The art of resume writing

Many people must have suggested you to prepare a good resume. Most of you might have started making one and others are yet to figure out what this resume is and why this is so important. If truth be told, your resume is more of an advertisement about you. Imagine you are going to a market where companies purchase candidates. Before you could even meet the buyer or have words, you are asked for a written document specifying the features of product and quality assurance. And that document is product’s resume – your resume. So, you can say resume writing is like creating a work of art. You need to present yourself with minimum use of words. It’s simply writing a poem – writing in strictly limited space and conditions, you try to say who you are expressively.

This article introduces you to art of resume writing. If you are about to prepare a resume, I would suggest you to go through this article once.

Writing objective statement of resume:

People always think that only projects and co-curricular activities are important for an impressive resume. But trust me objective statement is equally important as other parts of resume. When starting to design the resume, you need to start with a title that would summarize your professional skills and immediately grabs the attention of the screening team in the organization. Make sure it is not superfluous and avoid exaggerations, as companies generally do not fall for such things.

Let’s take an example. Assume a fresher applying for some job writes following resume objective. I have copied this one from internet.

Objective: To pursue a highly rewarding career, seeking for a job in challenging and healthy work environment where I can utilize my skills and knowledge efficiently for organizational growth.

At first it seems to be a good and attractive objective but trust me it’s not! But why? Its first part “To pursue a highly rewarding career” reflects greed for money and rewards which at first look provides a negative impression. Second part seems to be a generalized part without summarizing any professional skills. So, it’s a total flop. Now what is a good resume objective. Avoiding all above-mentioned mistakes and keeping in mind about reflecting your skills in objective I came up with this objective for my resume when I prepared resume for first time.

Objective: As an electronics and communication engineer, with an all-round performance, good technical and team working skills I wish to join your organization as a Software Engineer.

Wasn’t it simple and covering all above-mentioned points?

Now your resume should support all key points written in objective like “all-round performance”, “technical skills”, “team working skills”. I summed up my whole resume in these three words. Be smart enough to represent your skills from first line that you can write. Good objective is like a summary statement which highlights your strengths and gives a clear picture of what career goals you have. Try to sum everything up in three or four lines, as it is easier to scan through.

How to structure your resume?

Once you are done with a good and catchy career objective it’s time to put your technical and other skills on paper. Follow these points while adding information about yourself.

• Start by writing your name, email id, sex, age and contact details.
• Objective followed by education qualification and internship details.
• If you are applying for a software company internship column should be followed by software skills, followed by project details, followed by achievements and extra-curricular activities.
• A consultancy company requires internship column should be followed by achievements, followed by extra-curricular activities, software skills and project details.
• If you are applying for a core company write about industrial trainings followed by 4-5 good projects and good technical skill sets.
• At last write about additional information about you. It should include your unique abilities, interests, hobbies.

Important points to remember

• Generally any email id would work but if you are applying for a consultancy company prefer using email id with your name only and should not include any numbers like sahil01@gmail.com, gogna889@gmail.com. Try finding email ids on other email provides like outlook, Hotmail or yahoo. Some examples of good email ids can be sahil.gogna@xyz,com, sahil_gogna@xyz.com, gogna.sahil@xyz.com, sahilgogna@xyz.com , gognasahil@xyz.com, sahil.gogna.sahil@xyz.com .
• If you are applying for a software company stress more on describing your internship learning, software skills and projects. Projects forms most crucial point of a resume for software firm. Try to put at least two projects. There is no upper limit. Describe those in just one-two line. Just mention software technology used, IDE used and databases used. Do not describe anything in detail as this would make your resume look bulky and moreover you will fall short of points to explain if you write everything on resume. Also, write all the technologies you have worked upon and IDE used for development.
• If you are applying for a consultancy company highlight your achievements and extra-curricular activities more than your projects and software skills. Your resume should focus more on team work, event management and any public speaking experience. Don’t put more than two projects and a lengthy list of software skills as they are not looking for a technical person. And, don’t miss to write about projects and software knowledge as interviewer can be judgmental regarding your dedication and work ethics as you are an engineer if you don’t write those points.
• Do not go for superfluous fonts to write in the  Theideal fonts for resumes are Times New Roman, Verdana or Arial. Also, make sure to stick to font size 10 or 12 as this makes for a professional look and is easy to read.
• The length of the resume matters too. It should not exceed more than two pages, as this may get boring for the employers when screening it.
• Most people still stick to the belief that a resume should be a single page, so make sure you know what is expected in company you are appearing for.
• Have someone review what you have written. A good teacher or a senior who knows about your potential and skill set can prove helpful.
• Always make 3 different resumes for core, software and consultancy firm. Or amend the resume according to the points discussed above before sending it to company or carrying before interview.
• Resume should be chronological resume. A chronological resume starts by listing your work history, with most recent positions listed first.

What things you should avoid while writing a resume?

When the number of qualified candidates far outweighs the number of open positions, recruiters and hiring managers need to use the resume as a screening device. Don’t be screened out of that position because you didn’t take the time to transform your resume into a piece of art!

In case you were reading my article for first time this was Sahil Gogna – a candidate with damn good resume. Hope you liked this article. Don’t forget to subscribe to our website so that you won’t miss such beneficial articles.

Knowledge sources: various workshops on resume writing held in Thapar University, Patiala and guidance from my seniors and teachers.