For getting hired in an interview, you will need a number of things –soft skills, hard skills, experience, etc. But for getting rejected even before an interview, you will need only one thing –a bad resume. According to statistics, 1 out of 5 recruiters reject the candidates even before they read the whole resume. Why? Because their resumes are not at all impressive.

If resumes are so important, then why is it that most people get them wrong? The answer is simple –people just don’t know how to write a resume.

To make sure that you don’t make that mistake, we have compiled a step-by-step procedure for resume creation and review. The guide will help you step-by-step and you can build your own resume along with reading.

Step 1: Choose The Perfect Format

To make your recruiter understand your resume, you have to format it in a comprehensive way. At one glance, the recruiter should know which section is about your professional history and which section is about your strengths and weaknesses. And for that, you have to choose your resume’s format wisely.

Mainly, there are three types of resume format: Reverse-Chronological, Functional, and Combination. To explain it in the simplest way, reverse-chronological is flexible, functional focuses on your career progression, and combination, as its name goes, is a combination of both.

Step 2: Add the Contact

The place of ‘contact’ will depend on what format you choose. Here is a list of general things that you have to mention in the contact section:

  • Name
  • Address
  • Telephone Number
  • Email Address
  • Website URL or Link to Online Portfolio
  • Link to Your LinkedIn Profile

Step 3: Write A Striking Overview

Before reading the whole resume, the recruiter will try to see if he or she even needs to spend that much time on it. That’s where overview comes into play. Apart from a clean format, this is the section that should grab the attention of your potential recruiter.

You can add a number of things to your overview. What you choose to include depends on what your strongest point is. Here are a few examples of what you can cover in the overview:

  • Your career targets
  • A synopsis of your qualification
  • Your professional profile
  • A brief ‘About Me’

Step 4: Highlight Your Professional Experience

This is one of the most crucial sections of your resume. Here are a few points you should keep in mind while writing professional experience:

  • To make it easy to understand, write it in a reverse chronological manner.
  • Do not write an experience that is irrelevant to the job you are applying for.
  • In each pointer, you must the company’s name, your designation, and the time period of employment.
  • Disclose if you are currently working somewhere. Write the starting date followed by em dash and then “present”, e.g. “Feb 2017 — present”.
  • Do not jot down the KRAs but focus on how you offered value to your previous company.

Step 5: Add The Educational Qualifications

This section will reinforce your knowledge and expertise in the market. While professional experience sets the background of your practical knowledge, educational qualifications will let the recruiter know about your theoretical knowledge.

If you have years of professional experience, you can keep this section short and to the point. But if you think that your competitors might have more professional experience than you, then you may wisely put your educational qualifications above your professional experience to highlight it.

Step 6: Time To Jot Down Hard and Soft Skills

Most people overkill it when it comes to writing down their skills. Filling half a page with skills never ensures a ‘Yes’ from the recruiter. You must know the sweet spot between a super-human and an inactive person.

You can start by writing down your skills that are required for the post you are applying for. Then you can go on to skills that were required in past jobs. Make sure that you write down soft skills and hard skills separately. A good rule of thumb to know the difference between the two is that hard skills are quantifiable but skills are not. For instance, team leadership is a soft skill while your proficiency in MS Office is your hard skill.

Step 7: Include Key Certifications, Awards, & Honors

By now, you have completed the indispensable part of your resume. But there are a few sections that you might want to include to strengthen what you have already mentioned above. These sections can be:

  • Certifications and Licenses
  • Publications
  • Awards and Honors
  • Scholarships

Step 8: Proofread, Proofread, and Edit

Your resume is almost complete at this point. There’s just one thing left in it –‘saving yourself from embarrassment’. Spelling mistakes can prove to be a major embarrassment, in fact, a reason for rejection, if your recruiter happens to have keen eyes.

Read and reread your resume for any spelling or grammar mistakes. Get help from a friend or a spell-checker if you are not good at spellings. Cut down every line that you think is unnecessary, false, or exaggerated.

Bonus Tips and Tricks

  • Write a complementing cover letter with your resume.
  • Choose a good font and adjust the margins to create a white space.
  • Get creative if required. For example, play with the format if you are applying for a graphic designing position, or play with words if you are applying for a writing position.
  • Send a CV instead of a resume when applying for an academic position.

Conclusion

A resume affects your employability like no other thing in the world. People with lesser experience and lesser set of skills often get selected for interviews because of their matchless resumes.

Korporate Ladders know such requirements and make resumes accordingly. If you think that your skills need to be shown in a way recruiter cannot ignore, we can help you. Connect us to make a great resume.

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