CREATE A ‘SWIPE RIGHT’ WORTHY RESUME FOR THE RECRUITER

A trailer of your work for the recruiter, your resume helps its audience decide if they should watch the whole movie - call you for an interview - or pass!

I recently put up an offer on LinkedIn to review some resumes. Quite a few people sent in theirs. While some were fab, others needed work. Based on this experience, here are six steps anyone can take to ensure a better chance of an interview call. 

Looks matter

How you turn up for an interview matters, no denying that. So does ensuring a good looking, pleasing resume - a well formatted, easy-to-read document.

The Solution

Microsoft Office has some wonderful templates that one can download for free. Use a template that you like, and build it slowly. Use the paste special option to import old content into the new CV template. Also, space helps in real life, more so on your CV!

Good things come in small packages 

I have seen CVs rambling into multiple pages. We all seem to be good at writing about ourselves, little realizing that we are sabotaging our chance to have our resumes even read!  

The solution

Brevity helps. Keeping your CV concise will encourage the reader to go through it. Include the important bits, but leave the room open for follow- up and questions when you land a seat at the table.

Once you have completed writing your resume, try to get a peer review to remove redundancies.

Do not make the font smaller to decrease the number of pages. You do not want the recruiter looking for a magnifying glass to read it!

Achievements, not Role

Most people tend to cram resumes with their Job Description - which speaks little to the recruiter about who you are. Remember, you are trying to use words to create a mental picture of your worthiness for the position, in the hiring manager’s mind.

The solution

Ensure a fine balance between your Job Description and achievements so that the recruiter gets a 360-degree view of your career.

Connect your job description with impact and numbers. For example, if you are a journalist, you could say how many published articles you had, or significant editorial suggestions that lead to increase in readership. If you worked in the corporate sector, bring out achievements like cost savings/optimization, process enhancements, team building activities that you undertook. Showcase how you filled in the brief of you Job Description and went above and beyond with numbers and examples.

When I hire, I tend to look for the achievements section first, to get an idea of the capability of the person. If I do not find that, it makes me wonder if the person did anything substantial in his current or previous roles.

Make you key skills, achievements, certifications the heroes

Your achievements, skills, certification, etc. are essential bits that can quickly get you through the door. But most people prefer to keep these gems hidden, expecting the recruiter to unearth them!

The solution

During the CV review session, I urged some people to club these into a single section, and to place it right at the top of the document. This would make it easy for the hiring manager to decide if the remainder of the resume is worth the read or not. Putting a summary section at the very start is another great way to grab the recruiter’s attention.

Mind your ps and qs, dot your i’s

For most Asians, English isn’t our first language. Due to this, errors tend to creep up in our spellings and grammar usage.

The solution

Over the years, the Microsoft spelling and grammar tool (hit the F7 key and see the magic) has improved vastly, and now provides instant error reports. If you see a blue or red underline in your word document, revisit it. Word also offers corrections. Use the feature to your advantage. If you are unsure, consult someone or look it up on the web. An error free CV does provide an edge over others.

Mind the gap

Having gaps in your career is something that needs to be clarified. 

The solution

People have gaps in their career due to various reasons and these gaps vary – from months to years. Anything less than a couple of months can mostly be managed without any explanation. However, anything more than that should find a mention. If you were travelling, or took a gap year due to family challenges, economic downturn, etc. should be clearly mentioned. It would be worthwhile to also mention if there were any skills or significant personal growth that occurred during the gap. Believe it or not, a carefully and truthfully crafted gap year reasoning could be the door opener and also ensures most of the conversation during the interview is in that direction. 

Edited by: Setuka Mahajan

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