Sudhir Agarwal B.Tech CSE IIT BHU 2001

MBA IIM Lucknow 2004 agarwal.sudhir@gmail.com

An effort to specify the Do’s and Don'ts in resume

Highlight the best practices for writing resume

Based on some resumes received from students in the past

Students should use their discretion when making decision / updating resume

Make sure that all the points mentioned are correct and there is no misrepresentation.

Go through your resume thoroughly before the interview and make sure that you have proof/points to describe each and every statement in your resume

The impression about the student is formed when the person goes through the first page. Make sure all important, relevant, information is specified on 1st page

Don’t waste space writing general information like 3rd year student, hobbies etc. on page 1. These can wait for 2nd page

Before finally saving your resume, do a Spell check

A survey conducted with HR Managers showed that Managers gets turned off by Resume with spelling mistakes. Most of the HR managers reject the resume if it has 3 or more words misspelled.

Be consistent with terms you use in resume.

Common Mistakes ◦ 3rd Year Student at some places and 4th year at

some other place ◦ IT(BHU) at some place and IIT(BHU) Varanasi at

some places

It has been noticed that students use multiple fonts in the resume which makes the resume un attractive. Try to use the same font in the resume

Make sure that you have the same font size for similar contents.

The headers can be bold or have bigger font size.

If you are specifying details like Courses Undertaken, Technical skills etc., try to write it in the form of Bullets instead of a paragraph.

Bullets are more readable than paragraph

Try to write as much details you can about the project. It has been seen that students just write one-two lines about the project.

The Project details should include what you did, what was the functionality of the tool developed, differentiating factor, salient features of the tool etc..

Personal details like home address, parents name, passport number, marital status should not be provided until asked

Abbreviations should be avoided in the resume.

There may be some term that are specific to you, your institute (CGPA, CSE), your friend circle that interviewer may not be knowing. Describe the terms wherever applicable.

Real estate (space) is a very important factor in the resume. Try to use as wisely as you can.

Replace the header from “Curriculum Vitae” to your name.

The details like your address, Phone number Mail ID should be in max 2 lines (E Mail and Phone Number on same line etc.)

In most of the resumes, the objective is standard and does not add much value.

If you want to add objective, try to make it very specific to yourself and the company you are applying to.

This is person specific and students should use their judgment.

There is no standards on how long the resume should be.

It is preferred to have a small and concise resume that clearly highlight all the information about you and your achievement

Avoid providing your rank if it is more than say 2000. Psychologically, it is a big number and have more negative impact than positive impact. Replace it with “Top 1%” or Top 5%” etc..

This is person specific and students should use their judgment.

It has been seen that the terms have been interchangeably used in resume

Make sure that they are used as applicable Try to explain at the bottom what does that

mean if it is specific to institute

Try to use Bullets for common attributes of projects like Guide, Duration, Name and technology.

Students write that in sentence form. Avoid that.

It has been seen that the same information (like 3rd year student at IIT (BHU) etc.) has been provided at multiple places. Avoid providing same information again and again

It may be good idea to have summary at the start of the resume. This will be applicable to students whose resume runs 3-4 pages and who has lots of achievements

This may not be applicable to all resume. This is person specific and students should

use their judgment.

Be very careful about mentioning the concepts, languages, and tools in which you claim to be proficient

Carefully verify the proper typography of terms used; it shows attention to detail ◦ (Html is wrong, HTML is correct, LINUX is wrong,

Linux is correct, Latex is wrong, LaTeX is correct).

If you have participated in any competition or in organizing any event, specify that in the resume

If you have won some competitions, make sure that is specified at the top

If you have significant achievements in an activity (won dance/ singing competition at State/Inter University level), avoid writing “Participated at a local level. That reduces the value of bigger achievement.

It is a good practice to have Hobbies specified in the resume

Make sure that you know a lot about something that you have written as hobby. Don’t write it just for the sake of writing.

Avoid sentences like “Cleared 1st round of Regional Mathematics Olympiad Orissa 2009” etc. if you are not specifying how many rounds were there.

Make a group in your batch/class and make sure that you get your resume reviewed by your friends, seniors, mentors.

Save the soft copy of the document in 100% instead of 125% or 200%

Even better is to save it as PDF and send that along

If you are mailing the document, make sure you have printed and looked at it after printing.