Creating Your Resume
Following are some of the tips that you need to follow:
- Choosing a good resume template: Having a good template will assist you in saving time to compose an effective professional resume.
- Have an effective format: The format of your resume is an extremely important factor that determines whether your resume is read through or discarded. You need to make it attractive, clean, and organized. Do not forget to include your contact details complete with your professional email address and current phone numbers in the header along with your name.
- Include a 'Profile’ or a 'Summary Of Qualifications’ section: This section is very important as it puts in the forefront your experience, areas of expertise and key skills. Use short and powerful sentences.
- Include sections like 'Career Highlights’ or 'Key Accomplishments’: This is where you actually provide concrete proof that you have held responsibilities and have made considerable contributions in previous positions. Use bullets while mentioning these facts.
- The experience section: Mention your work experience in the reverse order, starting with your most recent position. Make sure to include accurate dates of tenure so that no information is misunderstood. In order to include responsibilities held, you could either mention them in the bulleted form or paragraph form, or have a para-bullet form. Whichever you use, it is essential to organize your data so that it is attractive and showcases the most important aspects of your work profile.
- Education section: State with accuracy all your degrees along with the end date. Remember that inclusion of GPA, major, minor, awards, relevant coursework, activities, internships, study abroad programs, and projects will do good to strengthen this section.
- Additional Information: This section could include anything which would add to the value of your resume. For instance, you could mention publications, training, professional affiliations, language or computer skills, etc.
- Do not include references: It is recommended that references are prepared on a separate sheet of paper which should be presented at the interview on request. At the most you should only include 'Reference on Request’ at the end of the resume.
- Use of powerful action verbs: The language you use is very important and will go a long way to determine the success of your job search. Begin sentences with powerful action verbs such as implemented, navigated, oversaw, authored, formulated, incorporated, mediated, resolved, etc.
- Have a cover letter attached to support your resume: Make sure you draft out a letter which complements the resume you have created. A cover letter gives you the opportunity to tell the employer those things which you cannot mention in the resume.