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10 must-dos for a sharper CV.

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by Careers360 - 11 hours ago

IT is an act in creating your personal brand image. Your resume reaches the interviewer before
you do. Yet, many people lose out on an interview opportunity thanks to a poorly written one.
Your resume is the first step in projecting yourself effectively to the recruiter.

So create an image that you genuinely identify with ± it is a sharp world out there and no one is
buying false niceties. We address ten important issues related to your resume.

1. Should your resume have a career goal/ objective statement? A resume that is worthy of
representing you, should clearly state your career objective. A career objective is an indirect way
of advertising what all you would bring to the company/ role. It must display a µgiving¶ attitude
and not a µtaking¶ attitude.

Take a look at this: ³To achieve an appreciable status in an organization that offers full scope for
growth and where I can fulfill my aspiration of becoming a world class software professional.´

And this: ³Be a part of an organization that recognises my skills and provides me with suitable
environment to perform to the best of my ability.´

Do either of the above display a µgiving¶ attitude? Your answer is correct. They don¶t. So now
you know how NOT to write an objective statement! It is advisable to keep the objective
statement simple and specific. Let it focus on the direct value addition that you can provide.

î ample: ³A certified Software ×rogrammer seeking opportunity in the area of Software

Development in a competitive work environment to utilize my skills to deliver robust and
innovative software solutions.´

2. What sequence should your story follow?

Be it work e perience or education, always tell the story from the current/ most recent to the
first. NîVî
write it the other way round.

3. Does your resume need to mention your marital status?

The new age resume does not require you to mention your marital status. However, if the job
advertisement clearly states this as a requirement, do fulfil it. Quick Take

* Include a sharp Career Goal

* Choose the pdf format with discretion

* Fonts: Use Times New
oman, Calibri or Verdana

*
un a spell check

* Tweak to suit position and company of a potential employer

* Your latest work stint must appear first

4. How should you treat references?

Unless you have been specifically asked to provide references, it is acceptable to state in your
covering letter/ email that you will provide references on request. Usually, two references are
sufficient. Try to provide references from the two most recent phases of your career.

It is a good idea to inform the referees that you are giving out their contact information. It will
also help if they know what kind of jobs you are applying for.

5. Should you send the resume as an MS Word document or a ×DF? Some organisations ask you
to upload your resume. Usually they ask for an MS Word document. If you are mailing across
your resume, you could choose either format.

A word of caution ± do not get carried away if you decide to make it a ×DF. Keep it simple ±
leave out visual histrionics. And whatever software you choose ± send the resume in the most
commonly used version.

The biggest advantage of using a pdf format is that it preserves the formatting irrespective of the
version of the Acrobat
eader version or user settings.

In MS word, however, the formatting can change based on the MS Office version and User
Settings, leading to awkward situations like a two-page resume becoming a 3 -page document.
Or a section title like îducational Background coming on ×age 2 comes with the details going to
×age 3.

However, if the company insists on a word document, please send the resume in word format
only. Lot of organisations have tools to e tract information from Word documents and if you do
not send your resume in Word document, your resume may not get processed at all!

6. Should you incorporate links in the resume?

If you are an engineer who writes a technical blog, go ahead and incorporate the link in your
resume. If you are a website developer, the links to the pages created by you would certainly
help. However, spare the recruiter from links of your personal blogs, photographs and anything
and everything that you scatter on the World Wide Web. In fact, providing the link to your
personal blog may even prove fatal if you publish office gossip or crib about your job!

7. What sort of job profiles demand a portfolio?

Artists, designers, photographers, models and those from the performing arts definitely need to
provide a portfolio. An artist model/ photographer/ designer may want to include a ×ower ×oint
or ×DF, while a dancer/ actor/ singer may want to mention links from sites like YouTube.
Irrespective of the type of portfolio, the intention is simply to showcase your best and most
relevant work.

8. What fonts / presentation styles make sense?

Go easy on choosing fonts and presentation styles. The most acceptable ones are the simpler
ones. It is advisable to use fonts like µTimes New
oman¶, µCalibri¶ and µVerdana¶. Do not get
tempted by the fancier ones. The resume is not the platform to e hibit your artistic inclinations.
Also, keep the fonts and font sizes uniform across different categories in the resume.

You should zero in on a presentation style with just one thing in mind ± it should be e tremely
presentable. By creating minimum chaos, it should elicit the ma imum attention.

Some people choose to give the resume a fancy header with their name and contact information
in bold. This gives it a µletter head¶ look. Some go for a more conventional style by listing out
such information in bullet points. îither style is absolutely fine.

In writing about your project work, education and work e perience, you could provide a bo
format or a neatly tabulated one.

9. What are the worst resume gaffes? The worst thing you could do is to send in a resume
without running a grammar/ spelling check. In this age of MS Word, grammar/ spelling mistakes
in a resume are just not tolerated. Needless to say, anyone would straight away trash a resume
that is saved as superse y2010.doc or rockstar.doc. One gentleman I knew failed to get a single
interview call after sending out more than 80 applications. I probed a little and was shocked to
find out why ± he had sent out group mails! Do not try to pass around your resume/ covering
letter without modifying it to suit the company / role you are applying for. It is offending if your
application reads like:

Dear _______, I am applying for the role of ___________________ at your esteemed

organisation _____________________.

It shows and it is NOT acceptable!!!

10. What is the difference in writing a resume for a B×O professional/ îngineer/ MBA? If you
are a B×O aspirant, you need to highlight your ability to deal with all kinds of people, chase
targets and work in shifts. If you are an engineer, your resume should clearly talk about your
projects and internships. î pect a fair number of questions from these areas in the interview. An
MBA student would also need to write about projects and training.

Amit Bansal is a Career Counsellor, Trainer and CîO of ×urpleLeap.