The Winning Resume

A resume is the first step towards your targeted job. It creates the first impression. Forthcoming questions are mostly based on the content of your resume, thus it influences the subsequent interaction in the selection process. It should entail your experience, skills and achievements relevant to the job you seek.

Here are a few tips :

• Be candid and unambiguous.
  
• Be precise. Try to cover the whole overviews in 1-2 pages. If you are less experienced, keep it in one page only. A too long resume will go against your candidature.
  
• Use a certain predetermined format and stick to it. Use section headings with same font, font-size and effects.
  
• Take additional care while mentioning your :
  • Name: It should stand out. You can use bold or capital letters to highlight the same.
    
  • Address and Phone No.: Give complete address with PIN Code and telephone number with country code and STD code.
    
  • Email Id : Its a must. You can mention your IM Id and Skype Id also.
    
  • Academics : With relevant years, name of the Institutes or Universities. If you are not a fresher, place your experience details before your educational details. 
    
  • Experience : It should include name of your employer companies, job titles, relevant dates, place of posting and job responsibilities.
    
  • Achievements : Quantify your achievements wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, e.g., a 15% growth in revenue, employee turnover reduced by 25%, etc. 

Do away with needles items :

• References : Do not give the details of the referees.
• Religion, Caste : It can reflect different mental texture of yours.
• Charts and Graphics : Your resume is not the right place for these all.
• Resume title : Unwanted and an out of vogue concept.
• Photograph : Unnecessary, if its not a modeling sort of jobs. Also, if transmitted through email, a scanned photograph shoots up the size of the file to a great extent.
• Logos and scanned signature: Unnecessary and ornamental. A document from your personal email id bears your testimony 

Let your spouse or a friend review your resume. An honest assessment will always go a long way in giving shape to a great resume.

Always proofread your resume. Run the spell checker of your word-processor to sniff out spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. Check out punctuation and wrong capitalisation.

If you are sending a hard copy, use plain and white paper. Use preferably laser printer.

If you are mailing a soft copy, you can mail a structured and formatted resume as an attachment (doc, rtf or txt format). Otherwise you can paste your resume on the main body of the email. The advantage of this form is that the search engine of your employer can run through this, whereas it can not run through an attachment. Make sure to write the position/ job code in the subject line of the mail. It’s like mentioning the same on the envelope of the job application and CV you are sending. If you are shooting off your resume to a consultant or a headhunter, mention the job type you are interested in and location preferences in the subject line. Make it a thumb rule.