Building Resume to Win

In the tech-driven employment landscape where search bars are predominantly used to search for a suitable match for the open position, we have to highlight our core competency in the best possible way and step up to that standard. Updating and enhancing resumes has never been easy especially in this competitive world where competition is fierce, and where we are dealing more with electronic scanning systems and less human interaction. So how to be on the top of the game?

There are so many books written to improve a resume for young job seekers with ideas to give it a tweak or maybe a complete Makeover. But, between fierce competition, assignments, projects, who would have time to read a book to work on the resume. Besides, there is a major gap in awareness between fresh graduates and the way the hiring process works. Some marketing specialists, HR professionals, and freelancers have tried to communicate the gap through writing articles and blogs. The challenge is that this information is enormous, scattered, and students are time-constrained to capture everything. Keeping these factors in mind, we have tried to point out some vital elements in a concise fashion that can help optimize your resume and might benefit you in some way.

Here are some tips that might help you improve your Resume:

1) Tell them about “Future Me” – Give a clear objective of your career goal. Your career summary should balance which part of the story to highlight and which to minimize. We want to give emphasis to what your objective is through the applied position, as opposed to what you have done in the past which has no relevance to the current position. Bring the reader’s focus on accomplishments, credentials, and experiences that relate to your objective that revolves around the current position you are applying in and less to things that the company may not want to know.

2) Integrate Keywords – By now, most of you are aware that candidates are chosen using keywords in the search bar, which means if your resume is missing those keywords, yours may likely be overlooked. So even if you are the ideal candidate, you may want to pay close attention to job description details of that position and include them in the resume. Remember, the resume selection process is done through an electronic applicant tracking system, so upgrade the Resume language to the current language of positions posted. Get some idea around “keywords” by visiting the company’s official website, online job postings, social media sources, and linked-in group conversations.

3) Maximize validity and Minimize ambiguity – Stick to facts and showcase real perceivable accomplishments like industrial and academic projects, published papers, patents, certifications, educational degrees, training, awards, and recognitions. Use bullet points and avoid writing long descriptions. Optimize the information structure in such a way that key highlights are easily consumable while the unverifiable, ambiguous information is minimized. If you have a big list of products and tools under your skillset, present those in a tabular form with a brief description and level of expertise. Make your own decision in differentiating projects from accomplishments. Projects can go under Experience summary and wow experiences under Honors/Recognition. Again, look at this way, why should an organization hire you, most of the candidates would match the required qualifications and skills, but what makes you stand out? What did you do differently or out of the box in your working experience that should be worth mentioning in the resume?

This is a part, where you would want to sell yourself. Lead this attribute by listing your accomplishments, projects (in case of freshers), any wow experience, went above and beyond scenarios. These are the things that you would want your desired employer to know, to show that you have what it takes to become a valuable resource in an organization.

4) Synopsis – A short professional career summary highlighting years of experience, job history, and major achievements/projects would help any level of hiring professional to get an idea about your professional journey. Again, concise! Don’t make it a long read, capture the most significant information, and make it an easy read.

5) Quantify your achievements - Mix number and narrative to make it a compelling read. We must learn this art when writing about achievements or explaining the projects in the resume. For example, “Directed a team of 4 members within 2 years of joining”, “Tapped out almost 4 designs within a span of 6 months on technology node 40 nm and 28nm” etc. Write either in a short paragraph or bullet points to make it an easy read, and use action verb like Instead of talked, led, presented, and organized. Use: addressed, spearheaded, reconciled. An action verb is a definitive verb and usage of these verbs would instantly make the reader understand what exactly you did at the organization. Here is a list of action verbs that can be utilized.

6) Know your audience– Crafting resume not for yourself but for the audience is a must. Our audience is the recruiter and the hiring managers we contact. The uncomfortable truth about job seeking is that the entire process has little to do with you, the candidate. It’s about the hiring company and the particular manager’s business needs. The area to be focused on is to make sure it distinctively surrounds around the business problems your audience might have and illustrates how you are the solution. The best way to do that is to make your career summary skimmable meaning making it convenient for any recruiter to get what he is looking for in the resume.

7) References to reinforce your experience: When adding references in your CV, include individuals who are professionals and who have an unbiased opinion of your work performance. You must have a prior working relationship with the people you include as references. For example - Previous and current employers, Managers and team leaders, Colleagues and business partners, Coaches and Trainers, Professors and teachers, Academic supervisors. This attribute is optional and works best in case of scenarios where you have had accomplishments, done projects under supervision, or something that was done above and beyond.

8) Miscellaneous – Incorporating charts, color, image, icons, and tables and boxes in the resume can be a valuable addition. It is imperative to stay under industry norms. Clearly representing key information through designs add clarity and clear understanding which would easily make the document well organized. There are the latest templates available online to refer to and believe me it will be worth visiting those websites for some tips.  

Your resume holds great importance, it is entirely in your hands how to represent it. Enhancing or preparing a resume should be given as much attention as you would give it towards preparing for an interview.

?Customize!! It accomplishes two key things –Conveys your understanding of the role and the business problems and second, it emphasizes your strengths and how they relate to the job. 

This article was majorly inspired by Puneet Mittal’s blog on VLSI Expert website (https://www.vlsi-expert.com/2013/03/how-to-prepare-good-resume.html) and a few other articles that I sifted through to capture some major areas. Specifically for VLSI enthusiasts, please visit Puneet’s blog on resume improvement, it’s worth a read, would make you aware of the entire hiring process and critical tips of how to improve your resume.