Gift Idea for Everyone

A Fresh Graduates Guide To Drafting A Cant Miss Resume

Graduation marks the beginning of your professional life. Gone are the days when all you had to worry about were your homework and your exams. With your formal education having been fulfilled, its time to face a brave new world full of wondrous possibilities.

Naturally, you would have to actively pursue those wondrous possibilities before you could reap the benefits they promise to give. The first step, of course, is to submit a compelling resume to employment opportunities related to your field of study. Before you could do this, you would have to draft a resume. Not just a simple resume, mind you, but a resume that would give your potential employers the impression that you are a person who means business.

A resume has one purpose: to land that job! It is a summary of your abilities, skills, work experience, training and education. It has to convince your future employers to hire you.
Resumes should fulfill their purpose immediately. For someone to look at it longer, your resume must quickly deliver what you can deliver and what you are competent on. It should show that you are worthy of an interview, or better yet that job. The more comprehensively you prepare your resume, the more likely someone is to read it later.

Remember, presentation is important, content is key. Below are a few reminders for that cant miss resume.

PRESENTATION

Use a word processor to check on your spelling and layout. Generally, a one page resume is ideal, keep it short and concise up to a maximum of two pages only. Attach a formal picture. Use an elegant white paper, and use one side only. Use simple fonts, and avoid scripts and underlined words, use formatting consistently. There should be no typographical errors or misspelled words.

THE CONTENTS

Make a self assessment first, take time before you write. It is best to outline your competencies, abilities and expertise. Make a list of work experience and extra curricular activities. This makes it easier to prepare a comprehensive resume.

Resumes have different formats, but generally it requires the same information.

CONTACT INFORMATION. This is usually found on top of your resume, more like a letterhead. You need your complete legal name. Your permanent address, telephone numbers, and hey, its the new millennium, you should now have your own e-mail address, nothing more. Be guided with these: No nicknames, please. Use a permanent address, and indicate your daytime and night time telephone numbers, if you have an answering machine, replace that goofy greeting with a neutral one.

OBJECTIVES. Yes, you need an objective. This is the most immediate way to express your desire to be hired. This contains a summary of your competencies. Be sure to write an objective that is related to the company and position you are applying for.

EDUCATION AND WORK EXPERIENCES. These two are interchangeable.

EDUCATION. Applicants who have recently graduated and have no work experience should indicate their educational background first. Include your most recent educational information first. Include your degree and major, institution attended and relevant dates. Add your Grade Point Average (GPA) if it is satisfactory or higher. Mention academic achievements if any.

WORK EXPERIENCES or EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES. Give an overview of work that has taught your skills. Describe your duties and responsibilities emphasize on trainings and achievements. Do so in a reverse chronological order. Chrono- what? Put your latest job first and work your way through the first job you ever got. Include the company or employers name, your position, and a short description of your work there. Indicate the duration of your work there.

OTHER INFORMATION. You may include special skills and competencies. Match your skills with the employers needs. Indicate leadership experiences in school organizations or volunteer programs. Participation in sports may be helpful too.

PERSONAL REFERENCES. Ask people who are willing to serve as personal references before you submit their names to a potential employer. Do not include their information on your resume. You may note after the heading References may be available upon request. Just be ready in case they require you for personal references.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 6th, 2005 at 1:46 am and is filed under Articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.