Whether your job search is for your first step in the career or in the midway of an employment gap, you need a professional summarized form of a record of hard copy i.e., an eye catching resume to list out details about your own self before you start the journey further.
A resume or curriculum vitae is a compilation of your qualification and experience credentials with which you shall be attracted towards the automated search engines which the companies use.
You are the preparer and content decider of your own resume, so it is suggested to make your resume creative and build a meaningful profile by pointing out your achievements and unique features to make yourself distinct from the others.
It shows your personal skills and capabilities through which you can make your potential employers feel that you will add some benefits to the organization which the existing strength could not.
There are some points which will serve as a guide for a structured approach of preparing the resume by conducting self-analysis exercises and tackle each key area with extra attention.
Your resume should be prepared in such a way that when you yourself read, your self-confidence increases and your esteem will boost up and you will feel that you are already best suited person for the job.
Your CV is your ticket to global employment, so the presentation shall be up to the mark and eye catching. While preparing the resume, followings tips may be considered to make an attractive and presentable resume to get you hired wherever you desired:
Content of the Eye Catching Resume:
1. Maintain the sequence of the Resume:
The Resume formats have been standardized by some companies according to their online application form.
It is advisable to maintain the required sequence of your resume. This sequence wise arrangement makes it easy for the employers to seek information quick and easy.
The most important parts of your career jump like professional qualifications and experience shall be heading the resume followed by the less important factors like basic knowledge base, master details for supporting your main aim, achievements and moreover, the objective with which you are determined to work in the company.
2. How to write your name:
Your name will be the first thing by which the recruiter will address you in future for further correspondence and conversation.
Write your full name at the top left hand side corner of the file. Maintain the spelling as it appears in your academic records like mark sheets and certificates. Or else make it same to the identity proof provided so that the recruiter believes that the supporting documents and the original resume are of the same person.
Never use your name initials in your resume. If you have a middle name as well, then you can insert it in your name too.
3. Contact information:
In today’s world, postal addresses are just a formality for the recruiter to know from where you shall be coming and the distance between your work place and residence.
So, the important information is your mobile number and email id. You should provide a mobile number which you are continuously keeping it with you and using it on a regular basis.
Write the contact number below your name. Next comes the email id. You can place this below your mailing address.
4. Be cautions with your email id:
Make sure that you have a simple and plain email id like name@domain.com or name dob@domain.com.
Please don’t give the email id of the company you are currently working in or any such email id where your current company’s name is also included like seniormanager@xyzcompany.com.
And similarly, don’t use any cheesy words such as pretty girl or handsome boy143 etc. it attracts attention and shows your seriousness about the professional world.
These email ids are shared only with friends, and not with professional managers. If you don’t have a simple email id, create one and put it in your resume.
5. Never use personal social sites’ URL for your introduction:
Don’t use social sites URL about your profile and achievements until and unless that site strictly contains your professional information. Even a single personal conversation might be taken seriously.
It is better to avoid placing such URLs in the resume and try to include whatever you want in the document itself.
6. Share easily accessible links:
If you are asked about any work samples and you want to share a link of the work done by you over the internet, then make sure that the link is easily accessible and opens directly to the page where your work is present.
The recruiters do not have the time to go through the whole lengthy process of registrations or logins or confirmations of any sort.
Display more about your online exposure as this shows your works are being displayed and accepted by the search engines and the ratings and feedbacks you have received from experts and peers on your write ups.
7. Objective of your resume:
The first point of the Resume shall be an objective with which you are working and looking for a switch over.
Your objective should be simple and concise. It should not include heavy and literary words which are not in regular use of English language. Include the industry you want to work in, along with the job position.
What skills you are having and how it will be beneficial to his organization in short and long term. Seek career advice and decide for yourself what you want to do and then mention your career goal in your resume.
8. Customize your resume as per the profile:
An extra bit of effort is required to study the job profile vacancy of the company and prepare and customize your resume as per the points.
You don’t need to mention the name of the organization you are applying for, but you need to match your qualifications and experience with the profile you would like to apply for. The key is to research the employers before dropping the resume to their contacts.
A brief research will give you an idea of the industry the company is in and the position it holds in the current market. So, modify your resume accordingly. Mention that you were looking forward to work in that industry, and so on.
9. Forward your resume over email, one by one to each recruiter:
Generally, people make one resume and forward it at a stretch to all the listed email ids they have searched for. This practice is not at all advisable. Firstly you should not email your resume to a long list.
Your each recruiter will be able to see the list of companies you are interested in which may offend them for no reason. Don’t use all the email ids in one message.
Messaging in different email ids hardly cost you five minutes extra and nothing more, so please don’t follow the traditional methods.
10. Academic Qualifications:
Your most recent qualifications shall follow your objective paragraph. As this is most recent achievement and significant accomplishment with which you are eligible to apply for the said job.
The qualifications shall be very much related to your objectives. It shall include board name, university name, year of passing and the grades or percentage with which you have cleared.
Even if you have not got your results and you have appeared for the exams, you can include it in the column and mention that results are awaited. Either Your Institution or your degree shall come in the first column depending upon the degree of emphasis you want to give.
11. Don’t use abbreviations:
Abbreviations and acronyms are appropriate in some cases like, B.A., M.A. or B.Com/M.Com when the capitalization is in its correct place. It is not advised to use abbreviations for professional qualifications like CA, CIA, CFA, CRRA, CPA etc.
Moreover, don’t use abbreviations or common name with which you used to mention your university among your peers. Write full name and city if the university and institute you are associated to.
Formatting of the resume:
12. Your resume shall be in a readable font:
All official documents and papers are prepared in “Times New Roman” or “Arial”. This font is considered standard as it is readable by all. That is why all newspapers are printed in Times New roman.
This font has a slight edge in each of its letters and looks great with a medium font size, say, 12.You can use Times new roman for making sub headings and use Arial type font for filling up the contents.
The change in the font will be clear to make the reader understand that the filled content is regarding which topic. Never use cursive writing fonts or Italicized font even for headlines or sub headlines. Make it clear so that the interviewer can read it in one glance.
13. Be careful about the font size:
With the said font, the font size shall be at the maximum of 11 or 12. Keep all the letters of the same size.
Even if you want to highlight any of the special achievements, just bold that line or underline that part. Never use larger font size for highlighting any of your achievements.
Make sure that the job titles and employment dates are highlighted with a bit larger font size, for clear visibility.
14. Visual separations:
“This section has ended and the next section is beginning” is clearly spoken by the nice double spaces in your document.
Bolding your first line of the paragraph does serve the purpose, but double spacing will be even better. Spacing in between each letter should be uniform.
Similarly, spacing in between each paragraph and line should be uniform. The format shall be straight and justifies. The uniform spacing will give rest to the eyes.
Never use underlines in spaces, instead use white spaces to separate even underlined words. Bolded texts, italics and underlined content need proper separation to make them look uncluttered and plain.
Create a visual hierarchy in your eye catching resume by separating each section with more space and maintain the format with other sections too.
15. Header and footer:
The header and its associated contents shall be grouped together to make the recruiter scan your resume in less than fifteen seconds.
Anybody who glances at your resume shall understand from the header title, the matter of the paragraph below. Don’t sacrifice visual organization.
Use white space among the section title and its paragraph. Remember that, every line you save in designing your header, you can dedicate to add more skills of yours.
16. Give single information for single topic:
Don’t create confusion in your eye catching resume. List only one address, one contact number, one email id, and one name you are closest at.
Make your master details as brief as possible. There is no use typing two or three addresses as it will take spaces and you will get less opportunity to display your skills.
Creating unnecessary information in your resume may frustrate your recruiter because he will not get the information which he requires.
Remember, that your recruiters only need your contact information to know about your brief back ground and contact you if you get the job. They are least interested in whereabouts fully concerned with your personal upbringing.
17. Always write in point form:
Paragraphs are a cluster of words and recruiters are the busiest persons. When they will see large chunks of words which cannot highlight the required profile attributes for the job, he will simply keep aside the resume.
List your achievements in bullet form to increase the chances of catching the reader’s vision. Even in online applications, separate the bulleted points with dashes.
18. Prepare Resumes in different formats:
Take some extra efforts initially and set up three types of Resume formats for applying in all types of companies.
One shall be your working document i.e. (.doc) in which you will make changes and arrange your data according to the necessities of the company profile. Next one shall be the PDF format, in which you will submit the Resume in the respective mail ids, if assigned or asked.
The last and the most helpful one, is to make the Resume in (.txt) format. This format will help you to fill data when you go for online applications. In this (.txt) file, use dashes to create points.
These dashes shall be copied and pasted as it is wherever you require, in an arranged format.
Covering Letter:
19. Make the first page of your resume outstanding:
Your covering letter will allow the employer to open the resume with enthusiasm. The way you set your covering letter creates an impression upon the employer about your way of presentation.
The contents in the covering letter should be a master piece of your resume. It makes you stand out from the rest of the candidate resume, in a superior way.
The covering letter itself shows that you are following the principles of resume writing. A brief description of what you are and how you can benefit the company.
20. Get your Resume reviewed by an expert:
Once you prepare your Resume, spend some time reviewing it and perfecting it line by line. It is better to ask help from the experts who have already taken interviews and have known the pros and cons of the matter in the resume.
They will guide you best for any formatting or content arrangement.
Purpose of the resume:
An eye catching resume not only speaks of the things you have done, but also states things which you can do.
It is an advertisement of your own self. Your resume shall be effective enough to create an everlasting experience in the minds of the employer and any of the people using it.
21. Establishes you as a professional person:
A resume creates an impression that you have high standard writing skills and excellent approach towards profession. A resume itself is a sample of your skills.
The way you prepare your resumes with null mistakes shows that you have perfection in your job. The way you present each and every data, shows that you keep yourself updated to your present scenario.
22. Avoid grammatical and spelling mistakes:
People who are perfect in English language and spellings get irritated where they see grammatical errors and spelling mistakes.
Spelling mistakes shows your inability to spellings and grammar in work culture also. It shows the percentage of literacy in your qualifications.
23. Follow technology:
To make your resume stand out from the block, prepare your resume by using time and technology from talented resume writers by searching on internet.
There are even numerous resume templates available on job sites, from where you can get guidance to prepare tech specified resumes.
With an eye catching resume, your half the battle is won already. Writing of resume should be taken as seriously. Once you realize that the only tool through which you can get through in a company is only your resume.
