Resume Development
A resume contains a brief summary of your bio-data, educational or academic qualifications, achievements and your skills. It comes in very handy in times of job interviews. The employers and the human resources department go through it and see whether you meet their requirements. You can market yourself through the resume. No matter what job you apply for, a resume is always required. It should connect with the employer and get you the desired result. You should always update your resume. If you have changed locations, make sure the new address and contact number has been written down in the resume. Make the resume attractive by laying out the qualifications and skills in a bulleted format. If you have any work experience or gone through internships, get that down too. This increases your chances of getting employment. Keep in mind that the employer and the human resource don't go through the entire resume. They skim through which means that it just takes a few seconds. They either go through the skills or qualifications section. This is because they have hundreds of resumes to go through and every second is precious. Moreover, in walk-in-interviews, the employers and the human resources barely go through the resume. Even though they ask for a copy, they prefer to interact with the potential employee and see what he or she has to say and how they can contribute towards the organization. There is no one format for the resume. It keeps on changing and it's up to the individuals as to how they structure it. Sometimes, the corporate organizations ask the human resources department to ask its people to make a special format to be used in the selection process. Overall, people can take advantage of resume development services. These are online organizations that help people in writing resumes irrespective of the field. Such services involve a fee.
Things to Consider While Writing a Resume
You use a resume as a tool to get noticed by the employer. And in return, you get interviewed. After the interview, the employer will probably go over your resume once again and decide whether you are the suitable candidate. The basic layout of a resume is as follows:
- Contact Details: you can highlight your name, residential and postal address, mobile number and email address
- Academic Qualifications: list down your highest academic qualification first such as master's degree or bachelor's degree along with the majors. Make sure to write down the university or college name and the year you graduate. Also highlight the high school and primary school you went to.
- Projects: write down the details of the projects you took up. This makes the resume look attractive. You can write down a brief about the thesis or dissertation you did in college.
- Honours: you can highlight any awards or special achievements such as scholarships or medals that you won.
- Skills: list down the skills that you deem relevant such as typing speed, competent with computers, and website designing, can handle cameras etc. This might look attractive or appealing to the employers.
- Associations/Volunteer: highlight the names of the organizations you are associated with such as the Rotary Club or Clean up Campaigns etc. This gives an insight as to how good a leader or team player you are.
- Experience: if you have worked for any organization or company before, give the details. If you have been through an internship, write that down too. List it by the company name, year of joining and date of leaving, designation and the duties that you were assigned.
When writing a resume, avoid the use of prepositions and pronouns, because it gives an informal look to the document. It's better to use words such as 'organized', 'implemented', 'improved', and 'time management' etc. Always make sure that the resume has a professional look. This in turn relays to the employer that you are serious about the job. Don't use more than three A4 sheets for the resume. As it has been earlier pointed out, the employer and the human resources department don't go through the entire resume. Make sure that you have listed down all the skills. Don't miss out any as it would cost you the job offer. Employers are very fussy about skills. They often look for employees who are all-rounders. You can develop your skills by enrolling for short certificate programs in various fields; or update your computer knowledge. You should always update the resume.