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Use Titles or Headings That
Match The Jobs You Want.
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Use resume designs that grabs
attention.
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Analyze advertisement for job
description and identify the key words.
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Use these keywords in your
resume.
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Identify the employer's
hidden needs. Solve these hidden needs in your resume.
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Create an image of yourself
that matches with the salary you are expecting. For example, language
used in a resume for an Rs. 300 an hour position is much different than the
language used for a Rs. 800 an hour position.
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You can generate many more
interviews by tweaking your resume and cover letter so that they address the
specific skills each employer requests.
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List your technical
knowledge first, in an organized way. Your technical strengths must
stand out clearly at the beginning of your resume.
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List your qualifications in
order of relevance, from most to least. Only list your degree and
educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job for
which you are applying. If you've already done what you want to do in a new
job, by all means, list it first, even if it wasn't your most recent job.
Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological ordering of your experience.
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Quantify your experience
wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, such as monetary
budgets/funds saved, time periods/efficiency improved, lines of code
written/debugged, numbers of machines administered/fixed, etc. which
demonstrate progress or accomplishments due directly to your work.
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Begin sentences with action
verbs. Portray yourself as someone who is active, uses their brain, and
gets things done. Stick with the past tense, even for descriptions of
currently held positions, to avoid confusion.
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Don't sell yourself short.
Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume
as an advertisement for you.
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Keep your resume concise.
Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were only a part.
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Minimize usage of articles
(the, an, a) and never use "I" or other pronouns to identify yourself.
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Have a trusted friend review
your resume.
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Proofread. Your resume
should never go with errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation,
and inconsistent capitalizations.
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Sometimes you need to hide
your age. If you're over 40 or 50 or 60, remember that you don't have to
present your entire work history!
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You can simply label THAT part
of your resume "Recent Work History" or "Relevant Work History"
and then describe only the last 10 or 15 years of your experience.
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What if you never had any
"real" paid jobs? Give yourself credit, and create an accurate, fair
job-title for yourself. For example, A&S Hauling & Cleaning (Self-employed)
or Household Repairman, Self-employed.
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Best way to impress your
employer is, fill your resume with "PAR" statements. PAR stands for
Problem-Action-Results; in other words, first you state the problem that
existed in your workplace, then you describe what you did about it, and
finally you point out the beneficial results.
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Don't go far back in your
work history. About 10 or 15 years is usually enough - unless your
"juiciest" work experience is from farther back.
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How can a student list
summer jobs? Students can make their resume look neater by listing
seasonal jobs very simply, such as "Spring 2007" or "Summer 2007"
rather than 6/07 to 9/07.
