How (not) to write a Resume – Part 1

Having been part of the recruitment process - from 1993 - of the various employers, with whom I was working as a department head, I have come across a variety of Resumes, Bio-data & Curriculum Vitae, and whatever you name it. I had also been part of many interview panels to technically clear or reject the applicants.

From the experience gathered so, I would like to share a few thoughts on how to write a resume, rather how not to.

Though this is applicable to all applicants, here I am discussing engineering students, as my experience is more with them.

I understand that, nowadays, the placement counsellors in Educational Institutions advise students on how to prepare a resume. In many cases, I was even told that these counsellors, even prepare & hand-over to the students, a ready-made resume, wherein only a few personal details of the individual have to be filled-in.

I wish that these placement counsellors sit in an interview committee and interview the candidates whom they have helped prepare resume.

The first and foremost ‘folly’, in an applicant’s resume is “Objective”.

I don’t understand why any resume should always start with an objective? That too, in almost all the cases, this objective would be in the highest font size and irritatingly BOLD.

And, this objective extends to even half a page, in a few resumes. 

And, in almost all the cases, this objective is unrealistic.

99.99% of the applicants mention that their objective is to make their prospective employer the Numero Uno (Number One) in their line of business, in the world.

Strange that with so many thousands of stakeholders, a few hundreds of employees, a few tens of directors working hard, the said organisation may not be the Numero Uno even in the country where it operates.

And, the applicant who promises to make his/her employer the Numero Uno in the world - had not even stood first in his/her own class, in his/her entire academic career.

The other day, I was interviewing a candidate who had written in his resume that his objective was to improve the ‘bottomline’ of my organisation. I queried him whether he knew what was the bottomline of my organisation at the time of that interview and how he proposed to improve it. He sat numbed.

So, my dear applicants! Please do not think that it is mandatory to write an objective in your resume. Do not think that you would be called for an interview, only if you write an objective in your resume. Do not make false promises like the ones generally made by State Toppers/District Toppers in Public Examinations, who promise to bring water in River Cauvery and/or to ‘computerise’ all the public toilets in the country.

…. To be continued….

(Next topic is ‘An unconscionable lie called Project Work”)