Job-hunting has always been very stressful and a competitive task in the real world. Some of you might have the experience of applying for jobs, but never or hardly been called for an interview. You may be well qualified but usually gets rejected because of your crappy resume. It’s true; you wont get a job if your resume is crappy and too annoying to read. In a small/medium company, CEO will be directly involved in the hiring process. Most of the times these curricula vitae’s are received by the human resource division and by designation, human resources manager. These people are work oriented and busy people who are looking for the most suitable candidate. Your resume should be promising to pass the first test, which is interesting to read.
Did you know when a job is posted online, more than 200 CV’s will be received by the employer in few seconds? Average of 250 emails will be received for a position. And like most of the human beings employers will be looking at your resume only for 5 to 7 seconds. Then begin the shortlisting where people who do even the slightest mistake are neglected. You may have written a nice and long covering letter about your self and your career. But keep in mind that only 17% of a chance is there that your cover letter will be read by the employer. If you had done the smallest mistake with spellings or grammar your CV will be deleted or thrown in to the trashcan. So how can you prepare your resume without mistakes and to be powerful enough to impress your reader, the employer? You basically have to optimize your resume (On Page) like in search engine optimization. If you don’t know what SEO means please read my previous article about what is SEO and how it can improve your business.
How to optimize your resume?
Keep your name & Contact details on the top
[]Write your first and last name on the top. Use a larger font when writing your name since that is the first thing that’s going to meet the reader’s eye. Do not use initials at any point and if you want to mention your full name, mention it in the covering letter.
Your contact details are very important since they will be used to contact you. If they fail to contact you on first time, there is a chance that they might give up. All depends on how desperate they are to fill the position. Fill out your address so they can determine your location and as most of the companies don’t use post anymore you must give a valid email address. It doesn’t matter if it is a free or paid email. You have to make a professional email address using Gmail or other free service. Don’t use funky words or any fancy words. Use a part of your name or just your name. Make sure to put your mobile and a fixed number which will increase the probability of them to reach you.
Bio data
It is preferred to add your bio data after the name and contact details. Add your date of birth, gender, your nationality, passport number and marital status. Keep these details clean well formatted in a pleasant manner.
Professional Qualifications
Just like we’re talking about sub topics, subtitles in search engine optimization, the next thing the employer will look for is the professional qualifications and experience. This is the most critical part where most of applicants go wrong. Remember to put your most recent experience on the top. The designation and the company name of your last occupation should be key priority. And do not forget to mention how long you have been working there.
When filling professional qualifications, there is another important factor you need to consider about. If the company you are going to apply is asking for a specific area of experience and expertise, elaborate on those experiences of past occupations more. As an example if you are applying for managerial position, focus more on your management skills and experiences rather than other skills you obtained from past occupations. Keep those details brief and in point form where anyone can quickly pick up. Use the keywords in their job advertisement. Use the exact wordings with proper grammar and spellings and make sure you fill out all the relevant experiences.
Academic Qualifications
Fill out your educational qualifications in this section. It would be better if you start with your secondary education to the university level. Make sure your post graduation qualifications are on the top. Do not use this section to fill out your primary education and achievements. Who would like to know the scores you obtained at grade one? Keep them like headings and make sure you are stating your majors matching for the job specification.
Extracurricular
Add your greatest achievements apart from education and professional qualifications here. This section is most likely dedicated to identify your leadership qualities and creativity. Add here some job specific achievements that can bring you points. So be aware not to put little stuff like how you won first place in kinder garden and primary. It is 0k to put some of your athletic skills that can add the specific role some value. These points will directly measure the quality of your character. Writing them in point form briefly and be very specific.
Non-Related Referees
Finally you must declare the accuracy of the information true and correct and provide minimum 3 non-related referees who can vouch for you. Make sure they are not related to you in anyway. And don’t add some random people. Name 3 contacts where they know about you and your skills. The best people will be your old employers. If you are unable to put your old bosses add your academic governing bodies to the resume. Make sure that you provide their full names, designations and contact details very clearly. And that is all about optimizing a resume, make sure you follow the examples here.