“Newly graduated engineer, looking for a challenging role in a company where I can put my skills to the test.”
Not bad, right?
But, let’s take a look at this one-
“Dependable graduate IT Engineer, trained to work in a high-stress environment, looking to leverage my analytical skills to help XYZ firm with the upcoming challenges.”
See, the slight change in words and the mention of a name has changed the approach completely and has made it crisp and to the point.
The average time spent by a recruiter on a resume is 6 seconds, just 6 seconds!
This only proves that to make your resume attractive, the start should be appealing, and informative, concerning your assets regarding the specific job.
Resume writing has always been a simple job if we’re writing for just the sake of it. But to make it appealing, a lot of research, attention, and time is required.
As shocking as it sounds, for every other resume, there are 250 more standing in the way. There are innumerable bad resumes and ironically that’s a good thing, as it’ll give the correct and unique resume the necessary standout.
Let’s look at it with this perspective-
There is a wall between the Young professionals, who are driven, ambitious, purposeful, but are lacking the real sense of directions, and the Entrepreneurs and business leaders, who are experts of the industry. These leaders are doing great things, but are in need for hardworking and smart people from the other side of the wall to come across and help them manage the burden of what they do.
A properly written and executed resume helps the recruiters select the correct people for the job and help them reach the other side of the wall.
The resume should be very accessible and to the point.
Steps to Write an Engaging Cover Letter to Enhance your Resume
Three steps should be followed to write an engaging cover letter for the recruiter to open up your resume and have a look at it.
These are- Dream-Problem-Solution
The steps should be – to mention your dream for the company or the firm, putting out a problem, and finally giving a solution to that problem. The recruiter is interested in the vision and ideas you have for the company and not for your own.
Adding a ‘P.S.’, at the end of a cover-letter adds up value and extra attention to detail. It helps your resume to stand apart because the parting expression will always be the most remembered.
Learning about the company, going through all of their interviews, videos, and information works tremendously in your favor when you write a resume for them.
Your informative and woke approach towards them helps you to stand out in the crowd of dull, dry, and boring resumes.
Certain qualities help us to stand unique from the others. By increasing your credibility through writing a blog on the internet, exposing your intellect, and acting as a solution-provider to the problem, you unknowingly form a trust-worthy approach towards the recruiter.
Find the reasons why people wouldn’t want you to work with them, consider their objections, and rectify them before they come up.
Now that we have grabbed the attention of the recruiter through our cover-letter, it’s time to jump on to the Resume Format. Essentially, there are 3 formats to write a Resume:
1) Reverse Chronological Format
- It’s the most common and traditional type of resume.
- In this, we list the most recent and relevant work position first and proceed backward in chronological order.
- It helps in stating your progress in work throughout the years.
2)Functional Resume Format
- It targets the job that you are going after and highlights the skills and abilities that relate to that position.
- It incorporates the skills that are only relevant to the job you’re seeking.
3) Combination Resume Format
- It combines the best parts of functional resume format, i.e. relevant skills, qualifications, and targeted info and Chronological resume format.
Now, after writing an attractive and attention-grabbing cover-letter and looking at the different resume formats, let’s take a look at how we can actually write a killer resume that gets you your dream job!
It consists of the following subsections-
Contact information
In Contact information, the name, email address, LinkedIn profile, phone number, etc, is incorporated. Note that ,your email address should be official and should have a genuine feel; instead of “mikecarlover123@yahoo.com“, it should be official like “mikehannigan1965@gmail.com”
Personal profile
In a personal profile, it’s important to show the recruiter, that you are just what he is looking for in an employee. It should contain the accomplishments and achievements and a separate section for the wins, certificates, publications, and awards.
Work experience
As for work experience, depending on the format you are writing the resume, previous and relevant work are to be stated. If your part-time job is not relevant for the job, then it shouldn’t be put down here.
Education
In education, relevant education according to the requirement of the job is to be stated. Instead of stating all your achievements from middle school to college, add only the education relevant for the job.
Additional
The hobbies and extra-curricular that are relevant should be stated in this section.
Tips to make the resume of your dream job
Here are some super-useful tips from our end to write an amazing resume to grab your dream job:
Don’t overcomplicate
There is simply no need to stuff your resume with irrelevant information and hobbies. A simple and straightforward approach is better.
Big achievements
Mention your major achievements openly, it increases your credibility and worth.
Short and crisp
Lengthy sentences are a big No-no. It should be short, informative, and crisp.
Remove 10-15-year experience
Mentioning experience too old will give out the objective of you being technologically outdated.
Mold as per the job
Layer your experiences according to the job you are searching for.
Replace vague words with the specifics
Mention specific information with specific words. Don’t extend the sentence unnecessarily.
Strictly avoid typos and grammatical errors
It may seem childish and unnecessary to mention this, but the majority of the resumes get thrown in the trash because of the misuse of grammar and typos
Do not ignore the unpaid experience and internship
The young generation often tends to ignore and skip their experiences that do not result in monetary benefits. With not much experience under their belt, they find it a necessity to mention only paid jobs. But it should always be stated as it adds up to the experience.
Proofreading
Reading your resume and checking for possible mistakes is of utmost importance. Get it checked by the career counselor or someone else because we are more prudent while checking the documents of others rather than ourselves.
This also includes proofreading your resume to spot any grammatical and spelling mistakes. We have already discussed how it is important to keep your resume error-free. Once you have completed your resume, make sure to proofread it to eliminate any possible grammatical as well as spelling errors.
To do so, read the whole resume thoroughly. If you don’t want to spend extra time closely looking for these types of errors, you can simply use an online grammar checker tool. These tools are specifically designed to locate and erase grammatical and spelling errors from your writing while saving you a great deal of time.
Do not send the same resume everywhere
Tailoring the resume according to the needs of the job is important. Specifics concerning the job needs to be stated and uniquely. So, do not apply the same resume everywhere
Avoid any sort of Irrelevant Information
Get rid of “sent from iPad, sent from iPhone, sent from Samsung”. This shows juvenile behavior.
Avoid photos in the resume
Avoid uploading photos in your resume as it can be the source of ageism and discrimination. It can also be perceived as unprofessional and naive.
Save lines space and write absolutely “to the point”
Instead of – ABC 2010, Bachelor of Commerce
write – B.Com, ABC 2010
Mention specifics with year and date
In 2012, I worked for XYZ companies for a year and a half.
In 2015, I joined an internship program at XYZ.
OR
2012 – Worked for the XYZ companies for 1.5 years
2015 – Joined an internship program in XYZ Works
The second option looks better and more clear on the resume.
Summarising the “Dos and “Don’ts” to write on a resume
Dos
- A proper formal email address
- Your summary
- Proper spell check and grammar.
- Good experiences that match the job description.
- Relevant achievements and accomplishments.
Don’ts
- Unprofessional email address.
- Your objective.
- Ignore spell check and grammar.
- Experience which doesn’t match the job description.
- False or exaggerated education and accomplishments.
Mapping your skills according to the job- profile in order still tops the list.
In different industries- IT, Engineering, Administration, Accounting, Finance, Marketing/PR, Education, Art/Design, etc. , different requirements and needs take place and so is their requirement of resumes and qualifications.
Generally, there is a thought process that when you’re writing a resume, the numbers shine bright, but the reality is that the extra-curricular and non- academics are the real stars that make you stand apart from the rest.
From childhood, we’re forced to score high and study hard, but the reality stands strong when the resumes of people with more achievements rather than academics stand apart.
With a single page of well-written accomplishments and skills, you can easily and uniquely achieve your dream job.
To get noticed in these 6 seconds and stand apart from those 250 entries will take a really good resume, and following these pointers will definitely help you with that.
So go on, prepare the resume for your dream job, and do it now!
