Time for some non technical blog post! It has been a general misconception that you need to prepare your resume only when you look out for a job. Sometimes, it is even more silly, when someone asks you "Are you looking for a job change?" seeing you prepare / edit your resume. Believe me this question has come up many times in my career, and my own friends / colleagues have asked me this :-).
Now let us come to the point. Why should you update your resume and when? Ideally majority of us never bother to update the resume unless and until need arises. To answer the question mentioned above, "Why should you update your resume?" you ought to because it is your resume :-), jokes apart, we need to look into our resume and update it at least once a month or once in two months. The rationale behind updating the resume every month is to ensure that you don't miss anything important, that you achieved over a period of time. However trivial it might sound, just make a note of it, later you can knock it off if you find one that is more worthy a mention. This was you don't need to remember or recollect everything one fine day when your job search kicks off. This also ensures that none of your efforts will go in vain.
Now, content plays an important role in your resume getting shortlisted by the recruiter. Recruiters need to go through lots of resume as part of initial screening process and then shortlist the potential interview candidates. Imaging the sheer amount of resumes any company gets through various sources like, consultants, employee referrals, job portals (internal and external) and beyond all individual direct applicants. Now to win this race and to get shortlisted, your resume needs to be crisp and clear. The below mentioned tips will probably help you prepare a good resume. Please feel free to mention any additional tips in the comments section. Also there are plenty of books out in the market which might help you write good resumes. If you need some help, post a comment, I would be more than happy to help.
- Know your word processor or editor very well. There are some really cool features in various word processors, which might be handy. Formatting and presenting the content is as important as the content itself. Hence you need to keep this in mind. Also, choose your fonts appropriately in order to ensure readability.
- The resume you prepare depends heavily on the job / role you are targeting. Know what you want first and then try achieving your goals. This is more analogous to "I have a hammer and everything else is a nail."
- One page resumes are really good, as recruiters will find it easy to read and know about you by spending little time. If you feel you need more pages to describe yourself, keep to a maximum of two or three. If your resume is more than that probably you are writing the screenplay for the next Hollywood flick. ;-) {Believe me I had 7 page resume when I just had two years of experience. One fine day I got an opportunity to look at the resume of my organization's Vice President and found it to be 1 page. He had so much experience and knowledge, yet was able to describe himself in a page. Eventually I prepared my one page resume.}
- Have a clear 'career objective'. This again boils down to what you want to do in the organization that you are applying for. There is something tricky here. You need to spend time and frame your career objective, this will go a long way in your career. Career objective should ideally change over a period of time as you move up the organizational ladder. There another side of the story, once I was asked to repeat my career objective by a Vice President, of one of my past organizations. This was easy as I had written my career objective. There is another school of thought from Career Cup 'no career objective'. The company already knows that because you applied for a particular position. At best, it'll just waste space. At worst, it'll limit you since it'll exclude other positions that might have been interesting to you. Just decide based on what you want.
- On the top of the resume mention your contact details like email, mobile phone, etc. Do not give too much information, just mention important stuff. E.g. one contact number where you can be reached anytime. If you are searching for a job, ensure that you are reachable anytime.
- Provide an 'experience summary' which mentions in short about who are you and what you do currently. You can also include the list of technical areas, languages and tools that you have used. You can also mention any award or accolades that you have received. This section forms the key and should give the reader a clear picture of your skill set. They should be immediately able to make a decision without reading further. This will help them to match your resume with the job description at hand. This will also help the interviewer question you on the relevant areas. Be fair, never mention something that you do not know or do not expect to be questioned. Say if you have only theoretical knowledge and lack practical experience, it is good to mention the same.
- If you feel it is good, you can list down your 'strengths'. But remember 'action speaks louder than words'.
- After this you can mention the 'experience' you have in you present and past organizations, in the order of present to past to first. If you had been with an organization for quite a while, mention the various roles you played, and also about the promotions that you obtained. It is also good to list down the various job responsibilities you had. This will give the recruiter a fair idea of how you progressed in your career and reached the current position. You can also mention a brief description of the projects that you worked in and the technology used.
- Emphasize the project names and other important bits of information like roles and years.
- Mention your educational details after your work experience in various companies. If you have got some really cool stuff like any awards, publications, etc you can mention the same. Do not publish too much information here, anyway if needed the recruiter will get back to you. If you mention your CGPA it might be an added advantage to indicate your strong foundation. You can also mention about your subjects of interest if required, provided you have something left in your quota of 1 page.
- Finally you can mention about your interests. This might include personal as well as professional interests, blogs, twitter, etc.
- Nowadays it is a good idea to provide links to something like Git-Hub, where you can showcase what you have done or contributed to the industry in return. This way your recruiter gets a chance to see that you can do something that you claim.
- If you have a valid work permit or visa, just mention that you have one, without disclosing any sensitive numbers (Passport #, Visa #, etc).
- Above all, check your spelling and grammar. Look for typo errors, read the resume multiple times, ask someone to do a peer review, have a different set of eyes look into what you have created and let them review it. This way you will get a different perspective and it might help catch few unnoticed issues. BTW excuse me for any spelling / grammar errors in this blog post, as it is less than 30 mins to midnight.
This link explains a few more points and this template will help you prepare a good resume. For more information / help just reach me out @srihari_sr! Best wishes for your job hunt and resume preparation!
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