Resume Preparation

Introduction:

There is many and countless number of articles on writing a resume. There is no universal format for writing a resume. The most important factor of a successful resume is that it explains clearly to the recruiter what you have done and what you can do for the organization. A resume should be well-presented, a source of interesting and unique information.

Purpose of a resume: The purpose of a resume is to get you to an interview not the job.

Essentials of a resume: Before you write, take notes of your skills, abilities, qualifications, interests, hobbies, experience, expertise, honors, training, publications and so on.

Guidelines and Dos for writing resume:

• Generally, resume should contain no more than 2 or 3 pages. It can vary (and not more than 5 pages) if you have more years of experience. Sometimes, it can be limited to one page (for freshers).
• Generally use a white paper for printing resume.
• Resume should emphasize your abilities while expressing your uniqueness and individuality.
• Resume should be honest and based on factuals.
• Select a presentation format that allows you to explain your abilities, skills, achievements, honors, qualifications.
• Always set margins. Limit the font of the text to two choices and font size can be anywhere in between 9 to 12. Choose a different font for headlines and text. Use the Black colour for the text.
• List your abilities, skills, achievements, honors and qualifications in bulleted pointed statements.
• List your qualifications, work experience in reverse chronological order (start with the current or recent).
• List your functional expertise separately but not under the work experience.
• List your achievements or honors or awards under each employer in work experience. This would help the recruiter to understand your contributions in the organizations you worked.
• Review the resume once it is completed. Run a spell check. If possible, show it your friend for an opinion.

Content of the Resume:

• Start with your name, telephone numbers, e-mail address, URL’s, blog, LinkedIn and etc.
• Career objective: You need not include any career objective or objective. If you include, make sure it is effective statement.
• Summary: This is a combination of your professional and personal attributes.
• Work Experience: Include your work experience in reverse chronological order – that is start with the current or last job first and then backward to the first job. This section includes title of position, role handled, name of organization, briefing about the organization, location of work, dates of employment, work responsibilities and finally achievements.
• Functional expertise or responsibilities handled: Include all the responsibilities you have handled under various headlines. Start with the most expertise responsibility. List down various activities handled under each responsibility.
• Professional training, strengths, associations or affiliations, publications, patents: Include all the training you attended which are required to perform on the job. Include your strengths with a one liner explaining. Include any associations or affiliations you have with colleges, institutions. Include all the publishing done by you and if any patents received or applied.
• Academic Qualification: Include your qualification in reverse chronological order – that is start with the current or recent educational degree received. Include your degree (MBA, MCA, B.Tech, B.A., etc) major and minor specialization (if any), institution and university name, years of completion the degree. Include your Grade point average (GPA) or percentage of marks. Mention the academic achievements or honors. Project work done during your academics.
• Skills: This is not mandatory. You may include based on the job you are applying. You many include specific skills highlighting your computer software or hardware which are required to perform on the job. You may also include certifications.
• Interests and hobbies: Include your interests, hobbies or favorite pass time. These should be giving a good opinion on your personality.
• References: Most of the recruiters do not wish to see the reference in the resume. It is not mandatory to list down the references. If references are included, remember to obtain prior approval from the individuals you list.
• Personal information: List your communication address, marital status, children, passport, VISA details.

Don’ts of writing a resume:

• Do not give a title for your resume as Curriculum vitae or resume or any other. As this is already understood that the document you are carrying is resume only.
• Do not include a career objective unless it is an effective statement. Avoid statements such as “seeking a challenging position” or “to increase sales/profits of organization” or “seeking a position for enhancing my skills”.
• Do not use flashy colours for the text. Use the standard colour – black.
• Do not claim to be an expert or a guru or a social media expert unless you are really an expert. Attending training or having a connection or in a social media website does not mean expertise.
• Do not write lengthy sentences as this would not interest the recruiters.
• Do not claim that getting a first mark in academics or passing the entrance exam – CAT, MAT or getting admission into premier institutes like IIT, IIM’s, IIIT’s or getting a prize in technical symposiums, managements meets, school level or college level debate/singing/dancing competitions as achievements if it happened 5 – 10 years back.
• Do not claim that you are from premier institutes like IIT, IIM, XLRI, Harvard, Cambridge and etc if you have done only a certification course. It is best to mention under the training section.
• Do not include a number in achievements unless you have all the statistics in place.
• Avoid including your favorite pass time as going to a pub, race course. This would not give a great opinion on your personality.