Writing a killer resume

Out of the many fresh engineering graduates or the ones in their late final year who start their job hunt are mostly unaware of resume writing skills. Now I know you must be thinking who needs special skills to write a thing as simple as a resume. I must tell you that it’s your resume that is responsible for getting the interview calls and many times actually helps in getting the job. A resume is not just your name, address, qualification etc written on a piece of paper, a resume is the first contact between you and the recruiter and if written correctly or to say written tactfully can greatly help you in getting the job that you desire.

Here are the steps that are very easy to follow and very effective in the making of that killer resume you want:

Always start with your contact information

You might be surprised to know that so many resumes are not selected because the recruiter couldn’t find the name and contact information of the applicant in some seconds of time. The reason is simple that its not only you who is applying for the job, there are so many other resumes that are needed to be checked by the recruiters so in most cases they simply ignore the ones that take too much time to search them. So always begin your resume with your name, contact information like address, email id and phone number.

Write a clear objective

Most of the freshly graduated engineers have no work experience so it is better to write an objective to let the recruiter know the kind of profile you are looking for. Be very specific about what you can offer because that is what most recruiters are concerned about. If you have some sort of experience like a part time job or some internship then write a summary instead of the objective about your previous work experience.

For example:

Objective:Seeking a position to utilize my skills and abilities in the Information Technology Industry that offers professional growth while being resourceful, innovative and flexible.

Summary: Trainee Software Engineer with six months of experience in developing leading software products.

 

Write your educational qualifications

Next write your qualifications in detail. Don’t bother in writing the percentages and divisions of the entire semesters; secondary, senior secondary and your B.E/B.Tech aggregate percentage is enough to do the job because that’s what most companies are looking for. You may write them in tabular format with separate columns for Course, Institution, Board/University, Year and Aggregate Percentage.

Your professional skills

Write the professional skills that you have and that matches with the current job profile you are applying for. Be very specific about what you are writing here and make sure that there is no skill mentioned of which you don’t have good knowledge.  Always remember that writing a resume is like marketing yourself to the employer so make sure that it has everything he wants.

Projects/Academic Projects

If you have no prior work experience then you should write about your academic and personal projects that you have created or have worked on in a team. Don’t just write the name of the project but describe them in brief. Also keep in mind not to write too many projects, 3-4 projects on relevant skills are enough, more will most likely be ignored. So write about three to four of your best projects.

Detailed Experience

If you are having any past relevant experience then do mention it with all the technical things involved in your work. Writing the details in points rather than paragraph is better as the recruiter will have a better chance of noticing them. Try to be specific here instead of vague.

 

Personal Skills/Personal Profile

Here comes the part where you can mention your personal skills. Write all the personal skills that you have that are worth mentioning for example if you know a foreign language, or you have leadership abilities etc. You can write many things here like nationality, hobbies and interests etc but restrain from too much details here. 

Some Other Point worth Mentioning·       

• Don’t make a very long resume unless very much required. Try to make it under 2 or at most 3 pages.
• Spell check your resume before sending to any employer.
• Don’t list any irrelevant information.
• Create an adobe acrobat reader version so as you don’t have to worry about the resume formatting in different word processor versions or lack of fonts.