Posts Tagged ‘resume creator’

Basic Resume writing Tips

Resume Format

Always have a .doc (Microsoft Word) format and .txt format of your resume with you. When you are filling your resume in websites, you need the text format and when you are sending resume through mail, it’s better to send the .doc format.

Resume Size: Try to see to it that the .doc resume fits into one or at most two pages, with average or 10 – 12 size easily readable fonts like, Verdana, Calibri, Times new Roman, Arial etc and the file size is less than 100 KB. Resume

File Name Don’t give some junk names as file name for the resume. If you keep using junk names, there is every possibility that your mail will travel to bulk/trash folder of recruiter. Your resume’s file name should ideally denote your name, experience, technology, years of experience and company name. Keep some valid name for your resume. Example: Romil_Jha.doc Example: Romil_Jha_B.Tech_Chemical.doc

Exclusive Mail IDs Use only one (or maximum of 2) mail Ids exclusively for the purpose of recruitments. Do NOT use those mail Ids for any other purpose. Use logical E-mail id’s that displays your name and not with some funny or unprofessional name. You must be careful about the service providers in which you open a mail account. Don’t use the mail Ids/accounts from non-standard service providers. If they disconnect services suddenly, your mail ID fails and you need to resend resumes with new mail Id to all the companies you have already applied. So, always try to create mail Ids with standard service providers like Yahoo, Rediff, Google etc. While sending the resume, preferably send it from the mail ID you have mentioned in your resume. While sending the resume, always keep a CC/BCC to your mail ID (or at least keep your sent items ON) so that you will know whether the resume is attached properly and/or whether it’s traveling to bulk mail folder.

Subject Line If the company mentions that a specific ‘Job Code’ has to be written in Subject Line, write that. If nothing specific, then give a proper subject line for your mail. Example: Resume – Chemical Engineer – 3 Years Experience – Herdillia Chemicals – Mumbai.

Covering Letter Always try to include a “short” covering letter just containing your experience, current location, contact details (address & phone number) current company name, technology you are working in. Don’t write too long covering letters. No HR will spend time on reading your long letters.

Sweet Resume Formatting Don’t make the resume too long. Keep it short & sweet. The HR will hardly have a few seconds glance at your resume before he decides to read any further. He won’t have the time to read story-like resume. So, be precise, clear and straight to the point. Better use bullets for mentioning important points.

Header & Footer! You can choose to have a header & footer in your resume. Header can contain a simple heading of your resume. Footer should preferably contain the page number.

First Page is the best page to convey all about you ! Typically the HR expects all the important details in the first page. He receives hundreds of resumes and hardly gets a few seconds to look at your resume and so he won’t bother to search your resume for the required details, if the details are not found in his first glance at your resume.

The first page of resume must contain the following things: Personal Details : Full Name, Date of Birth [optional], Current Contact Details : Full Contact Address, Contact Phone Numbers, Mail ID & / or Alternate Mail ID. Work Experience Summary : All the companies you have worked so far, Website, Dates of Duration in each Company. Don’t assume that everyone knows about your company. (You can highlight if your current company has any good quality levels like CMM/CMMI)

Job Responsibilities : Your job profile in your past companies. For example, you should highlight that you are working as ‘Module Leader leading a team of 6 people’ in your current company.

Skill Set Summary: Highlight your abilities and skills you have. Don’t include any fictitious or unjustified details. Summary should be a single and concise paragraph summarizing your achievements, proven abilities and expertise.

Certifications: Include any relevant certifications you have. That gives you an edge over others. Education Details Summary: Your Post Graduation, Graduation, Aggregate Percentage, Year of Pass out (Most important). Contact Details at the top, not at bottom ! Contact Details should be at the top of resume, not at the bottom. Never include the contact details in Header or Footer. They won’t be visible properly. Do NOT give more than 2 mail Ids in resume. The recruiters as well as you will get confused which mail Id to send/receive call letters.

No one can save you if your Mail ID fails ! Check the mail Ids you provided in CV by sending a trial mail. (I have seen people giving Yahoo.com instead of Yahoo.co.in. If the mail Id fails when HR sends you call letter, no one can save you in this world. No HR will resend the call letter if your mail ID fails.)

Spell Check! Always perform a spell check and grammar check on the resume. You don’t deserve a job if you can’t write your resume without mistakes. There is nothing wrong in getting your resume reviewed by someone else. They might catch the mistakes that your eyes can never detect.

Educational details are important ! People (especially experienced people) think that they don’t need to give the educational details. But they are important. Provide at least give the highest qualification, college/university name and aggregate percentage. (Some HR people simply delete the resumes without educational details.)

Reverse Chronological order! Your latest job profile is more important than your first one. So, always write the details in reverse chronological order (start with the latest) especially when you are listing previous company details or educational qualification details.

Avoid Irrelevant Details! Write straight to the point and only the details relevant to the job. (You don’t need to include your family tree or how many children you have or what your wife does.) Do not write stereotype sentences like ‘I am sincere, intelligent, and hardworking’ etc. That’s childish. Who in this world is not hardworking by the way?

Use simple Language! Use simple English. You don’t need to write complex jargon in the resume.

Experience! Project Training done in your final academic year does not come under professional work experience. You can mention it, but not under ‘Work Experience’ section. Always highlight your onsite (customer interaction experience) in your resume. That gives you an edge over others.

Salary Details Better not to include current & expected compensation details in resume. You can convey them when you are asked to provide them during interview. You are not submitting the application for matrimonial! Do not include any photos in the resume unless specifically asked by the company. You are not writing a love letter! Avoid unwanted graphics: Either in resume or the covering letter avoid jazzy graphic images, emoticons or multiple colors. Avoid jazzy fonts: Preferably use some professional font (Arial or Times or Verdana) and use the same across. Use same font size across the resume (except for headings). Don’t write each line in a different font and size. However, you can use some decent shades (preferably gray color), to highlight important information. That makes the resume to look good when a printout is taken.

Take a print and see! Take a printout of your resume and see. If you do not like it in the first look, the same will be with recruiters. (I know HR people who called candidates based on attractive resume.) So, revise it again.

Tell us about yourself – interview tip

There can be several different ways in which interviewers may throw out questions to their prospective employees. For example, if you are applying for a job in the hospitality sector, there is a good chance that you might be provoked during your job interview. If you are applying for a job in research and development, you will get a series of questions from your prospective employer that would be quite dumbfounding or even funny. Read more on job interview questions and answers.

During the face to face interview however, members of the Human Resource department try and get to know about some of the qualities of the interviewee. A common question that is many a times employed for such a purpose is ‘so tell me about yourself’. Confused and tensed? Here’s how you can answer it.

The tell us about yourself interview question seems simple and also difficult to answer due to the fact that there can be no best answer for tell me about yourself interview question. Your interviewer is not looking for any specific answer but will be observant about the manner in which you shall answer him. Here are some steps with the help of which you can successfully answer this question.

Analyze and Examine: There are several reasons for which the question has been asked. This question is firstly a great ice breaker; secondly it is many a times, asked to test your communication skill and style of communications. Many people start off on the wrong gear by opening their mouths and making the sound ‘aha…’, pal you just lost the job.

Some people might just say something vague like, ‘I don’t know where to start’. Some people also start off with something like ‘my name is…’. Well these are all not very nice starts. Have a crisp and impressive start by telling the HR, something more about your positive aspects such as ‘hard worker, friendly, warm, sincere, long stamina, etc’. Anything that does not go on your interview can be included.

Manners and Body language: The second point that the HR will be looking for is your body language. Hence, maintain a warm and steady eye contact, small gestures, that are polite. Excessive hand gestures seem very bad. Place your hands properly on the arms of chair and never every slouch. Sit with a straight back, shoulders pulled back and have a sense of confidence. A slight and warm smile will also work wonders.

While talking, never lick your lips or teeth as it seems very much out of place. While coughing or sneezing, cover your mouth. If possible avoid coughing and sneezing. Talk in audible and a deep voice and keep your cool no matter what.

Content of Speech: The tell me about yourself question does not end just with one question. That question is often followed by some other questions. In such a situation, give small, quick and discrete answers. Be polite and warm in your approach, give only the relevant content in a grammatically correct language and good pronunciation.

The tell me about yourself interview question seems quite easy. It is important that you answer truthfully, quickly, honestly and in a manner that is definitely impressive. Avoid blunders and do not lose your confidence. Remember that losing your confidence, means losing the job.

Tell me about yourself ?

Start with the present and tell why you are well qualified for the position. Remember that the key to all successful interviewing is to match your qualifications to what the interviewer is looking for. In other words you must sell what the buyer is buying. This is the single most important strategy in job hunting.

So, before you answer this or any question it’s imperative that you try to uncover your interviewer’s greatest need, want, problem or goal.

Do all the homework you can before the hr interview to uncover this person’s wants and needs (not the generalized needs of the industry or company)

As early as you can in the interview, ask for a more complete description of what the position entails. You might say: “I have a number of accomplishments I’d like to tell you about, but I want to make the best use of our time together and talk directly to your needs. To help me do, that, could you tell me more about the most important priorities of this position?

Then, ALWAYS follow-up with a second and possibly, third question, to draw out his needs even more. Surprisingly, it’s usually this second or third question that unearths what the interviewer is most looking for.

You might ask simply, “And in addition to that?…” or, “Is there anything else you see as essential to success in this position?:

This process will not feel easy or natural at first, because it is easier simply to answer questions, but only if you uncover the employer’s wants and needs will your answers make the most sense. Practice asking these key interview questions before giving your answers, the process will feel more natural and you will be light years ahead of the other job candidates you’re competing with.

After uncovering what the employer is looking for, describe why the needs of this job bear striking parallels to tasks you’ve succeeded at before. Be sure to illustrate with specific examples of your responsibilities and especially your achievements, all of which are geared to present yourself as a perfect match for the needs he has just described.

What are your greatest strengths? You know that your key strategy is to first uncover your interviewer’s greatest wants and needs before you answer questions. And from Question 1, you know how to do this. Prior to any interview, you should have a list mentally prepared of your greatest strengths. You should also have, a specific example or two, which illustrates each strength, an example chosen from your most recent and most impressive achievements.

You should, have this list of your greatest strengths and corresponding examples from your achievements so well committed to memory that you can recite them cold after being shaken awake from your deepest lumber. Once you uncover your interviewer’s greatest wants and needs, you can choose those achievements from your list that best match up.

As a general guideline, the 10 most desirable traits that all employers love to see in their employees are:

• A proven track record as an achiever…especially if your achievements match up with the employer’s greatest wants and needs.
• a perfectly and customized resume for the job you are applying
• Intelligence…management “savvy”.
• Honesty…integrity…a decent human being.
• Good fit with corporate culture…someone to feel comfortable with…a team player who meshes well with interviewer’s team.
• Likability…positive attitude…sense of humor.
• Good communication skills.
• Dedication…willingness to walk the extra mile to achieve excellence.
• Definiteness of purpose…clear goals.
• Enthusiasm…high level of motivation.
• Confident…healthy…a leader.

What are your greatest weaknesses ? Disguise a strength as a weakness. “I sometimes push my people too hard. I like to work with a sense of urgency and everyone is not always on the same wavelength.”
Drawback: This strategy is better than admitting a flaw, but it’s so widely used, it is transparent to any experienced interviewer.

Assure the interviewer that you can think of nothing that would stand in the way of your performing in this position with excellence. Then, quickly review you strongest qualifications.

Instead of confessing a weakness, describe what you like most and like least, making sure that what you like most matches up with the most important qualification for success in the position, and what you like least is not essential.