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Tips for preparing a resume

Your Resume is critical to your success.  If you get it right, it will land you with interviews. Get it wrong, and your hard-earned work experience could be consigned to the waste bin. As it is the only thing you can control in your job-selection process, it is vital that your resume puts across everything you want to say about yourself in the most impressive manner.

A resume must catch the attention of a busy employer within 10 to 30 seconds, and then hold it until he or she has found and dialed the phone number. That first impression might truly be the only impression, created by you, the otherwise anonymous candidate.

A Resume is an Abbreviated Biography

• The Biography reveals the work history in a way that is conducive to the fulfillment of a prospective employer's needs.

• If well written, it is also concise, interesting and non-repetitive.

• It must highlight your value to the potential employer, as well as leaving the interviewer with a clear reminder of what you could do for them.

• If it gets you on the shortlist, it will help you provide a structure for the interview and encourage your interviewer to focus on your achievements.

How Do You Structure A Resume

The two styles of resume formatting:

Chronological format & Functional format. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to presenting your information. A third style, the Combination, is a compromise between the two and has become more popular in recent years.

Chronological:

This is the most common resume style, and the one that employers prefer. In the Chronological format, the emphasis is placed on employment experience. The applicant's job history is presented in reverse chronological order, with the most recent jobs placed at the top of the list. The Chronological resume is good if your recent job experience is relevant to the job you are applying for, and you want to stay on a similar career path. Potential employers can easily see what you have done, and how you have progressed and garnered experience.

Demerits of Chronological Resume:

If you are just entering the workforce from school, a resume like this may actually highlight your lack of experience. If you are re-entering the workforce after a substantial absence, this resume will highlight your recent inactivity. Any large gaps in your recent employment history will be evident, and you may be asked about them. Likewise, a job history full of briefly held jobs might lead a potential employer to question your ability to remain employed. A long employment history at a single company will reveal your age to some extent, something you may not feel comfortable doing.

Functional:

It has a non-linear format - skills and achievements are emphasized. Your employment history can be summarized or avoided all together. Your skills and previous relevant experience (including educational experience) are presented at the beginning of your resume. They are organized so the employer can see how your skills relate to the job position you are applying for. You are free to highlight your talents instead of your recent job experience. The Functional resume can be particularly effective if you've held a number of similar positions; it will allow you to highlight your skills rather than itemize what might be a redundant looking job history.

What you should arrive at is a Combination resume - The Combination resume is simply a Functional resume with a brief employment history added. Skills and accomplishments are still listed first; the employment history follows. You need to reveal where you worked, when you worked, and what your job position was. This will allay an employer's worries about your experience, and it still allows you to emphasize your talents and how you would use them for the job you are applying for. While most employers might still prefer a Chronological resume, this is a good alternative to the Functional resume.

Content and Structure

When you respond to the posting of a job opening, your resume is often only one of the mountain of laser-printed articles to be read (by human or computer eye).Your aim is to make it as easy as possible for your potential employer to select you. So ensure that your skills, ability and experience literally shoot out from the page.

• Keep it brief, but full of substance, so that they can see at a glance that you would be capable of the job.

• Most critical is that you write for the reader, identify what it is that your potential employer is looking for, so that your resume focuses on their needs. Ideally you should tailor your resume for each job.

• Keep sentences short, they are easier to read and have a greater impact.

• Examine each word that you have used to describe yourself, to see if a more powerful one could be used.

• Avoid Jargon.

• Write your resume in the third person, so that you can give yourself proper credit without appearing brash.

Education and Qualifications

• Keep this brief and relevant.

• You do not need to include your early educational qualifications.

• Write the information in reverse order, and put down the qualifications you have achieved, where you achieved them, followed by the date.

• Include any appropriate training courses you have been to & certifications you have achieved.

Personal Details

Apart from your name, address and contact numbers, all other personal details including your date of birth, marital status and interests should be left to the end. Interests say something about you as a person that differentiates you from the rest. They can bring you alive and be an important part of your resume.

Keep Your Resume up-to-date

• The interviewer is interested in your current skills and experience, not what you were doing 10 years ago.

• Highlight your career and corresponding achievements.

• Always put your most recent job first, and work back in reverse

Chronological order

• Put the most important things on the left-hand side of the page.
• State the title of the job first, then for whom you did it, and finally when you did it.

• Give a brief description of the scale and scope of the company you worked for.

• Under each particular job you mention, list your achievements and your responsibilities.

• Qualify and quantify what you actually did, using hard facts to demonstrate the tangible benefits you brought.

So what do you put in a resume?

Obviously fairy tales are out of question. Many folks feel that if their stories are not interesting enough, its all right to embellish.

Readers Digest condensations are another consideration. But how much information can you afford to leave out.. Not THAT Much!!!!. Missing information is always suspect information, and has landed many a resume in the employer's trash.

• Be Truthful - Do you have a Bachelor's degree? Good. Mention it. Did you leave your Master's program to work full time? Don't infer that you have earned that graduate degree.
• Be Brief -  Even if you have performed the same task at four different jobs, let the reader know once that you have developed that capability; don't belabor the point.

• Be Interesting - There is much color in the English language; rare indeed is the word that has no synonym. If you directed several different projects, try a different action verb to describe each one:  "Launched a new program" , "Initiated an innovative sales plan"; " Spearheaded a fund-raising drive".

• Be Specific -  Quantify. When you wrote a program, the time taken per transaction was reduced. By how much? If you saved 50 man-hours per week (2500 annually) or decreased costs by 25%, say so. The reader wants to know that you can save him/her time and money, too.

The two styles of resume formatting - Chronological format and the Functional format. Both have their own advantages and disadvantages when it comes to presenting your information. A third style, the Combination, is a compromise between the two and has become more popular in recent years.

How many Resumes?

Ideally you should customize your resume for each job, but this may not be practical. What differs fundamentally about your resume is whether it is built around your present job or aimed at a career change. Resumes aimed at a career change will need to pull out all transferable skills of relevance and this can be done in an easy-to-read format by having a key skills and experience section, ahead of the career summary. These 4-5 skills will match what is on the job specifications. At the end of the day, your resume is all about packaging, If you cannot sell yourself how will you be able to promote the company you are working for? You must be comfortable about what you have written, and confident that you can back it up. 

Presentation 

Having worked on the content, make sure the layout does not let you down. It must look professional and be clear and easy to read. Use headings to make the reader scan the documents and bullet points to focus on key information. Watch the typography-different sizes and styles can cause confusion. Print on quality paper to ensure an impression.

Electronic Resume

 An electronic resume is sent over e-mail or the Internet. Its quick - No faxing or mailing necessary. Most e-mail systems can accommodate document attachments - be they in Word, WordPerfect, Quark or otherwise --it won't be true that every person or organization to whom you'd like to send such a document is willing or able to receive it in that format. Plain text (also called ASCII Text or MS-DOS Text and recognized by its three-letter file extension: .txt, however, is universally accessible and, in many cases, required.

With regard to content the same rules that apply while creating a paper resume applies here too. Keep the resume short and simple and let it be SMART (It should be Specific, Measurable, Action-Oriented, Realistic and Time based). Highlight the keywords of the resume as has been directed by the employer.

With an electronic resume it is easy to make changes to suit the post that you are applying for. Electronic resumes are easier to manage. It can be stored in a database and the appropriate ones can be picked out with ease as and when needed.

Types of Electronic resumes 

Resumes that can be scanned - A scannable resume is made for the computer to read. In an advertisement, the advertiser might have asked for some specific qualifications for a post. Those have to be highlighted on the resume (sometimes the advertisement will instruct you what to highlight). The computer would scan the resume for these highlighted portions (keywords).

Resumes to be send with e-mail - These types of resumes are sent as attachments with e-mail. Always see to it that you include a cover letter while sending this type of a resume. Send your resume as an attachment only if asked for, since some mail clients do not recognize attachments.

HTML Resumes - Imagine that you have a Website and there you have a detailed description of your skills, qualifications and accomplishments. In that case your resume can have links to those portions in your Website, which tells more about you. So the resume has to be read on the Web. What if the employer faces some problem and cannot access your site. Foresee this situation and include a simple electronic resume too while sending an HTML resume.

How to make an electronic resume ???

Steps to construct a good electronic resume:

Using a standard word processing application, compose a resume as you normally would. Note that plain text format is very basic - it does not recognize formatting such as bullets, bold facing or italicized text. Consider using asterisks (*), plus symbols (+) and capital letters to achieve similar effects. Make sure your resume is legible in the absence of these formatting features. Include a cover letter and be sure to note where you found the ad. Send the resume and cover letter in one file. You can do this by writing or pasting your cover letter in the space before your resume. You can also send your cover letter as an e-mail message with your electronic resume as a file attachment. Use the job title and/or job reference number as the subject of your message. Follow up with e-mail or phone call after a week or so after you submit it. 

Tips to write resumes: 

• Determine your job search objective prior to writing the resume. Structure the content of your resume around that objective.
• Think of your resume as a marketing tool. Market yourself through your resume. Think of yourself as a product, potential employers as your customers, and your resume as a brochure about you.
• Use your resume to obtain an interview, not a job.
• Strive to be clear and concise. Use the interview to provide a more detailed explanation of your accomplishments and to land a job offer.

Fine-tuning a resume into a winner: 

Keep it concise. A two page resume is no advantage if it's full of information that isn't reasonably applicable to the position you're applying for. Make your words count. 

Keep it short. Avoid large paragraphs. Resumes are often scanned by hiring managers.

If you provide small, digestible pieces of information you stand a better chance of having your resume actually read. 

Use action words: Verbs such as "developed," "managed," and "designed" to emphasize your accomplishments. Don't use declarative sentences like "I developed the..." or "I assisted in..."; leave out the "I." 

Lead with your strengths. Since resumes are typically reviewed in 30 seconds, take the time to determine which bullets most strongly support your job search objective. Put those strong points first where they are more apt to be read. 

Avoid passive constructions, such as "was responsible for managing."

It's not only more efficient to say "Managed," it's stronger and more active. Make the most of your experience. 

Give instances: Don't be vague. Use concrete examples. For example: "cut requisition costs by 20%, saving the company $3800 for the fiscal year".

Employers will feel more comfortable hiring you if they can verify your accomplishments.

If there are terms that show your competence in a particular field, use them in your resume. For marketing people, use "competitive analysis."

For accounting types, use "reconciled accounts."

Accent the positive. Be honest. There is a difference between making the most of your experience and exaggerating or falsifying it. An employer (if not immediately then during the interview process) can easily spot a falsified resume, and if it doesn't prevent you from getting the job, it can cost you the job later on. 

Target the resume to your customer's requirements. Emphasize what you can do for an employer. Be specific. If you are going after more than one job opening, customize your resume accordingly. It helps to tailor your resume for a specific position.

Remember to only include the experience that is relevant to the job. Eliminate superfluous details. 

Show who you know. If you have reported to someone important such as a vice president or department manager, say so in your resume. Having reported to someone important causes the reader to infer that you are important. 

FORMAT YOUR RESUME.....because APPEARANCES ARE IMPORTANT!!!

Your resume is your first step in the organization. Don't neglect its appearance. Make your first impression count. 

Check your resume for proper grammar and correct spelling-evidence of good communication skills and attention to detail. Nothing can ruin your chances of getting a job faster than submitting resume filled with (easily preventable) mistakes.

Make your resume easy on the eyes. Use normal margins (1" on the top and bottom, 1.25" on the sides) and don't cram your text onto the page.

Allow for some breathing room between the different sections. Avoid unusual or exotic font styles; use simple fonts with a professional look. 

Use bulleted sentences construct your resume to read easily Leave white space. Use a font size no smaller than 10 point. Limit the length of your resume to 1-2 pages.

Remember that resumes are reviewed quickly. Help the reader to scan your resume efficiently and effectively. 

Use standard, non-textured, fine-grained paper in white or ivory. Keep in mind that textured and dark colored paper may not copy well when the employer makes copies to pass around to other participants in the hiring process. 

Make sure your copies are clean and clear. A poor copier can ruin even the best looking resume. Use only copiers maintained for professional copying. 

DON'T!!!!

Unnecessary details can take up a lot of valuable space on your resume. Don't mention personal characteristics such as age, height, and marital

Status. This is information that employers may not legally solicit from you, and they would probably be more comfortable if you don't volunteer it yourself.

List your hobbies and interests only if you can relate them to the position you're applying for. If you need room to describe your work experience, avoid this altogether. 

The phrase "References available upon request" should be left off if you need room to describe your work experience. Most employers assume you have references they may contact, and will request them if there's a need to do so. 

Leave off negatives and irrelevant points. If you feel your date of graduation will subject you to age discrimination, leave the date off your resume. If you do some duties in your current job that don't support your job search objective, leave them off your resume. Focus on the duties that do support your objective.

Leave off irrelevant personal information like your height and weight. 

Avoid the "Objective" statement--your objective should be clearly articulated in your cover letter. If you do include an objective, be specific. Vague statements, such as "Looking to utilize my marketing skills" or "seeking a rewarding position" add nothing to a resume and may in fact make you appear insincere.

Covering Letter: 

A covering letter should be individually tailored, so always address it to a person. Ask yourself what the employer is looking for. Go through the advertisement with a red pen, and underline the skills and experience it is looking for. Sell yourself in the covering letter, highlighting the qualifications that show that you are right for the job.

Emphasize the positive aspects of your resume. But keep your letter brief, it should be one page at the most, with bullets to highlight key points. Avoid negative, jargon and tentative language. Take responsibility for the next step by suggesting you telephone them to fix a meeting.

Most covering letters need three paragraphs. 

• The first should give a brief reason for writing.

• The second is to highlight why you are the right person for the job, pulling out some key skills from your resume that will demonstrate a match.

• The third paragraph should ask for an interview, but not directly, using a phrase such as, " Perhaps, I can telephone you next week to arrange a meeting at a suitable time.

Cover Letters and Salary Requirements 

Often it is difficult to determine what a specific position will pay. Although you may be tempted to include your salary requirements, you are concerned that you're recent salary maybe too high or too low for considerations for the advertised position. It is acceptable to either

• Not include the salary requirements or
• State that salary requirements are negotiable

Decision-makers unanimously agree that if the candidate appeared qualified for the position, they would offer the opportunity for an interview, despite the fact that salary requirements were not included.

Tips To Remember 

• A Good personalized covering letter invites a recruiter to read your resume.
• Please check spellings and use correct grammar. Use simple language.
• Customize your resume for the organization in mind.
• Make sure you put in essential details of what you are today, in terms of your professional qualifications, skill set, and achievements. Support these with data.
• Your resume should reflect your enthusiasm for learning and taking up challenges.
• Let your communication skills be reflected in your resume, as it is not solely IT skills, but people who are in demand.
• Be clear about the IT skills you've mastered, in chronological order.
• Overall be clear and precise.

The Last Word 

The resume is a critical tool in evaluating each potential candidate's qualifications. They search for key words and phrases, they review accomplishments, and are critical in assessing the quality of the written document. Remember that the first contact you have with potential employers is via paper. The paper must be perfect in its visual presentation and quality of the written word. 

Congratulations! In a cut-throat world where some hiring managers admit that up to 95% of all resumes exist for the express purpose of discarding them, your terrific self-marketing document made the first cut. But are you ready for the killer interview ????