JobSeekers
To succeed in today’s job market, you must consider your resume as an advertisement targeted towards your future boss.
Your resume is key towards the first step in the right direction when it comes to job hunting. Every resume is different, and it is up to you to show how your skills make you more suitable for the role.
CV vs. Resume
CV is short for Curriculum Vitae, meaning “course of life” in Latin, basically a written overview of someone’s life’s work. It is an in-depth document that describes the whole course of your career in detail.
On the other hand, a resume is a short document containing key facts about your professional experience, educational background, and skills.
Here are some guidelines and tips:
When applying for jobs nowadays - people look for resumes. CVs are only required if specifically asked for or if you are applying for a very senior position.
- CVs are now outdated, and recruiters do not have the time to go through paragraphs of information. Applying with a resume highlighting your skills and experiences is more likely to get a recruiter to view and consider your resume than a long resume or CV.
- Your resume should be no longer than a page or a page and a half. Unless you are at a senior level with more than 8-10 years of relevant experience, up to two pages or a maximum of 3 pages is fair.
- Your Name and contact details should be clearly and easily visible at the top of your resume.
- Replace the objective with a professional summary to start your resume. Keep it short and to the point mentioning your total years of experience and critical functions you have been part of.
- Try to highlight your skills, competencies, particular software skills if relevant to the role so that it is visible at a glance. (Some people have their skills listed on the side of the resume in bullet points)
- Remember that interpersonal skills are critical to your career success. So, ensure to mention a few.
- Include keywords in your resume from the job description of the role you are applying for.
- Remove old education dates. If you graduated from high school and university more than 5 years ago, mentioning the dates aren’t relevant.
- When listing your employment history, make sure to mention the company name, your last held job title, and dates. (Here’s another critical point, if you have worked for a private company, it is better you put the industry or company website in brackets next to the company name) This will help, especially if the recruiter has not heard of the company before.
- In your employment history, mention brief bullet points to highlight your experience in that role. Avoid lengthy paragraphs as much as possible.
- Resumes these days do not require a photo unless specifically asked for. If you do want to add a photo, do avoid selfies at any cost. A simple professional front-facing portrait should do fine. It is not necessary to have your picture in business attire, but something semi-formal, preferably with a nice collar, is good enough. Another reason photographs could be avoided in resumes is, they may take the focus off your skills and experience, which is what matters and is of value.
- Simplify your resume’s appearance. Black and white resumes are usually standard, but including one color or the companies with their logo may add that little bit that makes it attractive.
- If you plan to submit a cover letter, it should be specifically focused on the job you are applying for instead of a generic one that you are using for all your applications.
- Formatting and spacing for your resume - download some templates which will have the headings (bold and in 14- 18 size), font type (Arial or Calibri is recommended), and font size (12-14 size) sorted for you. Most importantly, please save your resume in a PDF file so that recruiters can open it on any device.
- Lastly, proofread your resume, have someone else read through it as a doublecheck for something you may have missed out on.
Your resume is the only chance you have to create an impression to secure an interview. Employers want candidates that can make an impact and think out of the box. Spending time on each job application to customize your resume is, in fact, worth the effort.
Share This Article