Resume & Career Resources

Resume is the first impression that the job seeker can make on the prospective employer. There fore it is imperative that the resume is drafted with utmost care and precision. A person can write his or her resume in two ways. One he can write his own resume based on how he wants to present his resume. The second method is to use guidance or help. This can be in form of resume consultant or through online resume builder. Resume consultants are paid service available by various companies that help the job seeker write his resume. Resume builders are service available online and as software that provide the job seeker with a number             of templates that form a base to work on the resume. Resume builders are available at a minimal charge or mostly free of cost and the templates available on resume builders make the presentation of the resume very interesting.

However, no matter whether the candidate writes his own CV or uses help of a consultant or a resume builder, the following points are necessary when it comes to writing a resume. The following information should definitely form a part of any resume

• Contact Information: this section contains the candidates’ name, residential address, contact number both mobile and landline and email id.

• Key Skills: An ideal resume in the starting should be able to convey in brief, the expertise area of the candidate in just few words. This will automatically generate an interest in the person who is looking at resume and will urge him to go on.

• Profile Summary: Once we mention the key skills, the next step is to write a brief summary of the resume as a start. So that in case the person  who is scrutinizing the resumes, short of time, he or she can be provided with a platform to judge instead of him waiting to have gone through the whole CV where he might also miss some relevant points.

• Detailed Description: Following the summary, the resume should now go on to enlist all past professional engagement. Writing this down can also differ. For example some people write a combined resume, where they write in form of an essay mentioning the previous companies they worked for, tenure with the respective companies, position held and responsibilities undertaken. Another form of resume is chronological resume where an individual list down his work experience in order of his engagements. This is a more commonly used way of writing. Another way of writing resume is functional way, where precedence is given to the kinds of responsibilities held by the individual instead of the company wise engagement.

• Educational and Professional Qualifications: Followed by this a resume should contain educational and professional qualifications of the individuals
• Achievements: the resume should also be enlisting the skills all achievements that a person has had over the past years.

• Some resume also contain objective which highlight the career goal of an individual, trainings and seminars attended, co-curricular engagements etc. But these are optional.

Resume writing should always be given primary importance in case an individual is on a look out for a job because it can make an impression to last for a long time.

Many a times candidates spoil the chances of getting qualified in the interviews, by themselves, even if they have a fabulous work experience, impressive credentials and an amazing background. What the resume builder mean to say here is that they skip on the basics of writing a resume without concentrating on simple things like correct words formation, correct tense, easy to read statements. And this might upset the personnel managers.

The resume builder has the following simple tips:

Tip 1: Do not concentrate only on duties and tasks performed at your previous jobs. Display some achievements too and give yourself credit for that. Include things like:

. Highlight your promotions, awards or special recognition you had
. Problems and challenges you faced and how you overcame them
. How your performance played a crucial role in the organizational development
. Results, results and exclusively results

Tip 2: Avoid objective statement that is too non-specific or too elaborative. The resume builder points out this, that many readers lose interest at the first place with the same boring often-repeated objective statements defined by the candidates. For instance, statements like “Looking for a challenging position that enables me to contribute to organizational goals while assisting me in my overall growth and personality development” are a passe, and very generic ones. Replace the objective statements with what you do or something of your expertise.

Tip 3: Make your resumes concise, in a telegraphic style by avoiding “I” or “me”. Example: “Developed new products that incremented company’s gross margin by 20% and added $6 million in sales.” So brevity is appreciated with clarity as claimed by the resume builder.

Tip 4: Use the word “percent” or “%” with numbers, and use the “percentage” word without using a number. Examples: “Over 25 percent of our net profit came from previous sales.” “A large percentage of Indian Americans live in Chicago.”

Tip 5: Be careful while choosing the right word. Example: Some people use the word “balance” if they mean “remainder.” But if you notice, “balance” means “a degree of equality,” e.g., “balancing the accounts”, where as “remainder” means “what is leftover” and is used in all situations, e.g., “keep the remainder of the sweet in the refrigerator.”

Tip 6: A simple phrase “a couple of” is usually used to mean plural. Example: “A couple of clients have reported discrepancies in the assignments.” However, the phrases “a couple of days” and “a couple of dollars” mean to convey singular number, because as how resume builder expresses that when the phrase “a couple of” is used in accordance with time period, amount of money or representing the total amount of quantity, the expression is treated as singular. Example: “It requires only a couple of months to complete this assignment.”

So let not such simple rectifiable items come in between you and your next job. If you face problem with the grammar, tense forms, or phrasing, you can always hire a professional resume writer like resume builder. They just guarantee good work and it is worth a move for landing a job.

What Managers really look for while hiring candidates is the candidate’s capability to deliver best and not his statistical figures on resume. They might not necessarily choose the one with the best figures in his resume. One should realize that odds of getting a job offer are directly proportionate to how well he interviews at the table as told by the Resume Builder.

Your achievements at academic levels are assets for you but the hiring decision depends on the interview process and the personal impression you leave on the interviewers. You can still get a good job with an impressive interview even if you don’t hold impressive academic figures. So how do you face it while seeking a job even if you don’t have good credentials at your hand? The Resume Builder prescribes the important tips for that:

1. Use industrial terminologies in your resume relevant to your application. Sometimes the hiring personnel are told to check for the certain skills in the candidate, then sort and filter. These professionals might or might not have knowledge about the kind of job you are looking for, and if they don’t find those specific terms on your resume, they might reject you.

2. Include all your experiences of your professional career. Lay down the unique skills you possess. You might not know about the intricacies of a particular job until the interview process, but by including all your unique skills and experience, you could be especially skilled for the job you are applying. For instance, you might have worked with certain old technologies not in use, at your previous job, and the company you are applying also has some of those techniques which might be unknown to the rest.

3. Company’s benefits should be your priority. As the Resume Builder says that the hiring managers look for the content that benefits the company and select candidates. It is not about how well-qualified you are, it is more about how efficiently you work to help in getting revenues to the company. In a simpler way, it means how much beneficial you are to the company. Your resume should focus on the organization and your beneficial contribution to it, so that you gain more points over a more qualified candidate.

4. Invest your time in formatting a resume, as a good formatted resume makes a huge difference. The Resume Builder suggests you to remember this point that first impressions can really be the lasting impressions and the first impression here is not your actual presence but your resume. It should reflect your good presentation, your writing skills and how well you prepare official documents.

So what all is required is a smart work in writing your resume even if you are not that qualified or most experienced. Its the initial step based on your credentials and land you for an interview which is more important than getting a job as said by the Resume Builder.

Be it any profession- teaching, accounting, medical, engineering, sports, modeling or politics. All require effective resumes, which land you a job. But as how the resume builder says that you need to carefully examine your resume before sending it out to avoid the chances of getting disqualified in the first instance.

The resume builder charts down some thought-provoking points which are the absolute “don’ts” before you forward your resume to the companies:

1. The Appearance of Resume– Don’t use cheap quality paper. Use a very good high quality paper for the print. Check all the grammatical and typographical errors, coffee stains, or mis-alignment, etc. Use spell-check feature for checking spelling mistakes. Make somebody else review your whole resume once, for proof-reading.

2. The Document Size– Don’t overdo by using unnecessarily extra pages. If your career graph demands the 2-3 pages description about your job experiences and accomplishments, then go ahead with that to avoid congested look on a single page.

3. Your Overall Career Experience– Don’t list every single job you had held in your whole career, even if it is acceptable to have a 2-3 pages resume. The personnel managers are more focused on last 10 years experience you had, so focus on most recent and relevant career experience.

4. Display Facts– Don’t mess up your resume by hiding facts over dates or titles that you have been unemployed or your switching of jobs frequently or your holding of low-key positions in the past. The resume builder acknowledges the same because if the hiring employer does your background check and finds out that you lied, then it would simply ruin your chances of getting selected.

5. Present Yourself in the Best Way– Don’t copy the required jargons simply from your company’s HR manuals. Make extra efforts in displaying your capabilities that make you worth the job responsibilities. Be specific in presenting your achievements and endeavors, for example: accounts expanded, sales increased, awards won, percentages increased, etc.

6. Be Relevant– Don’t use the chronological format for your resume, if you are seeking a job in a field where you have no prior experience. Exhibit your relevant experience and skills by using a functional or skills-oriented approach as recommended by the resume builder.

7. Avoid Excuses– Don’t include the reasons that made you leave your earlier jobs. Phrases like “company sold”, “bosses left”, “left for better prospects”, etc do not work as told by resume builder.

8. Apply to the Potential Employers only– Don’t send your resume to every classified you come across in the newspaper. Read the ads, examine your credentials accordingly and then apply or else no if you don’t befit the position.

9. No Extra Documents– Don’t attach the copies of transcripts, letters of recommendation or awards, unless you are asked to. But as resume builder suggested, you can keep these as extras in your files while appearing for the interview.

10. No Display of Personal Information– Don’t include information on your age, race, family, hobbies, marital status, etc.

The resume builder can very effectively help one in creating professional impressive resumes and they really show you how to make resume that surely lands you a placement. Sometimes we don’t comprehend how creativity helps in doing up your resume without overdoing it. What all you need here is a very high quality paper (with watermark, it is best), an envelope that have your crest of possibly your initials and avoid overdoing it, simply keep it neat giving that professional look. Also remember that follow-up letters should follow the same material you used earlier. See how resume builder has come up with simple little creative tips.

Tip 1

Use both mediums of sending your application- e-mail and snail mail. But the snail mail adds to more benefits if that is more befitting.
The concept of e-mail is very common in this era and everyone is using it but if you send a hard copy to the hiring managers, it does imply that you are actually taking extra efforts for your job to get done as how resume builder stresses. And this will make your application stand out from the rest. You should also need to think what makes your application stand out uniquely from the rest, so do what others aren’t doing. Make your resume special and this simple logic can make wonders for sure.

Tip 2

Present your application very neatly and professionally by matching your paper and envelope. Make your resume look very professional and classic by using good quality white papers and by avoiding colors on your resume or on envelope. Colors annoy the hiring managers. Keep the fonts clear, crispy and standard and avoid fancy fonts, could use ‘Courier’ but ‘Times New Roman’ would overdo. Use laser printer and keep the contents of your resume or envelope easy-to-read. Always come with innovative ideas to make your resume stand out, as how resume builder suggests that your text should be elaborated to look clear and easy to cursorily go through by the hiring managers as they hardly spend 20-30 seconds on your resume. They don’t have much time to go in details, and skim for grammatical errors, format, keywords, typographical errors, etc in a glimpse.

Tip 3

Position your watermark to avoid any damage to the contents. The watermark should be pleasant, distant, light and definitely in the right position as said by the resume builder. It should in no way mix with your precious content. The light grey shade can be the perfect shade for your watermark. You can simply use the crest alone if this is not working for you and your resume hard copy would still look fabulous and awesome.

By effectively concentrating on the above mentioned simple creative points, you can still make your resume go a long way by ingeniously coming up with more innovative ideas yourself, to enhance your resume more, that lands you a job. You can also check for more effective ways of writing a resume at the http://www.theresumebuilder.com/

Why does one need a good resume? This question pricks a lot on the minds of the job seekers. It is basically to market yourself to the potential buyers (employers) in a written format about your skills and achievements to compel them to hire you. In simple terms, if you want a rewarding career then you need to send out remarkably good resumes. This evolves from your credentials and not from your writing skills, as highlighted by resume builder.

Good writing skills do increase your chances of selection but the fact remains that it is more of marketing your skills and credentials in a tactful way that makes you stand out from the rest of the aspiring candidates.

The resume builder lays down three basic principles, for writing a good resume which holds true for any candidate, which are hardly followed but in fact need to be followed. There are simple steps with essential techniques.

Step #1: A Single Resume is not sufficient for Multiple Job Targets

Sometimes there are multiple skills required to be mentioned in a single field even if the employer’s needs remain the same. Suppose the manager’s job description remains same across industry segments at the core, there are still varying levels of ‘desirable/preferable’ qualifications across different sectors. And this point can play a major role while selecting a candidate.
So the resume builder suggests you to keep the standard resume same but leave place for accommodating other requirements too, making it flexible enough to allow minor changes, when necessary.

Step #2: Your Resume should Make Sense to the Reader

This is mostly neglected. In fact, the awkward resumes or the resumes which appear awkward to your hiring employers can be detrimental to your job search. Neatness do play a major role in presentation, but common mistakes like writing personal goals in “objectives” area and over displaying your qualifications(if not required for middle positions) can leave a bad impression on the reader’s mind. Your resume should make sense, as how the resume builder highlights certain parameters that make a logical layout of your resume:
- Educational qualifications
- One core achievement that stands out and why
- Core competencies
- Work experience in reverse chronological order

In addition, proofread your resume and make someone else also to do for you. Just avoid spelling mistakes and typos.

Step #3: Be Clear about Your Worth to an Organization

When writing your resume, always remember that you are marketing and selling yourself as a product which needs to impress the potential buyers (employers that hire you) with the product’s value (your value). Don’t go with too many resumes. Write a general description of your duties and job titles. Make clear of your worth to the organization for hiring you. Suppose, if the designation is of a finance manager, highlight your financial abilities- include relevant and specific facts (in numbers, percentages, revenue targets).

Hence the 3 steps above, determined by resume builder can play an important role when writing a resume. Aim to achieve what you want in your job and target it the right way.