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Saturday, July 13, 2013

how to create a resume

How To Create A Resume That Will Get You Hired FAST?

how to crteate a resume
how to create a resume
When you are job hunting, you may be one of hundreds, sometimes even thousands of people who are competing for one job opening. 

This means that to get the job, you need to stand out among the rest

This short, but information packed article will give you professional advice on doing just that, in just a few simple steps.

Tips On How To Create A Resume That Stands Out Among The Crowd

A resume is a summary of your employment history, which should be written with the right amount of information to entice a potential employer to want to know more, and consequently, invite you to attend an interview. Too much information can sometimes work against you, and hitting the right balance takes practice.

A resume should always be customized to the position you are applying for and used in conjunction with a cover letter.

One of the readers of my blog, Dr. Mala from RCS, was kind enough to share her personal experience & tips on resume writing"

I have seen many people not make the cut to an interview because they presented a poorly written and composed resume. These applications, more often than not, end up straight in the recycling bin, and with employment competition as fierce as it is in this tough economy, you have no room for error.

If you are fresh, you should do your dream job exercise so you will know what you want to do with your career. This is very important for both your future success and your future job satisfaction.

Here are my Top 8 Tips for Creating a Resume that Screams “You’re Hired!”


1. Brainstorm and write about your professional journey so far, before hitting the laptop. Get a notepad and pen and write out any and all thoughts about who you are professionally.


Brainstorming session with your friends & colleagues before writing
résumé

Before writing the résumé, you should think through the following things:
  • Who do you want to be?
  • What position do you want to achieve?
  • What are your objectives and what are the specific details of your work history?

Important points to note are: You have to forget about your personal needs to write a reader-focused resume. By thinking about what the reader needs to see versus what you need to say, you're taking the pressure off yourself.

Get it all out on paper, and then organize it in a sequential manner. You may download resume-brainstorming-worksheet.pdf  as a reference.

2. Customize your resume for the specific position you are applying for, and highlight the relevant areas of your experience that match with responsibilities in the vacancy. Match your skills to the required competencies, but do this honestly. Employers will know if you are too good to be true!

Recruiters Only Look at Your Resume for an Average of Six Seconds and This Is What They See.


So, think of writing resume like a sales pitch and not a history of your work life. You want to provide the most important things, not everything. Here is a list of top 100 useful words for power resume.

3. Use verbs to describe your achievements, as opposed to just stating what you did on a daily basis.

4. Don't use fancy fonts and colors or images. Keep it simple and professional. Arial and Times New Roman are the industry standard fonts in 11 or 12-point size. You should print resume on an quality resume paper before you send it any HR manager.

5. Use the most appropriate resume style that is relevant to the current stage of your career. There are four main resume styles: chronological, functional, combination and targeted. You may refer to Susan Ireland's site for resume samples & cover letter.There are several resume writer software like resume maker professional deluxe which you can download from Amazon but I personally don't recommend these types of products.

You may refer to youth.gc.ca to learn more on functional, chronological & hybrid types of resume.

6. Whenever possible, include references from former employers, teachers, colleagues, and peers. Testimonials of this nature will always work in your favor.

7. Switch to a visual CV to show your best.You may read Dani Fankhauser's article "Can Beautiful Design Make Your Resume Stand Out?"  or Sharlyn Lauby article "9 Dynamic Digital Resumes That Stand Out From the Crowd" at Mashable.com on this context.

8. I recommend that you check your CV with an application like rezscore.com, which scans your resume, gives it a letter grade from A to F, and then gives you helpful advice for improving your resume.

 In summary, take the time to formulate a tailored resume that is aesthetically pleasing, gets straight to the point and leaves an employer wanting to meet you and potentially have you on their team is your goal for a successful resume. Thinking about it from an employer's perspective can help build your professional story. Would you hire you?

Additional helpful information for you on resume writing

What you should know about CVs, Resumes & Bio-data and when to use which?

Resume - A resume is a one or two page “summary” of your skills, experience and education. It is generally no longer than a page or two, and is mainly used in the USA.

CV - A Curriculum Vitae is a longer and more detailed synopsis. Generally over a couple of pages long, it is used in the UK & European countries.

Bio-Data - Bio-Data files concentrate more on the individual and his attributes like height, weight, color, skin complexion, and more that describes the person the best. It is mainly used in the academic world.

2. Social resume is getting popular and here are 10 new ways to build a kick-ass digital resume.

Here are few new ways to build a kick-ass digital resume

  • Zerply.com where you can showcase your work in a more interactive and engaging manner.
  • ResumUP can help you to make your ‘social profile visual.
  • You can use BranchOut  for networking and also to create a profile which features everything that is wonderful (or not) about you.
  • ResumeBaking.com , ResumeBear.comDoYouBuzz.com are other options.
  • The Infinity Resume Builder (iPhone app) brings basic resume creation capabilities to your mobile. It features a series of drop-down menus to help you create your ‘on-the-go’ work experience snapshot.

3. What Kind of Stuff Do Employers Search for When I Apply for a Job?

4. Here is a video by Dr. Phil on top headhunters in America where he mentioned about Tony Beshara. You may read Tony Beshara's book where he reveals What REALLY Gets You Hired.

5. If you are in Toronto and looking for head hunters in Canada, you may contact Certified professional resume writer like Angela Hill from Toronto.

6.You may also take services from Laura Smith-Proulx who is multiple award-winning, 8-time certified executive resume writer & LinkedIn profile expert. Several of my clients who are now settled in USA have high opinion about Laura.

creating a resume tips from author of amazing resume
Dr. Mala

About Mala: This article is written by Dr. Mala , a 20 years experienced human resource consultant. She is specialist in CXO level placement in large multinationals. She is one of the most talkeb about life coach & motivational speaker. 

Her best secret tip for proof read of a CV   is - read your résumé from the bottom up to reduce errors

Click here to download her latest book  amazing resumes.

4 comments:

  1. Useful tips. I speak Spanish & English both and you can say both are my native language. I also read & understand Chinese & Hebrew. What's the best way to represent the same in my resume.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Gitanjali.

    How to write language skill on your resume is a very common question. I recommend to use
    the Interagency Language Roundtable scale (ILR) which describes how the US Government defines levels of language proficiency for foreign service.

    So, on your resume, it would be completely reasonable to have a section for Language Skills that looked like this:

    English, Spanish: native language
    Chinese: limited working proficiency (ILR scale)
    Hebrew: full professional proficiency (ILR scale)
    But if you think all of that is overkill, it's still ok to do this:

    English, Spanish: native language
    Chinese: intermediate (speaking, reading); basic (writing)
    Hebrew: fluent (speaking, reading, writing)

    Visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ILR_scale to know more on ILR scale

    Thanks

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous26/7/13

    I am working as medical assistant. This is a fast growing field so I am planning to apply for senior position in health services management. How should I tailor my resume?

    ReplyDelete
  4. here are 5 suggestions for you

    1. First you need to know what job you need to perform in health services management.

    2. Brainstorm to find out how you can contribute in that position based on your expertise .

    3. Find your unique selling point so that you can add value to that position

    4. Take relevant training if require to bridge ant skill gap.

    5. Customize your CV & cover letter accordingly. You can read http://www.arindamchattopadhyay.com/2013/08/help-with-resume-writing.html to know more about help with resume writing.

    ReplyDelete