HOW TO WRITE A GOOD RESUME
Creation of a good resume can not be over-emphasized in your search for a new job. It will not get you the job, but a good resume makes the difference between getting an interview and your application being dumped in the bin. With your resume being one of many, recruiters will only glance through the pages, so it is extremely important that it is well structured, with your best selling points presented in a logical manner and the most relevant information readily identifiable.
Everybody writes and presents their resumes as they like, since there is no definite rule to follow. However, with these words of advice we will help you produce a clear and precise resume that will increase your chances of being invited for an interview.
Although,it's becoming even harder than ever to get your resume read by a real person,however you will make your resume win the attention it deserves by following these up-to-date tips.
Try to Keep your resumes shorter, tighter, and more laser-focused and be results-oriented.
Content
To begin, prepare a list of your key competencies and skills that your employer will be looking for. Be analytical about yourself and identify your main selling points that differentiate yourself from competitors. The most common content to be included includes:
Personal Details:
Name, Date of Birth, Contact Details, Nationality – Work Permit if relevant.
Education and
Qualifications:
The full title of your degree and university and any significant exam results, Secondary School and A- level subjects and grades. Concentrate on your secondary education certificate and beyond.
Work Experience:
List the companies that you have worked for, the dates that you worked at them and a brief description of your role. It is important that they are relevant and detailed in short, bullet-pointed statements. Make clear what your individual contribution was using positive language and include your responsibilities and achievements. Back everything up with quantifiable facts, such as size of budgets and results achieved, to make your skills tangible.
Achievements:
Think carefully about which examples you include in this section, as employers may deduce a lot from your choice about your motivations and what you regard as important. Employers are only interested in your most recent achievements.
Extra-Curricular Activities:
This section on hobbies and interests should be kept short and include information, such as, membership of and positions of responsibility in sports teams, drama societies etc. Any information should have a purpose, showing skills relevant to the role you are applying for and saying something of interest about yourself.
General Skills:
Driving license details, courses attended, foreign languages and IT (include level of proficiency).
References:
Unless requested, references need not be given at the initial application stage and a simple “references available on request” should suffice. Employers will ask for references if and when they need them.
Good resumes are logical, clear, concise and simple with sentences including short, to the point key words and statements. It is best to leave out words, such as, ‘and’ and ‘I’ as much as you can and make each sentence as meaningful as possible. An effective resume needs to focus the readers’ attention on the criteria that they are looking for, highlighting important information that can be accessed and interpreted easily. Try to match yourself with the criteria they are looking for.
You may also be asked to justify and elaborate certain statements that you have made in your resume if you are invited to an interview, so you should be honest and accurate all the way through. Be careful not to over-exaggerate, however, always remain positive! Accurate spelling, punctuation and grammar are vital, as well as the overall layout and format of the resume.
Structure & Presentation:
First impressions are very important! Each section needs to be headed clearly so that it is well presented, orderly and pleasing to look at, to avoid any discouragement to read on. Your skills, experience and achievements must flow in a logical manner detailing all key points. Any dates should be included where applicable and placed in reverse chronological order within each section.
Two pages is the standard length of a good resume, however, although you want to avoid adding irrelevant material that will bore the reader you do not want to miss out including valuable information or cramping all your data into a shorter CV. So, try to include at the beginning the most important skills and abilities where the reader will look first and include your name and page numbers in the header or footer of each page to avoid any confusion.
Once a layout and structure is decided on, you should stick to it using consistent headings and sub-headings as well as a standard font size and type. In general, Times New Roman or Arial and size 9/10 is the norm but the use of bold or different size fonts can highlight important information and point the reader to the relevant areas! All text should be fully justified so the paragraphs look neat and tidy and there should be a balance between text and space. Bullet points are useful to break up text, black lines can be used to emphasize headings and sometimes text can be split into two columns to look more professional, for example, in personal details.
But remember, there is no one standard layout or format for resumes and those of professionals will be very different to those of graduates. Individual tastes of both the recruiter and applicant mean no absolute design will be right and you must also remember that resumes for different job applications must vary to be tailored to their requirements. The design of your resume does not however get you an interview no matter how attractive it is; you must bear in mind that the content you put in and your selling points are paramount.
Cover Letter:
If you are making submission to any sector with a prior knowledge of the existing vacancies,then the need for you to submit along with your cover letter but in case you don't have any idea of existing position then you leave this out.
LOGICALLY CREATE YOUR RESUME TO MAKE IT YOUNGER:
In a competitive labour market, we have to do everything we can to make our resumes more attractive to our prospective employers. This can be difficult for older workers, who fear that even if there's no bias (subconscious or conscious) against job seekers on the mature side of 40, a resume may make them look "overqualified" for the positions they want.
Here are five ways to make your resume more youthful, so you can score the interview--and make an impression with your experience and enthusiasm, instead of your assumed birth date.
1. Remove dates from your education. Hiring managers (as well as resume-reading software) may be looking for certain minimum requirements in the area of education. But they likely won't think about dates unless you mention them. If your life followed a typical pattern, the dates of your college degrees are an age indicator. (But education dates are a double-edged sword--if you got your degree or certification relatively recently, you may seem inexperienced; too long ago, "over the hill.")
2. Focus on recent relevant experience. Of course you're proud of all your accomplishments--but the people looking at your resume are interested only in the skills and achievements that relate directly to the position they're trying to fill. Many job seekers (not only those with long work histories) make the mistake of putting too much on their resumes.
FINALLY
A good idea is to print off your final copy and look at it, getting a second opinion on its content and presentation. To see what looks best you should experiment with different formats as it may take several different drafts to get to the final selected one. Check that your personal details are all correct, your spelling, punctuation and grammar are accurate, the presentation is pleasing to the eye, you have identified your main selling points and you have avoided any repetition.
