A resume is your main lifeline to a new and promising career. If you do not have an impressive resume, you cannot expect to be shortlisted for a nice job opportunity. Your resume should convey your skills, abilities and talents that set you apart from the crowd.
There are many candidates who have completed the degree with good percentages. The marks alone won’t help you fetch a good career. There are many other good things to say about yourself that should be clearly conveyed in your resume. Here we have enumerated these factors out for your knowledge and information.
Good Things to Say about Yourself or Put on a Resume:
1. Degrees and Certifications:
Your resume should include all the details regarding your education and the different certification courses you have completed. These certifications add weight to your resume. If you are a fresh candidate, your qualifications and certifications should be mentioned at the beginning of the resume.
If you are an experienced candidate, the beginning of the resume should include details about your experience in different companies and firms. Then Certifications should be added in the resume.
2. Extracurricular Activities:
There are many candidates who are qualified to hold a certain position in the firm. What would the recruiters do when they come across several equally qualified candidates? They would pick the candidates who are all rounders and possess some extra skills apart from the learning and certifications.
This is one good reason to include your extracurricular activities in your resume. Excellent marks alone don’t get you the job you quite deserve. Apart from the marks, you also need to possess certain extra skills that set you apart from the rest of the crowd.
It is thus vital that you mention about your extracurricular activities in your resume. These could include the different school and college events in which you participated. You may also speak of the different events that you have organized as a student.
3. College Projects:
If you have come up with some innovative science projects or some unique project that can help to improve the working of the present system, make sure you mention it in your resume. While most students take college projects and seminars lightly, the few who possess the spark reveal their smartness during these projects.
If you have initiated any such project during your school or college years, make sure you mention it in your resume. If it was a team effort and you were a part of the team, you need to mention that as well in your resume. These little factors count a lot when it comes to shortlisting candidates.
4. Knowledge Gained Through Experience:
Work experience is what adds maximum value to your resume. That is what distinguishes you from a fresh candidate. The knowledge you have gained by working for different firms and organisations need to be clearly stated in your resume.
If you have worked in more than one firm or organisation, you need to clearly mention about the different roles in the different firms. Describe what you gained as an employee in each of the different roles or jobs.
Guidelines To Make A Resume Appealing:
Everyone knows this as a fact that a good resume is a doorway to a good and longstanding job. Yet, most of us are careless when it comes to designing our job resume. We fail to update the latest details or forget to add our personal touch to the resume.
There are many things that you need to keep in mind while preparing your resume. A resume that attracts attention as soon as some one gets hold of it is a perfect resume.
Here are various ways to make your resume impressive and thing to add to it based on your type of career.
1. Best Impressive Quotes:
If you are applying for a writing position, a few impressive quotes or saying can help you add strength to the resume. You may quote great men like Wordsworth or Shelley. You may even choose to have quotes from some great Indian leaders.
If you are applying for a management position, you may pick a few sayings by the great management gurus. These sayings are sure to cast an impression on the mind of the interviewer.
If you are applying for sales job, pick sayings that help you sell yourself. Your resume is the first thing the recruiter will see and so make sure you have it perfect.
2. Cool Artistic Designs:
People who are applying for creative positions should opt for creatively designed resume. Graphic designers, animators and other artistic people can use their artistic skills to make their resume even more attractive. Be careful with the choice of colours. Select aesthetic shades that appeal to the viewers.
While an impressive and artistic design is vital, do not eliminate the important details simply to accommodate designs and colours. Your first aim should be to include all your qualification and details in the resume.
Things You Must Avoid Including In A Resume:
While you need to be honest in your resume, there are some things you need to avoid including in a resume. These are pitfalls in your career or things about your career that are better told face to face. Here we have mentioned a few such harsh facts:
1. About Being Fired:
During the interview you will have to tell the interviewers if you have been fired from your previous job. It is good to be honest during such situations. Yet, avoid mentioning these facts in a resume. It is better to reveal such harsh facts about your career during a face to face interview.
During an interview, the interviewers see you, talk to you and get an impression about you. When you tell them facts about past pitfalls, it may not have a very big impact if they are impressed by your overall performance during the interview. Hence it is always advisable to tackle these issues during the face to face round.
2. About A Professional Gap:
It is quite possible that you may have taken a few years off from the job due to personal reasons. A professional gap is never acceptable to huge firm or reputed organisation. The firms tend to think that individuals who have not worked for one or two years lack the ability to work efficiently.
Mentioning a professional gap on the resume can actually cause your resume to be blacklisted. It is better to cover up for such a gap stating health reasons. Another option could be to show the projects you have taken up in the duration and completed.
3. About Failing in Exams:
You could have failed in the exams due to some personal problems. It could have been a phase in your career which you have overcome. You can convince your interviewers about such a phase only during a face to face interview. It is best to talk about such failures when you are being personally interviewed for the job.
4. About Political Views:
When you are applying for a job, you do not need to reveal your political views. Political view is a personal choice. It may be your individual trait or viewpoint. There is no need to reveal it in the resume. There are certain risks when you reveal that you are a democrat or a communist.
If the interviewer or a recruiter is of a contradicting view, he may not shortlist you for the interview. Sometimes bias against certain political views may influence the decision of the recruiter. It is thus better not to mention these in your resume.
5. About Religious Views:
One must never mix his professional and personal lives. Religious views are a personal choice. Your faith and belief belong to you and they should not be advertised in professional circles. It is always wise to avoid mentioning your religious views in your resume.
The resume should be used to market your skills, abilities and special talents. Try to make the best use of your resume by focussing on the positive traits in you.
6. About Salary Expectation:
The salary expectation can decide whether you get a job or not. It is one of the important aspects but it should not be included in the resume. This is because a discussion on salary should only happen after the interview rounds. This enables the interviewers to assess your skills and abilities.
Once the interviewers are sure that you are a worthy candidate, they may consider paying you the salary you quote. Mentioning salary expectation in the resume itself may prevent you from reaching the interview round. If a firm expects you to fill the salary expectation in the job application, it is best to quote industry standards.
Conclusion:
These are simple guidelines about preparing the most impressive resume and getting through the first round of the interview.
The initial rounds of the job seeking process can be quite challenging as here the interviewers don’t get to see your work. The impression is cast by other factors as mentioned above.
A worthy candidate who knows to present himself well in the different interview rounds and has an impressive resume is sure to get selected for his dream job.
