CV vs Resume (In Msia not much distinction)

● CV
○ More academic/research-based
○ Have detailed academic achievements, publications, conferences attended,
books, etc.
○ Min 2 pages
● Resume
○ Typically used for job applications outside academia
○ Focuses more on skills, work experiences and relevant knowledge/credentials
○ Between 1 to 2 pages max

Basic things to include

● Highlight contact info at the top
● summary/objective - law related position no need
● Edu background
○ No need incl SPM if applying for private
● Pro working experience
○ fulltime/parttime/internships
● Extracurricular activities
● Core skills/competencies
● Personal or academic projects
● awards/honours
● References - up to you
● NOTE: check if the requirements of company you’re applying

Tips
● Do’s:
○ Cater for each job application
○ Include relevant skills and experiences
○ Follow any company - spec guidelines (format, reference, salary, etc.)
○ Personalize it - it’s all about YOU
○ Double check for spelling and grammatical error
○ Be consistent in font, sizing, format, design, margin
○ Quantify your previous experiences
○ Update it ALWAYS, keep a ‘Master Resume’ with all that you’ve done.
■ Easier to apply for jobs/write new resumes
■ To keep track of everything you’ve done
● Don’ts
○ Copy & paste summary/objective from Google (it’s obvious, really)
■ It has to be specific to you and the co
■ Don’t be vague
○ Copy & paste previous job descriptions
■ Only include relevant things in your resume, and don’t include detailed
address - just say Subang Jaya, Selangor.
 ○ Include confidential information

Common practices to avoid

● Rating skills with arbitrary numbers
○ Unless you have taken spec tests - e.g. MUET
○ For language, can say native, fluent
○ For technical skills, if you’ve taken a test, use it.
● Focusing too much on the design
○ Esp so if applying for law related positions - need to look professional
○ Focus on the content
○ Unless you’re applying to a design related position.
● Sending the same one to different companies

Be as spec as you can

● Include statistics & quantifiable facts as much as possible. Write about the steps that you
took and the end results of said-actions.
● E.g. Led a team of 5 Marketing Executives and successfully increased sales by a total of
RM500k ….

Technical & personal skills

● Aside from just listing out your skills, be specific in how you have used these skills in
your exps
● E.g.utilized microsoft excel to analyze responses from 321 questionnaire responses to
extract data and find correlations between the responses

Applicant tracking system

● ATS is a filter software
● Ensure your resume is ATS-compliant:
○ Uses simple and basic format - no fancy design or graphics or icons in your
resume
○ Upload using Words, bcos PDF don’t do well with ATS
○ Ensure you cater your resume to each job application, include relevant skills and
experiences based on the job description
○ Utilize keywords to ensure that your resume gets filtered through
○ Tip to ensure ATS compliant: If you save as a .txt file, you should still be able to
see all your content without them being loss due to the format change

Q&A
● Focus on quality, not quantity
● Cover letter content
○ First para
■ Intro
■ Highlight interest of the particular position
 ○ Second and third
■ Highlight skills that the particular position reqs and explain how you
obtained the skills and how u used the skills
○ Fourth para
■ What the co can do for you
■ Highlight what you can contribute/benefit to the company
■ To show how you are the perfect fit for the co/position.
● Skills
○ Highlight the spec skills
○ No need to write general skills like microsoft office
● Jobs Experiences
○ Only highlight relevant jobs
○ Relevant meaning - skills that u developed based on that job experience
■ E.g. job in sales is relevant if job requires you have communication skills
○ Anything leadership skill based include
○ Volunteerism - include as well to show your interest/passion for a certain cause
○ Focus on the quality of them.
● Cover letter
○ Highlight the very top achievements
● No need to include subjects/modules
○ Because if you have a degree, they tend to know what subjects you have taken
○ Unless that subject is very specific, not many ppl take it.
● Career objective/objective summary
○ No need if applying for a law-related position
● CGPA
○ Include CGPA to show you are academically strong.
○ It’s not compulsory to include your cpga, but some companies have a min
requirement - in that case, need to state.
● Photo - subjected to the company you’re applying for
● Achievements
○ Anything post SPM
○ Anything related
○ Don’t just say you were a volunteer/leader in an event. You need to elaborate.
● summary/objectives
○ The top are vague - bad
○ The bottom is spec - good
● STAR
○ Situation
○ Task
○ Actions
○ Result
● Weaknesses
○ Take the negative thing and make it positive
○ Talk about the steps that you have taken to overcome that weaknesses
● Qs to ask employers
○ If there’s any training opps
○ If there’s any development opps
○ How are their working experiences
○ Controversial questions
● Avoid asking:
○ about pay first (ask that later on)
○ About co’s competitors/competition
● Qs - the Qs you’re asking is to show how the co will be a fit for you.
● Mode of application
○ If co has a spec way to apply, follow that first before you do anything else.
○ So if you want to personally email their HR, make sure you’ve applied through
the stipulated method (if any) first.
■ Write “i’ve already applied at job street, but i’m writing to you to reiterate
my interest,”
● Last tip: have someone else proofread your CV! You’ve been over it many times - so you
might miss out mistakes.