RESUME WRITING

Efforts by:

Vibhor Agarwal

Resume Writing

• Resume or CV is the most important document in the job hunting process; it is the first introduction of the candidate to the employer, and explains the candidate’s background.

• It should be well laid out.

Know the purpose of your resume

• Companies receive tons of resumes and reviewing them is a tedious task.

• Make yours easy to read, simple, crisp and to the point.

• It is a good idea to make your resume company-specific and particularly highlight those qualities that you feel the company is looking for.

Back up your qualities and strengths

• Use bullets to list your achievements.• Do not list responsibilities as that becomes

long and boring to read. • Ensure that you list the most important

achievements first and provide relevant data.

Achievements instead of responsibilities

• Resumes that include a long list of “responsibilities included…” are plain boring, and not efficient in selling yourself.

• Instead of listing responsibilities describe your professional achievements.

Curriculum-Vitae

• Your CV must sell you to a prospective employer, and compete against other applicants who are also trying to sell themselves.

Curriculum-Vitae

• This means that your curriculum vitae must be presented professionally,clearly, and in a way that indicates you are an ideal candidate for the job, i.e., you possess the right skills, experience, behaviour, attitude, that the employer is seeking.

Curriculum-Vitae

• In your CV it's important to emphasise your attributes in strong, relevant and expressive terms; modesty doesn't work particularly well on any CV.

Resume Writing

• Write it with focus on the prospective employer’s needs.

• Therefore, the resume must be modified for every job you apply for, so that you can emphasise your qualification for that specific job.

Back up your qualities and strengths

• Dates, figures, etc. make the data more realistic and appreciable.

• Try and show your interviewers how your skills will benefit the specific company.

• Your headings should be bold and underlined.

Proofread it twice

• Proofread your resume and ask your friends to review it for any spelling or grammatical errors.

• A resume with errors is absolutely unacceptable and will give a shoddy (poorly made) impression.

• One small typo and your chances of getting hired could slip.

• Proofread it as many times as necessary.

Use bullet points

• No employer has the time (or patience) to read long paragraphs of text.

• Use bullet points and short sentences to describe your experiences, educational background and professional objectives.

Put the most important information first

• Most of the times your previous work experience will be the most important part of the resume, so put it at the top.

• When describing your experiences or skills, list the most important ones first.

Attention to the typography

• First of all make sure that your fonts are big enough.

• The smaller you should go is 11 points, but 12 is probably safer.

• Do not use capital letters all over the place, remember that your goal is to communicate a message as fast and as clearly as possible.

• Arial and Times Roman are good choices.

No Pictures

• Do not use graphics or photos (unless specifically required).

CURRICULUM VITAE

• Summary of one’s life –details of education, experiences and achievements.

• Personal Details – Name and Address, Ph.No, email

• Easy to read language, focus on the job• Use font size 10-12, Arial/Times New

Roman style• Typed in A4 size paper.

Avoid negativity

• Do not include information that might sound negative in the eyes of the employer.

• This is valid both to your resume and to interviews.

• You don’t need to include, for instance, things that you hated about your last company.

You don’t need to list all your work experiences

• If you have job experiences that you are not proud of, or that are not relevant to the current opportunity, you should just omit them.

• Mentioning that you used to sell hamburgers when you were 17 is probably not going to help you land that executive position.

One resume for each employer

• One of the most common mistakes that people make is to create a standard resume and send it to all the job openings that they can find.

• Sure, it will save your time, but it will also greatly decrease the chances of landing an interview .

• Tailor your resume for each employer.• The same point applies to your cover letters.

Avoid Age

• It is illegal to discriminate people because of their age, but some employers do these considerations nonetheless.

• Why risk the trouble?• Unless specifically requested, do not include

your age on your resume.

Go with what you got

• If you never had any real working experience, just include your summer jobs or volunteer work.

• If you don’t have a degree yet, mention the title and the estimated date for completion.

Don’t include irrelevant information

• Irrelevant information such as political affiliation will not help you.

• In fact it might even minimise your chances of landing an interview.

• Just skip it.

Use Mr. and Ms. if appropriate

• If you have a gender neutral name like Alex or Ryan make sure to include Mr. or Ms. prefix, so that employers will not get confused about your gender.

No lies

• While it is acceptable to show off your skills, do not lie or exaggerate.

• A company may verify your claims and under such circumstances, authenticity is crucial.

• Apart from being wrong, most HR departments do background checks these days, and if you are buster it might ruin your credibility for good.

One or two pages

• Your resume should not be more than a page or two.

• Provide all the necessary information, the shorter your resume, the better.

• Most employers and recruiting specialists, however, say that it should contain one or two pages at maximum.

Use action verbs

• A very common advice to job seekers is to use action verbs.

• Action verbs are basically verbs that will get noticed more easily, and that will clearly communicate what your experience or achievements were.

• Examples include managed, coached, enforced and planned.

Use a good printer

• If you are going to use a paper version of your resume, make sure to use a decent printer.

• Laser printers usually get the job done.• Plain white paper is the preferred one as well.

No hobbies

• Unless you are 100% sure that some of your hobbies will support your candidacy, avoid mentioning them.

Update your resume regularly

• It is a good idea to update your resume on a regular basis.

• Do not think of it as something you made in the past.

• It is not necessary to list everything you have ever done.

Update your resume regularly

• If it is not relevant to your current area of work (you may have worked in a restaurant and are now a teacher) then there’s no need to list it.

• Add all the new information that you think is relevant, as well as courses, training programs and other academic qualifications that you might receive along the way.

Make the design flow with white space

• Do not jam your resume with text.• Make your resume as short and concise as

possible, but that refers to the overall amount of information and not to how much text you can pack in a single sheet of paper.

• White space between the words, lines and paragraphs can improve the legibility of your resume.

No jargon or slang

• Slang should never be present in a resume.• As for technical jargon, do not assume that

the employer will know what you are talking about.

Careful with sample resume templates

• There are many websites that offer free resume templates.

• While they can help you to get an idea of what you are looking for, do not just copy and paste one of the most used ones.

• You certainly don’t want to look just like any other candidate, do you?

No fancy design details

• Do not use a colored background, fancy fonts or images in your resume.

• You might think that the little flowers will cheer up the document, but other people might just throw it away at the sight.

Don’t forget the basics

• Your contact information should include your name, address, phone and email.

• It should be bold and with a larger font than the rest of the text.

• Make sure that your contact details are clearly listed.

Importance of CV

• CV will give chance to evaluate yourself.• CVs are mostly used to screen candidates for

interview.• CVs are the first introducer to the interviewer

and explains your complete background.

Types of CV

• Chronological CV• Functional Resume (Skills-based)• Chrono-Functional CV

Chronological CV

• The chronological or Performance CV is the most traditional and widely used format.

• This type of CV basically outlines your work and educational history and is ideal if you have stayed in the same career for most of your working life, steadily working your way up.

Chronological CV

• Chronological resume lays out qualifications (education and experience) in chronological order, that is in order of the dates (in reverse order).

• It indicates what the applicant did during every month and year.

• Employers prefer the chronological format.

Use the chronological CV in the following situations:

• If you have steadily progressed in one chosen field.

• If you have no gaps in your work history.• If you are staying in the same industry.

Functional Resume (Skills-based)

• This type of CV focuses on and highlights the skills and achievements that you have gained throughout your whole working career irrespective of where and when you acquired them.

Functional Resume (Skills-based)

• This is useful if you do have gaps in your working career or if want to change career completely.

• If you have gaps in your work history or have changed jobs frequently, the functional CV would be better suited.

Use the functional CV in the following instances:

• If you have changed career fields.• If you have gaps in your work history due to

illness or any other reason.• If you have little experience due to just

starting out or just finishing college or university.

Chrono-Functional CV

• The best of both, the combination CV is an amalgamation of the previous two formats.

• Slightly longer in layout; it is imperative (essential) that you grab the reader's attention from the start, as there may be a danger of him getting bored and discarding the CV without reading it entirely.

Chrono-Functional CV

• The combination CV should be used when you want to highlight both skills and achievements together with your impressive work history and education.

• Your skills and achievements are listed first and these are then backed up by your work and educational experience, all in all leading to an extremely potent (effective) and impressive document.

Use the combination CV when:

• You want to show that not only you have the right skills for the job but also the work experience to support.

• You would have used a chronological CV but want to highlight your skills too.

• You have plenty of experience in the chosen field.

Order of Contents in CV• Name and address• Contact Details• Career Objectives• Educational Qualification• Awards (if you have any)• Skillsets and personal attributes• Experiences / employment history• Voluntary work (if you have done any)• Extracurricular activities, interests and hobbies• References

Resume

• Highlights the relevant facts about you, your education, and your experience.

• Makes the first impression about you.

• Positions you in the mind of the employer, thus creating a value.

• The interview gets you the job, the resume gets you the interview!

Resume

• Enables you to assess your strengths, skills, abilities and experience - thereby preparing you for the interview process.

• Be a basis for the interviewer to justify your hiring.

• Relevant, Clear and Concise.• No typing errors. • No misspellings. • No Abbreviations.• Do not tell a lie. • Do not include any negative information.

Should I Have More Than One Version of My Resume?

• YES!• Create a targeted resume each time you apply

for an opportunity.

Use Action Verbs!

Organized Communicated DirectedPlanned Created AssistedSupported Initiated SolvedReported Edited AnalyzedDescribed Developed ManagedLed Sold Designed

Critical Categories

Put in everything that would point out why you would be good at the job.

Contact Information

• Name (largest font)• Address, City and State• Telephone Number• Cell Number • Email Address

Example

DEEPA SANKAR409-b, Cross Road

South Extn-INew Delhi-11

Mob: 09995595959deepas@yahoo.com

Rajesh Krishnan

580 Church Road Phone: 022-2354698Worli, Bombay-69 Mob: 09747123333Krish_raj@sbcglobal.net

Deepa sankar409-b, cross Road,

South Extn-INew-Delhi-11

Mob: 09995595959

Rajesh Krishnan

580 Church Road Phone: 022-2354698Worli, Bombay-69 Mob: 097471233332hotforyou@rediffmail.com

Example

DEEPA SANKAR409-b, Cross Road

South Extn-INew Delhi-11

Mob: 09995595959deepas@yahoo.com

Rajesh Krishnan

580 Church Road Phone: 022-2354698Worli, Bombay-69 Mob: 09747123333Krish_raj@sbcglobal.net

Deepa sankar409-b, cross Road,

South Extn-INew-Delhi-11

Mob: 09995595959

Rajesh Krishnan

580 Church Road Phone: 022-2354698Worli, Bombay-69 Mob: 097471233332hotforyou@rediffmail.com

The Career Objective

• Keep it short.• Example:

• “To obtain a position as an Administrative Assistant in a hospital

setting.”

Employment History

• Reverse chronological order.• Five Components:

– Job Title– Name of the organization– Location – Dates of employment– Description

• Exclude• Unaccountable (unanswerable) gaps.• Street address, reason for leaving.

Education

• List most recent education first.• Mention Date of Completion and

University/College name.• Percentage only if I class.• Academic honors.• Don’t include high school (unless this is your

highest level of education).

Relevant Coursework(Optional)

• This lets the employer know which courses you have already completed.

• Do not list every course, only relevant courses to specific skills.

Activities and Honors

• Only if relevant to job.– Mention scholarships, memberships etc.– Community work, volunteer work etc.

• Don’t include anything from before college.• Avoid controversial topics such as Politics,

Religion etc.

For Freshers, you may mention extra-curricular activities, which would highlight your suitability to the job.

Significant Personal Facts

• Technological Skills.

• Foreign Language.

Hobbies and Interests

• Don’t list unless– Organized, that is, if you belong to a club or

group– Relevant to the position

References

• Do not send to employer unless they request it.• Between 2-3 references,

– All individuals with direct knowledge of your job abilities.

• Ask the permission of references before giving their names and numbers.

Do’s of Resume Writing

• Be brief - 1 to 2 page resume is ideal• 10-12 font size.• Times New Roman, Arial, Bookman, Lucida Sans,

Garamond, Verdana etc.• Be consistent with fonts/size/bold/italics etc.• Spread out information.• Indented or bulleted statements.

• Bolding, different size fonts.• Your name should be in the largest font on page.• Prepare CVs for individual companies• Customize (modify) your resume for your job

target• Use action verbs/ positive words – it will create

strong impact. eg. motivated, monitored, created, analyzed, coordinated etc.

DO’s

DONT’S1. Avoid folding your CV2. Don’t include irrelevant information –

previous salary, unproved awards, prizes and publications etc.

3. Say what you did, not what you think4. Personal information – marital status,

religion, health, native place etc.5. Avoid unusual font size, stylish letters,

graphics, underlining and unusual spacing etc.

6. Avoid repeating information7. Avoid personal pronouns (I, my, me)8. Don’t outsource, do it yourself.

DONT’S

• Height, weight, place of birth, marital status, race, caste, religion and health.

• Fancy Fonts or non-traditional paper.• Don’t go for bordered paper.• Don’t fold resume, don’t stuff into envelope, don’t

crumple.• The word "Resume" at the top! • Avoid Details of Travels.'• Any statement that begins with "I" or "My”.

DONT’S

• Reasons for leaving previous job(s).• Picture of yourself.• Salary Information• Religion or political affiliations.

CV Writing Tips • Focus on the job you want• Emphasize on achievements• Easy to read design and language• Spelling mistakes are unforgivable• Education or experience first

Covering LetterThe cover letter reflects your communication

skills and to some extent your personality1. Name and address - Left side top

Date and Place -Left side2. Head the Letter - Subject and Reference3. The middle paragraph – Brief description of

your education and experiences4. Closing - The closing in which you propose step

for further action. Don’t end with hit the mark, use sentence with gentle and polite manner .

Model Covering Letter CoimbatoreCoimbatore18-11-200518-11-2005

FromFromDeepa,MDeepa,M180,Kamaraj Nagar180,Kamaraj NagarCoimbatore – 2Coimbatore – 2

ToToThe AdvertiserThe AdvertiserPO Box 1116PO Box 1116Times of India, Delhi.Times of India, Delhi.

Sir,Sir,Sub: Application for the post of Junior Accountant Sub: Application for the post of Junior Accountant Ref: The Hindu dated 16.11.2005Ref: The Hindu dated 16.11.2005

This is with reference to your above advertisement in the Wednesday (16.03.2013) edition of The Hindu for the This is with reference to your above advertisement in the Wednesday (16.03.2013) edition of The Hindu for the post of Junior Accountant for which I would like to submit my application.post of Junior Accountant for which I would like to submit my application.

As per your requirements, I am a graduate with a Commerce background and with Accountancy as my specialty As per your requirements, I am a graduate with a Commerce background and with Accountancy as my specialty subject. For the past one year, I have been working as assistant to a senior Accountant employed a reputed firm and gave subject. For the past one year, I have been working as assistant to a senior Accountant employed a reputed firm and gave gained a fair amount of experience in the above mentioned field. gained a fair amount of experience in the above mentioned field.

If you consider that my application is worth considering, I can be available for interview at any time to suit your If you consider that my application is worth considering, I can be available for interview at any time to suit your convenience, even at a short notice.convenience, even at a short notice.Thanking YouThanking You Yours SincerelyYours SincerelyDeepa Deepa

(Deepa,M) (Deepa,M)

The Final Test

Does your resume answer these questions:• Does it clearly and quickly communicate to

employer that you can do the job?• Do your strengths come across?• Does everything support the job you are

targeting?• Should anything be removed?• Does it really sell your skills?

Curriculum-Vitae

• The primary differences between a resume and a curriculum vitae (CV) are the length, what is included and what each is used for.

• A resume is a one or two page summary of your skills, experience and education.

Curriculum-Vitae

• A curriculum vitae includes a summary of your educational and academic backgrounds as well as teaching and research experience, publications, presentations, awards, honors, affiliations and other details.

Resume

• A resume is brief and concise.• A resume is a one or two page “summary” of

your skills, experience and education. • Generally no more longer than a page or two.

Bio-Data

• Bio-Data concentrates more on the individual and his attributes like height, weight, colour, skin complexion etc.

• Biodata is mainly termed when you have to submit your document where information about physique along with education and family background is necessary.

Bio-Data

• A Bio-data will contain more of personal information than professional.

• This document is usually circulated for marriage purpose.