Resume as the Main Tool for an Individual to Find a Job - Assignment Example

prepared HOW TO WRITE A RESUME A resume is said to be a written document that lists ones work experience, skills and educational background (Career Planning 2011). It is the main tool for an individual to find a job. It is a potential’s employer’s first glimpse at your qualifications. Knowing these, we ought to keep in mind that a resume should basically be short, concise and direct to the point. It has to have a summary of everything you have to say, and must be able to present details of these qualifications in a succinct manner. A resume is no literary piece; it should have no frills, and the shorter it is, the better. Employers do not enjoy reading resumes that are more than two pages long. In fact, information over one page is oftentimes ignored (How to write a resume 2011). To keep your interviewer’s interest, a short, sharp and direct-to-the point resume is best recommended. RESUME TYPES Such is why the Chronological Resume is considered to be the most popular type of resume (Resume-Writing-Tips.com 2011). In a Chronological Resume, the applicant lists down his job experience and educational background in reverse chronological order, with the most recent being on top of the list. Employers are typically interested in what latest venture an applicant was into. In a study, this format was found to be preferred by 80-85% among surveyed Corporate Human Resources professionals (Resume-Writing-Tips.com 2011). The Chronological resume is best used when presenting an organized career history, with no gaps or indication of a major career change. Employers often need exact employment data for reference, and this format is best suited for this purpose. Another type of resume is the Functional Resume, which highlights ones skills more than his list of accomplishments. The aim of a Functional Resume is to group ones skills and experiences by types of functions (Resume-Writing-Tips.com 2011). This type is not commonly used as it works best for individuals with a poor career history, but has a good set of noteworthy skills. This type can effectively obscure ones work history as it highlights what you can do, without really elaborating on how the skills were acquired. As a result, this type is less favored by employers and was in fact cited to be among employer’s top 10 pet peeves according to Monster.com (Recruiters’ Top 10 resume pet peeves 2011). Employers prefer looking at Chronological Resumes for better evaluation of skills and potentials of its applicants. Interviewers tend to believe that applicants are actually “hiding” information on their career history by using this type of resume. There are some that use the Combination Resume – a format merging the chronological and functional resume types. When combined effectively, this format can get your message across without alienating your reader. In a Combination resume, the applicant first lists down a summary of his qualifications, before enumerating in reverse chronological order his job experiences (Resume-Writing-Tips.com 2011). Since this type tends to be longer and repetitious, the author must be able to use the right words, particularly in his skills description. Action words and verbs in active forms are the most appropriate words to be used in any resume. WHAT SHOULD YOUR RESUME CONTAIN? A resume is an applicant’s marketing tool. As any advertisement, it must contain the what, why, how and where of your overall qualifications. A resume often begins with a list of contact details, immediately following the applicant’s full name. This is important as this tells the employer where and how to contact you. Apart from physical address and telephone/ mobile numbers, it is now popular to put your email address and the URL of your personal webpage or portfolio, if applicable. It is interesting to know that most head hunters also check out your social networking site profiles, so it is best to also design yours in such a way that it would not fend off potential employers. Your career objective usually comes in next. This section tells what exactly you want to achieve in your job hunting. Employers can immediately match your objectives versus their job openings; they can already prepare a shortlist of applicants basing on their vacancies. As such, job objectives should be precise. Writing down “a managerial position in the field of Marketing” is better than indicating “a marketing position that best suits my qualifications”. The first statement reflects that you know what exactly what you want, and is confident to pursue your objectives, resulting to the application. A self-serving career objective may also come across as vague. It does not give employers the benefit of identifying whether you actually suit their qualifications or not. Statement such as “to obtain a challenging position that would allow me to maximize my marketing skills” does not convey a clear message of what you want. Moreover, to other employers, the lack of job objectives is a reflection of a job seeker who is not aware of what he or she wants. Your summary of qualifications comes next, particularly if you are making a Combination type of resume. As it follows immediately after your headline, this part should provide a rundown of the most important facts about you that you want known to the reader. As mentioned earlier, verbs/ action words in the active voice are best appropriate for this section. It is better to use the words “responsible for” than “assigned to”; “managed the” than “handled the”. Any word that reflects best your ability and mastery of the given task should be placed in this part. The next most important information that your prospective employer wants to know are your work experiences, skills and accomplishments. This is where you write down the names of the companies you have worked for, the inclusive dates you were with them and your basic responsibilities. This is where your interviewer looks for the corresponding qualifications needed; this is where they check if you are suited for the job. As mentioned, this part is the highlight of the chronological resume, whereby employers are given an idea about what you have been doing, and what should make them believe that you are capable of doing the job. They view your qualifications versus their list of requirements. Employers are also interested to know the companies you have worked with. Your educational background usually follows next. This will tell employers about the competence which you were trained for. When applying for an entry-level job, and if you do not have any prior experience, this would be the clincher so to speak. And yes, some employers are particular about which school the applicants come from. For applicants without prior work experience, listing down the organizations they are affiliated with and short courses/ training modules they were able to take are also important. These would highlight your skills that are waiting to be honed in a formal work place. This will also tell you about your inter-personal and communication skills. This part will give your reader a glimpse of your personality. Some may also want to include other personal information such as birth date, gender, etc. These are actually optional, and may only take up additional space in what should be a short and concise resume. It is also unnecessary to put ‘references available upon request’ and writing this would only consume space better allocated to more important information. WHAT TO AVOID PUTTING IN YOUR RESUME? In an article posted in The Job Hunter’s Journal, there are at least ten things one must avoid when writing a resume. Spinning off from the article “Recruiters’ Top 10 Resume Pet Peeves” written by Norma Mushkat for monster.com, the author elaborated on the important things to keep in mind to create an effective resume. Top on the list is to keep at bay unnecessary personal information, including religious and political affiliations, which distracts employers from your essential list of qualifications. It also talks about using bullets to list down important information instead of writing them down in a paragraph form. It is easier to spot key words in a bulleted list (Job Hunter’s Journal 2011). Proper formatting contributes to the strength of one’s resume. Poor formatting and typographical/ grammatical errors are major turn offs. This only shows your standard levels that may eventually reflect on your actual working habits. Most Human Resource Specialists are keen on details, and providing a resume that is less than perfect when it comes to grammar and format is a no-no. The key is to proofread, and if possible, ask someone else to double check your grammar and format. In this article, the author further emphasized that the job seeker must ensure that he is really qualified for the job being applied for. Submitting your resume without evaluating your own qualifications against what is being required will only spell rejection. Further, accurate information, particularly on your contact details and your employment dates, should be properly indicated in your resume. Even if you are deemed to be highly qualified for the job, you might lost the chance altogether if you do not put the correct details in your resume (Job Hunter’s Journal 2011). Quantifying your accomplishments also prove effective for most employers. Providing rough percentages of your accomplishments, how much you have contributed on your previous employer’s business objectives would help describe your capacities (Resume preparation dos and don’ts 2011). This holds true particularly for business-related positions such as sales, marketing and customer service. Careful planning and research is entailed for the job seeking activity to be truly fruitful. Even before drafting your resume, conduct a company background to check if there is other information you can include that would highlight your qualifications. Employers like to feel that their applicants are really keen on getting the job, and are impressed by such efforts. Lastly, bear in mind that a resume is basically a list of accomplishments. Each one of us has varied backgrounds and qualifications, and the only way to be truly credible is to tell the truth at all times. Therefore, the basic rule of thumb when writing a resume is to never lie about your accomplishments. Employers will always have a way of knowing which among your information are facts, and which is fiction. Works Cited “Career Planning” About.com. November 15, 2011 from http://careerplanning.about.com/od/resumewriting/g/def_resume.htm “How to write a resume”. Mahalo. November 15, 2011 from http://www.mahalo.com/how-to-write-a-resume/ “3 Resume Types”. Resume-writing-tips.com. November 15, 2011 from http://www.resume-writing-tips.com/3-resume-types.html “Recruiter’s Top 10 resume pet peeves”. November 15, 2011 from http://www.che.ncsu.edu/bullard/Professional_Development/Recruiters%20Resume%20Pet%20Peeves.htm “Job Hunter’s Journal 2011”. November 16, 2011 from http://www.discoverypersonnel.com/hunt/?p=17 “Resume preparation dos and don’ts”. Quintessential Careers. November 16, 2011 from http://www.quintcareers.com/resume-dos-donts.html Read More