How To Write A Stunning Resume
While looking for a new job might be thrilling, the amount of research required can be tedious. There are other elements to take care of, like investigating potential companies, arranging professional references, honing interview techniques, and verifying the wage range for your position.
A well-structured and perfectly drafted resume is one of the most critical tasks in securing your dream job.
Whether you are a fresher looking for an entry role or an experienced employee who wants to switch jobs, having a well-defined resume showcasing your skills is the way to go.
Thousands of people in the world get rejected on their job applications only because of the poor representation of skills. Indeed, the process of structuring a clear, concise, and strategic resume can be a little challenging.
However, we can make this challenging process incredibly smooth and effortless with our assistance and your efforts.
Resume writing is the art of strategically showcasing an applicant’s relevant experience and skills. So if you are striving to secure the job of your dreams, you have landed at the right place.
We are here to support you throughout the process of compiling an accurate resume by following just a few easy steps. Let’s see the steps of writing an excellent resume below.
Essential Steps To Follow
The first step to writing an impressive is choosing the most suitable format according to your expertise and qualifications.
An impeccable combination can change the reading experience for the HR shortlisting candidates and can play an incredibly significant role in candidate evaluation.
As such, a well-structured resume catches the eye of the interviewer at the very first glance and engages them to read your resume attentively.
To structure a resume in the proper order, firstly, you can pick the outline for different sections.
A well-structured resume incorporates the following sections:
- Personal Details
- Resume Objective
- Details Of Education and Qualifications
- Relevant Work Experiences
- Specific Areas of Interest
- Relevant Skills
- Rewards And Accomplishments
Moreover, an individual can structure the above-mentioned information in the following arrangement: Let’s choose the right format for you!
1. Reverse Chronological Manner
The Reverse chronological manner is the correct way of writing down details and can be used undoubtedly by applicants of all levels.
However, this format is valid for applicants who have good work experience and want to apply for a job in a similar industry. This is because it helps display the most recent details about the candidate under the subheadings.
Suitable For
The Reverse chronological manner is used by applicants who want to showcase the capabilities of vertical job progress generally in the same organization. It illustrates your growth in your previous company and gives you an edge over candidates who haven’t secured enough promotions.
Not Suitable For
If an applicant has significant breaks in his career, then the reverse chronological format is not beneficial for them. Also, this format resume will be of no use to those who want to change their career path or start afresh.
In reverse chronological order, a fresher can display some internships or projects and highlight how they have been striving to develop their skills.
2. Functional Manner
A functional method is highly beneficial for candidates with significant years of work experience. The candidates can highlight their skills to secure a particular job position in this arrangement. So they can use the functional manner to showcase their expert-level industry experience.
Suitable For
This format is helpful for an applicant with breaks from their career period to showcase their expert-level experience and bring their resume to the spotlight even after years of breaks.
So if a candidate wants to highlight a particular skill, then a Functional manner should be the go-to format.
Not Suitable For
This format is not suitable for entry-level candidates, as the entire strategy of this format is to highlight years of work experience.
So a prospective candidate must not follow the functional format if they do not possess the job-required skills.
1. Combination Arrangement
This format is adequate for an applicant who wants to change career field or alleviate their job position.
The body of this resume format is similar to the reverse chronological manner. However, this arrangement’s prime focus is to highlight an applicant’s skills specifically for the next job role.
Suitable For
The combination format highlights the development of a specific skill that the targeted job requires.
As a result, this resume format favors when the applicant is an expert in the skills that the job demands.
Not Suitable For
Don’t try to showcase many skills because this resume shows that you are perfect in a particular skill.
This type of resume suits you when you have work experience of at least 3-4 years.
If a candidate does not have relevant work experience, then the reverse chronological arrangement is more suitable than the combination format.
Step A: Organize Your Details
Now, after choosing your preferred format, all the candidates must organize their details systematically.
You must accurately provide the data regarding your name, postal address, calling details, email address, Online portfolio URL link, and LinkedIn profile, as any of it could be used as the medium of communication.
Also, an applicant can illustrate their details in a horizontal or vertical arrangement.
Step B: Include A Flawless Introduction
This section portrays the personality of the applicant. Here the candidate can briefly introduce themselves, following up with the objectives of the resume and what they expect from their job position. So they must include the following:
- Resume Objective
- Resume Profile
- Professional Profile
- Resume Summary
- Summary Of Qualifications
The candidate has to write this section to catch the interviewer’s attention with its summary of experiences and qualifications.
Generally, most applications get rejected at the resume evaluation stage because the resume summary does not entail their objectives or qualifications. Therefore, it is better to write this section carefully and attentively.
Step C: Showcase Your Relevant Experiences
The next section of the resume includes all relevant details of the applicant’s work experience. This section can be referred to as the professional experience or work experience in the resume.
To write a logical and professional experience section, an applicant can chronologically provide all the relevant details. This means that the applicant has to write the most recent work experience on the top and follow that order chronologically.
This way, the interviewer can examine your resume based on your recent job and see that you are a perfect fit for the offered job position.
Step D: Include Your Education
The applicant must concisely provide all the relevant educational information in this section. A systematic and relevant education section helps candidates promote their knowledge foundation.
Also, an applicant should provide educational details in reverse chronological order. In addition, the education section helps aspirants back up their application for the job position regardless of their work experience.
If the aspirant is a college graduate or a recently passed high school student lacking relevant work experience, this section can help you secure the target job position. For example, a freshly graduated engineer can highlight his degree in engineering to secure an executive position in a hardware or software company team.
So the applicant must include all the information regarding education and qualification. As such, this section must include the following information.
- University Name, School Name, Etc
- Location of the Educational Institute
- Year of Application and Graduation
- Name Of the Course studied and degree
- Grades Or GPA score
Step E: Highlight Your Skills
The final step is for the candidate to showcase their core and soft skills to influence the interviewer and seal the role they intend to get. The secret is to use the exact keywords mentioned in the job description.
The first step is always to understand the process and learn the steps needed. So now that you are aware of all the steps get started and enjoy the job-hunting process.
What Not to Include in Your Resume
Most resume writing guides usually tell you what you need to include in your resume. But not a lot tell you what you should not include.
Here is a short guide of the things you should avoid including in your resume:
- A Solid Block of Text
Employers and hiring managers are busy people. They barely have time to go through all the information on your resume. And considering there are dozens of other applicants, you need to make your resume easy to read and scannable.
You can do this by using bullet points and subheadings to break apart text.
- Unnecessary Personal Information
Your potential employer doesn’t need to know certain things about your personal life. And these days, it’s actually illegal for employers to ask candidates for personal information that may intentionally or unintentionally cause them to discriminate an applicant.
Because of this, there are some employers who automatically discard applications with such information so they can avoid any potential discrimination claims.
- Reasons for Leaving Your Previous Jobs
While it’s recommended that you include your former workplace and job title in your resume, you do not need to include a reason why you left the company. It is not relevant to your new position and may even make you seem like a person who gives excuses all the time.
- References
In the past, people included a section for their references on their resumes. But this is no longer something you need to include.
This information takes up space on your resume. And if ever they need to get references, they can always request for these in a follow up.
- Fake Information
You should also avoid exaggerating your qualifications or lie on your resume. Your potential employer will verify this information by letting you do a sample or require you to provide your credentials.
If you get caught in the lie, you won’t be picked for the job simply because you were dishonest in the first place.
