Resume - The Building Blocks

Some call it resume. For some it Bio-Data, for others its CV and Nowadays its Profile.

Lets start some discussions on it. Hope at the end of the article you will learn few things





Scene 1:-
Person 1: " Hey HR mam, I have a friend for the developer position in our company. Should I refer him here".
HR: "Yes, Why not?! Tell your friend to send me his resume".

Scene 2:-HR after reviewing the resume.
HR to Assistant: - "Did you see the resume?? It’s so full of crap. How can I call this person for interview??"
Assistant: - "Yes mam. Nowadays people forget that resume is so important and all they write is crap, useless things."

         These scenarios and dialogues are common thing in today’s offices. The main reason for these things is the resume we write.
It is not exactly based on the resume we write but the things we write in the resume.

        The main important thing you need to keep in mind is that the resume is considered as your best representative, your best ambassador.

      Your resume has to tell the company a lot about you. Think about this example.

Consider

• Your college as a SHOP.
• You students as the Products.
• And your resume as your Salesperson.
• Company is the Customer.

       Now if a customer comes in to buy a product, and the salesperson is dressed funnily, has running nose, acts abnormally. The customer is discouraged from buying from that salesperson. The common notion will be “When the salesperson is so crazy, how will the product he shows?” And if all the salespersons of that shop are same alike then “What kind of shop is this?” Here you lost the customer (the company) and also the Shop (college or the institute you are in) lost its repute for that specific company.

       The above example must have given you idea about what position your resume holds in building your career and for the first step in corporate world.

       Below I am listing some points which are to be taken to be cared of while writing our resume.
      I am also not saying that you need to follow these points accordingly coz some points may work wonders for many but may bounce back for others.

• Keep the resume precise.
• The resume should not be very lengthy. Yes, you can keep your feelings for the love letters you may send to your loved ones, but this is a company and the emotions are of the organization as whole.
• Keep the resume accurate.
• Accuracy has to be maintained in the resume what so ever. Never bluff about yourself and your achievements in the resume. The HR’s are paid to get these things corrected and there is a high chance that they gonna catch you too.
• Proper grouping of sections.
• You should maintain proper grouping of the sections you make within the resume. Like, academic achievements, personal details, projects worked on, and extra certificates.
• Now the sequence of these things also matter. You can’t have academic achievements and personal details followed by projects worked on.
• The reader should gradually move from section to section, grouping of sections is important for that reason.
• Have achievable career goals (if mentioned any). The sentence” I would like to become a part of the integrated Company to explore my skills for the company benefit”, will put the emphasis on the reader. Also this sentence becomes common, no matter where your resume is and what you achieve in future.
• The font size or the variations in font size should be maintained.
• This isn’t your College project to have different varying fonts throughout the resume.
• Use minimal font variations but at the same time use those to highlight things which you think should hold more preferences.
• Use of Colors to be minimalistic.
• Plz plz plz I am not going to say anything on this but for god’s sake use minimum colors on the resume. It is completely ok if you don’t use any. But use the minimum (max 2) color pallet for the resume.

              I guess I am done with the basic things about resume writing. These are considered the building blocks of any resume. And are very much same in all different domains across the globe.
This article is for those who are just beginning to think about making there resume come to life.

My next article is mostly based on how we can sharpen our resume to get that extra edge over others