While we all have flexibility of what needs to be highlighted on our Resume, the decisions you make can affect whether you get the job you really want, or get a job at all.
A résumé is a marketing tool that serves as a catalyst to draw job opportunities to you. Your résumé is about your future & therefore it should more focus on the experiences that are relevant to the position you want to achieve in near future rather giving stress on the accomplishments handled in the past.
• Your résumé is not an autobiography / essay of your entire life, therefore past experiences that does not relate to what you are looking out for should either be eliminated or summarized briefly.
• While listing your most relevant experience, always quantify your noteworthy credits wherever possible.
• People with gaps in their career highlight their latest jobs first, thinking that a “functional” type, stressing skills rather than dates, will work in their favor. But in most cases, job seekers should go for reverse-chronological order.
• Hiring managers become suspicious when they see a résumé without prominent dates, it’s always advisable to fill your gap by your volunteer work/community service etc .
• Almost all the companies use software these days to segregate unqualified applicants. You should be clear on the JD, focus towards the key words that would secure your chances of getting through in the screening.
• Be very precise wrt Summary on your resume. Highlight the summary for the job you want to explore/applying your candidature for.
• Tweak your résumé when necessary. Be sensitive towards the words used as they are different for different industries.
• Your résumé should be easy to read. While most résumés are sent via e-mail, HR professionals still print out the attachments and its imperative that your CV should be easy to read when printed.
• Make good use of white space, point size and bullets. In case, it’s a laundry list of bullets, group them into clusters under skills headings so they are more readable.
• Many companies have older versions of Microsoft Word, so make sure that your résumé attachment is compatible with other versions as well.
Best of Luck,
