relevant information within one or two pages.
On the other hand, a Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a long document consisting details of academic qualifications, professional and academic achievements, awards, publications, life long experience in handling top responsibilities and other details. A CV is required for an academic, scientific or research position. But a resume is required for most of job applications.
You need to make necessary changes in your resume while applying for a new job in accordance the requirements of the employer. But a CV is static till new achievement is not added to it.
Give Importance to Style Sheet
Appearance
Appearance of a resume tells a lot. Never submit your resume in wrong appearance.
Background
Background is the first thing to consider. Background should be pleasant to the eye and enhance readability. And hence, it should be WHITE. In most of the cases you need to submit your resume online. Type and submit it on white background. You may also need to print few copies of your resume. Print it on good quality white or cream color paper (bond paper).
Design
Simplicity is always the best and it’s 100% true for a resume. Keep your artistic creativity away while designing your resume. Never use any image or graphic in a resume except your passport size photograph. Use bullet listings instead of tables.
Font Size, Type and Color
Font is all about clarity and readability.
For an effective resume, recommended font size is 12 for body and bullet text. Use 14 size font for headings and 16 or 18 for your name as title of the resume.
Arial, Calibri and Times New Roman are most usable font type for a resume. Maintain uniformity in using fonts. Keep the font types used to one or two. For example – you may type your complete resume in Calibri font or use Calibri for body and Arial for headings.
Bold font is suggested for title, headings and highlighting. Italic font may be used for special impression in some points if those worth to be. Underlining should be strictly avoided to make everything clear and to evade unnecessary mesh.
Black font on white background is highly recommended. However, you may use grey or royal blue for headings that able to give a cool look. Avoid font colors those are not neutral in appearance like red, pink, orange etc.
Length
Since resume is meant for brief and quick overview of your eligibility, keep the length of your resume within two pages. Include only the relevant data. Include everything that is required, but as sum-up, not in detail. Don’t add any information that is not a prerequisite and preferred aspect of the job.
Have a Clear Focus
Be clear of the job description. Focus on the eligibility criteria by mentioning your qualification, skills and experiences clearly. Don’t include anything that is not required or able to give you extra strength.
Focus on Yourself
Tell about yourself in a defined way. Don’t include anything about your previous employer or work place. Your resume most be able to tell who you are and how you fit for the vacant job position.
Be Precise and Specific
Be careful to avoid everything that is not required for the position you are applying for. Be precise to what is required. Specify all your eligibility in terms of qualifications, certifications, skill, experiences and result delivered.
Focus on Results, not the Responsibilities
What responsibilities you were assigned earlier doesn’t matter if you are unable to tell about the result.
Tell About the Achievement, Not about Objectives
As I observed a lot of resume start with an objective. Not only me, but many HR experts reject such resume due to lack of clear definition. Your objectives are might be great, but what a recruiter requires to know is your achievements. Your objectives can tell about what you want to do and achieve, however your achievement history tells about up to which extend you have fulfilled or eligible to fulfil on clear records. Hence, include the history of achievements clearly, not simply enumerate your objectives.
Maintain Reverse Chronology
Maintaining chronology is a must in each aspect of your resume, but maintaining it in reverse direction is the best. Always start with latest – whether it is qualifications or experiences. Make a bullet list and keep the recent job or qualification at the top. Go downward chronologically.
While the recent is the must to mention, the oldest may not its place in a resume. If you are a university graduate, a high school examination doesn’t have its relevance. However, if you’ve excellent record whole over your examinations, include everything briefly.
Enumerate Skill, Competency and Keywords
Most important aspects in your resume are your skills and competencies. Along with including those through qualifications, experiences, projects handled and rewards, enumerate those separately. Provide adequate keywords corresponding to your skills at the begging of your resume.
Avoid What’s not Required
Provide Personal Information at the End
Personal information is not a defined aspect so that you may be clear about what to include and what to not in a resume. You may withdraw this section except your date of birth and nationality. Your date of birth is to serve the information on how old are you and whether you are eligible to handle a specific responsibility at that age. Terms you took to fulfil your qualifications, training, certifications and experiences need to correspondent your age. Otherwise you may avoid including your date of birth in your resume.
If you are a foreign national, nationality declaration in resume is necessary for visa conditions. Otherwise it’s not much important.
Consider Hobbies and Extra-Curricular Activities
Hobbies and extra-curricular activities are not always pre-requisite for a resume. What you need to include in your resume in this regards depend upon the case specific. If your hobbies and extra-curricular activities can add strength further eligibility to the open position you are applying for add those or few of those as the case demands. Otherwise don’t include.
Never Use a Ready-made Template
There are plenty of ready-made templates available on the internet to craft a resume. Note that those are commercial to serve the purpose of the creators, not of you. Since in each case of a job opportunity, you need to submit a fresh resume in accordance to the requirements of the employer, a ready-made template can’t help you to do it accurately. Accuracy and at the time demand play a major role in creating the best suitable resume. Templates only can help you in format not in responding to the requirements.
Here is a sample resume for you. It’s to help you in making your own professional resume.
After reading this, you’ll definitely want to know – How to Prepare for a Job Interview. Read our exclusive guide. If you need any clarification or further details, please don’t hesitate to ask me in comment.
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