How to make your Resume?

What's a CV or resume?

It's simply an advertisement that helps you sell yourself to an employer.

It needs to present your skills and experience in the best possible light and emphasize your suitability and potential for the job.

That is why it is a good idea to spend time on preparing a targeted, effective, error-free document that will impress a potential employer.
Employers see a lot of CVs, so avoid imitating standard CV samples. You can score bonus points instead if your CV is just that little bit different and has your own personal stamp.

Some tips:

Always print your CV on a standard A4, plain white or pale coloured paper. Use matching envelopes.
Always send a brief customised letter with any CV that you send out.
Presentation is extremely important, so make sure your CV is typed or word-processed.
It should be well laid out and printed on a good quality printer.
Leave plenty of space between paragraphs and allow adequate margins.
Use plain English. Avoid professional jargon.
Keep paragraphs short -- preferably no longer than five or six lines.
Your entire CV should not exceed two pages in length -- but if your breadth of experience merits it, you can justify a CV that runs to four pages.
Use bold lettering and/or underline print for headings.
Do not use lots of different font types and sizes. You are not designing a magazine cover!
Use plenty of white space. Remember to leave a decent margin on all four sides of the page.
Consider using 'bullets' to start sub-sections or lists.
Use positive language and adopt a confident tone.
Be careful with dates. Make sure every year is accounted for. Employers will get suspicious if they see too many gaps.

The main section of your CV
1. Personal details:
Name
Address
Telephone/cellphone number/s (and e-mail)
Date of birth
Nationality

2. Education:

Details of your university education
School
Work-related training

3. Work experience:
List past employment details in reverse chronological order, with the most recent first. Always reserve more space for your most recent or current position.

Names of past employers, along with the date of appointment and the date you left, and a brief outline of responsibilities is essential. Some employers also like to see a brief description of the companies and a summary of their business.

Always include your specific contributions to each job, listing related responsibilities and achievements with each entry, rather than in a separate section.

List any affiliation to relevant professional associations.

4. Skills:

Employers are often interested in specific skills you have acquired, such as

Foreign languages
Computing languages or packages
Keyboard skills
Driving ability
Try to give specific details, for example, about your level of proficiency in foreign languages, degree of familiarity with computer packages, and so on.

5. Interests and activities:

Do not just list your interests. Show how they have helped develop skills a potential employer will value.

6. References:

For references, choose people who can comment on different aspects of your professional personality. Two references are usually enough. Only give three if there is another person whose opinion you feel your potential employer really needs to hear.

General tips:

It can be good to start with a personal profile/objective statement. This is a two or three sentence overview of your skills, qualities, hopes and plans. It should encourage the employer to read the rest. You could add a photo of yourself. Make sure it is a good one!

You may vary the style according to the type of job. A big company would normally expect a formal CV on white paper. But a CV applying for a television production or graphics designer job could be less formal -- in such cases you can use coloured paper, unusual design, etc.

Don't include the date the CV was prepared -- this will shorten its usefulness.

Never state specific objectives. These are more effective when you include them in your covering letter.

Check that both your CV and covering letter are completely free of errors. Spelling mistakes will definitely detract from your application. Proof read both documents thoroughly. Get a friend to proof read them as well.

Keep an ongoing file of your achievements, no matter how insignificant they may appear -- one day they'll make the basis for a good CV.

Remember to give each of the people you've mentioned a reference copy of your CV.

Re-read your CV before any interview -- chances are the interviewer will too and you must know what's in it.

Thanks to: Abha Kapoor, the co-founder of K & J Search Consultants, a premier Mumbai placement agency.


Another Input:

RESUME WRITING TIPS AND STRATEGIES

1. Keep It Focused and Businesslike
A resume should be specific and all business. Don't try to be too smart or too cute. After all, you are asking an employer to invest significant time and money by choosing you over many other similarly qualified people. Employers mainly want to know whether you are appropriately qualified and experienced, and if you have the ability to "deliver the goods."

2. More Than Two Pages Is Too Much
For students, recent graduates, or people with just a few years of experience, try to keep your resume to one page,two as an absolute maximum. Even a resume for someone with20 years or more of extensive working experience, should not exceed three pages. In some cases, one or two "optional"pages can be referred to as "available upon request." These would be such optional annexes as a list of references or an inventory of recent projects and/or publications.

3. Get The Words and Punctuation Right
Make sure the grammar, spelling, and punctuation in your resume are perfect. Any obvious mistakes will hurt your credibility. Also, be sure to keep the language clear and simple. If you draft it yourself, have someone with excellent writing skills do an editorial review and a careful proofread of it. If a professional prepares it for you, such reviews are the responsibility of the resume preparation firm. Use an accepted English language "style guide" if you want to be sure of the finer points of word usage, punctuation, capitalization, abbreviations, etc.

4. Read Between The Lines
Customize the resume to match the stated requirements of the job that you are applying for, without being misleading.Review and analyze the job advertisement carefully. Look for and itemize the key qualifications, skills, and abilities the employer is seeking. Then identify certain key words that are usually repeated in such ads. Make sure that the wording and sequence of points in your resume reflect and address these "corporate terminologies" and"code words" as much as possible. When possible, study the company's annual report and Web site, and weave the themes and terms found there into your resume and cover letter.

5. Make Sure It Looks Good
Use a crisp, clean, simple presentation format for a professional looking resume. Just a bit of simple line work and/or shading, done with standard word processing software will do the trick. If you don't have the aptitude for this,there is most likely someone among your friends or in your office who can help you achieve a professional presentation.If not, seek professional advice. It won't cost much for a good simple layout, but it will make a world of difference to the product.

6. Show What You Can Do Today
Focus, first and foremost, on your recent experience that is most relevant to the position at hand. Less relevant and/or dated experience should be either eliminated or summarized in brief point form near the end of your resume.When reviewing your resume information, a prospective employer wants to know what you are doing now, what you have done recently, and how that relates to the job requirements of the post they are trying to fill.

7. Be A Straight-Shooter
Be completely honest. When people lie or "creatively exaggerate" on their resume, they are almost invariably exposed, sooner or later. Think about it - who really wants to get a job based on a lie(s) and then have to live in fear of eventually being found out? We often read in the newspaper about high-profile folks who get caught in are sume falsehood or exaggeration, and it isn't very pretty.

8. Follow The Instructions
Submit your resume in exactly the form that the prospective employer requests. If they say e-mail or fax is okay, do it that way. However, if they ask for it by regular mail, send it the way they ask. They must have reasons for requesting it in such a form and they are geared up to process it that way. If your resume is to be sent by snail mail, use the complete address that they specify, or it could go to the wrong office, especially in a large organization.

9. Don't Get Lost In The Mail
Be careful to respect certain conventions that the potential employer may require in your resume. For example, make sure that the cover letter mentions the exact name of the specific position you are applying for, and the competition number, if applicable. Sometimes an employer will request that the job title and/or number be printed on the outside of the envelope. You would not want to miss out on a job because you didn't follow minor administrative requirements.

10. Keep The Cover Short and Focused
In the cover letter, don't repeat what is already detailed in the body of the attached resume. It is a "cover" letter.It should be short and to the point. Introduce yourself first, and then briefly summarize why you believe that you have the qualifications and experience to fulfill the duties of the position better than anyone else. Express enthusiasm about the job and the company. Close by stating how you are looking forward to hearing more from them soon,and that you will follow-up if necessary.Read more tips : http://online-articles.org/careers-employment/site-map.php

Thanks to: "Sandeep Kanchan" sandeep_s_kanchan@yahoo.com