How To Create A Resume ?

What's a Resume, and Why Is It Important?

One of the first steps to finding a new job is to create or update your resume. A resume is a one- to two-page document that summarises your work experience and qualifications. Most companies require job candidates to submit a resume as part of the application process.?

Employers may sift through dozens—or even hundreds—of applications for a single job opening. It’s not uncommon for an employer to review your resume for a mere five to six seconds before deciding whether to “keep” or “cut” your application.

That’s why it’s so important to make sure your resume makes the right impression. This guide will teach you everything you need to know about writing a professional, polished, and compelling resume. Learn what to include in your resume, what best practices to apply for styling and formatting it, and how to edit your resume.

A Marketing Tool

One of the biggest mistakes job seekers make in resume writing is approaching their resume as an informational document rather than a marketing tool. They pack their resume with information. But they don’t position or tailor that information to suit the unique job and company to which they’re applying.

So, think of your resume as a carefully crafted pitch. What do you have to offer? What makes you stand out? And what relevant skills, education, or work accomplishments do you have to support your claims?

Keep your answers to these questions in mind as you move through the following sections:

• What content should I include in my resume?
• How do I style and format my resume?
• How do I edit my resume effectively?

What Goes Into a Resume?

Your first question for creating a resume might be,?“What goes into a resume?”?Or,?“What information should my resume include?”

Resumes are typically broken down into different topics or sections. For example, your resume might include a section that highlights your education, a section that summarises your work experience, or a section that lists your specialised skills.

Mandatory Resume Sections

Expand the rows below to explore the sections that every resume should cover. Think of the following sections as the baseline or foundation for your resume:

• Name and Contact Information

Every resume should include your?name and contact information. Make it easy for employers to follow up with you by including your telephone number and professional email address. You might also add your home city or address.

• Education

Most job postings include an educational requirement. In this case, you’ll want to highlight your?education?so that employers can quickly see you meet that requirement. Here are some key points you might cover in this section:

• Name of the school or university you attended
• Type of degree earned?
• Major and minor
• Dates attended or date of graduation
• Grade point average (if your GPA was strong)
• Awards, honours, licenses, or certifications received
• Participation, including any leadership roles, in clubs, extracurricular activities, and organisations
• Employment History or Work Experience

Most importantly, every resume should include a section that highlights your?employment history or work experience. You might add internships here as well. Describe your employment history with the following information:

• Name of the company?
• Dates employed
• Job title
• Description of relevant job responsibilities
• Measurable or key accomplishments

You don’t have to list every job you’ve ever held. Focus on the work experience that’s relevant to the position you’re applying for and clearly demonstrates transferable skills.?

Optional Resume Sections

There are optional sections that you might include in your resume if you feel they are relevant to the specific job you’re applying for or can otherwise help to distinguish you from other candidates. Expand the rows below to see a few examples of optional sections you may want to add to your resume:

• Objective or Personal Summary

Some job candidates may choose to add an?objective or personal summary or statement?near the top of their resume. This section is typically no more than four sentences long. You might highlight your goals or motivations as a professional, as well as your top skills, work experience, or accomplishments from a high level.?

Think of this section as a quick snapshot or overview of who you are and what separates you from the competition. It should be succinct and clearly demonstrate what value you can bring to the role or company.?

• Skills

You might also decide to add a section to your resume that lists?specialised skills?or technical abilities. For example, you might include your skills with particular computer systems and applications, frameworks, languages, or lab work.

• Volunteer Experience or Professional Affiliations

Another optional section is your?volunteer experience or professional affiliations. Only list these details if they’re relevant.

For example, you might list your experience organising conferences and events if you’re applying for a job that involves event coordination.?

• Work Samples

Finally, you might consider adding a section that links to your?work samples. For example, job seekers who work in creative fields might link to web pages they’ve designed, writing samples and publications, creative portfolios, or demo reels.

Section Two: How should I format or style my resume?

5 Rules for Resume Formatting

Now that you have a basic idea of what information to include in your resume, the next question is,?“What are some best practices to style or format that information?”?Expand the rows below to learn five rules for resume formatting.?

• Create structure.

The first rule is to give your resume an effective structure. In other words, you need to put the right information in the right order. Here’s how you can do that:

1. Organise your resume sections in a logical order.?For example, you might start with your contact information and personal statement before diving into the details of your education, work experience, and then work samples.
2. List your employment history in reverse chronological order.?Reverse chronological order means that your most recent experience should appear first, and your least recent experience should appear last.
3. Keep the most relevant, impressive, or important information at the top.?As a general rule of thumb, try to put your most relevant or impressive information at the top of your resume or the beginning of a relevant section.

• 2. Make it easy to scan and find information.

The second rule is to make your resume easy for employers to scan and find information quickly. If an employer only has six seconds to review your resume, then you want to help them quickly find the qualifications they seek. Here’s what you can do:

1. Use section titles.?Make sure that each section on your resume has a clear title that tells the employer what information is listed there.
2. Use bullet points.?Bullet points are a great way to organise information and make it easy to read. For example, try using bullet points to list your job responsibilities, accomplishments, or skills.
3. Use white space and line breaks. Pay attention to your resume’s white space and line breaks. If there’s too much white space, it may look like you ran out of things to say. If there aren’t enough line breaks, it may be difficult to process information. Be intentional about when and where you use white space and line breaks.
4. Use text emphasis.?You might emphasise section titles or draw an employer’s eye to other key information using bolding, upper case, underlining, or italics.
5. Use font size.?Finally, you might also use a larger font size to emphasise section titles or critical information.?

Tip!?Make your name and contact information stand out from the rest of your resume.

• Use varied action verbs in the past tense.

Start each bullet point or sentence on your resume with an action verb in the past tense. For example:

1. Instead of saying,?“I lead orientations with new students,”?you might say,?“Led new student orientations.”
2. Or, instead of saying,?“Responsible for conducting product walk-through webinars,”?you might say,?“Presented product walk-through webinars.”

Tip!?Use a variety of different action verbs, such as produced, coordinated, managed, analysed, and developed. Avoid repeating the same action verb multiple times.

• Omit unnecessary words and information.

The fourth rule is to omit unnecessary words or information. Keep your resume punchy and get to the point. You can do this by following these tips:

1. Use sentence fragments instead of complete sentences.
2. Don’t use the first person: “I.”
3. Eliminate unnecessary words such as “a” and “the.”
4. Omit details that aren’t directly relevant to the skills, qualifications, and needs of the job you’re applying for.

• Create consistency.?

It’s also important to check your resume for consistency in your formatting and punctuation. For example:

1. If you put a period at the end of one bullet point, then you should add a period to the end of every bullet point.
2. If you capitalise one section title, then you should capitalise all section titles.
3. Make sure your spacing and margins are consistent.

Mirror the company’s style and tone.?Review the company’s website and communications to get to know their brand personality, style, and tone. Try to match or mirror these elements in your own resume. For example, if you’re applying for a creative company that values out-of-the-box thinking, then you might take a creative risk with an untraditional resume design and layout.

Section Three: How do I edit my resume effectively?

Proofread Your Resume

Finally, always proofread your resume for mistakes and look for opportunities to make it more polished and easier to read. Small details can make or break your chances of getting an interview. So, here are some details to look out for:

• Review your resume for spelling, punctuation, or grammar mistakes.?
• Limit your resume to one to two pages. Don’t add work experience from more than 10 to 15 years ago.
• Make sure your margins are an appropriate size (roughly ? inch to 1 inch wide on all sides.)
• Choose a font that’s professional and easy to read.
• Look for opportunities to quantify your accomplishments with numbers, dollars, percentages, or other amounts, as appropriate.
• Avoid using industry jargon or acronyms that a prospective employer won’t understand.
• Write specific descriptions of your job responsibilities that give employers a clear and vivid picture of your daily work. Avoid empty words and generic statements.
• Keep bullet points and descriptions short and succinct.

Is This Necessary? Could I Make the Connection Clearer?

Perhaps the most important tip for editing your resume is to make sure that the document clearly aligns with the open position and tells a coherent story. Review every line of your resume and ask yourself,?“Is this necessary?” or?“Could I make the connection clearer?”?Every detail and description you include in your resume should reflect the specific needs and qualifications listed in the job posting. If there’s information that isn’t relevant or tailored to the particular position you’re applying for, then either cut it or update it accordingly.??

Borrow keywords used in the job posting.?One way to make it easy for employers to quickly see how your experience and skills apply to the position is to borrow keywords from the job posting. For example, if the job posting asks for candidates who have a strong research background, then incorporate “research” in your resume’s language.

Check Your Understanding

Check your understanding of what makes a compelling resume by sorting each statement into the correct category: resume do’s or don’ts.

Summary

Your resume is an employer’s first impression of you, and it provides them with quick data to make rapid decisions. Make it count. Identify the key qualifications and work experiences that make you the best candidate for the position. Then, focus on crafting your resume content, style, and formatting around that. Cut everything that’s unnecessary or dilutes your message. Instead, make sure that every bullet point, description, and detail on your resume supports a unified and compelling story about who you are, what you can contribute, and what separates you from other candidates.?

Allocate space on your resume by level of importance.?For example, allocate more space to describe your most recent job experience and less space to describe a less relevant internship. Pay attention to how much visual space each section of your resume consumes.

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