What is a resume?
The word RESUME comes from a French word that means adding up or making a summary. The resume is a summarized description of the candidate who is willing to prove his candidacy for a job, internship or apprenticeship. The E in the resume is actually É the thing on the E is called accent and used to produce special pronunciation here the É is used to make the resume to RÉSUMÉ which is pronounced as something like “rae-zumae”.
The resume can also be used for the applications to scholarships, admissions and research works. The resume though short in size focuses on the soft and professional skills; it contains limited personal and biological details with some contact information; also a brief about educational qualification and finally some lines of reference. Some resumes also support a formal photograph but it may not be necessary in some modes of application.
IMPORTANCE OF RESUME
As a candidate applies for a position in any organization or institution he forwards his resume, which becomes his first point of introduction and this impression plays a very crucial part in maintaining his candidature for the applied position. The resume should be brief, simple, expressive as well as lucrative for vision. The resume should not be extremely artistic; it should maintain a formal decorum. It should be evenly distributed throughout the page rather being heavily populated at certain parts. Since the resume provides you with the first impression that you make on the host of the organization or institution, it should be deserving, willing and vibrant like the candidates personality.
DIFFRENCE BETWEEN RESUME/C.V./BIO-DATA
RESUME:
Resume is basically a one to two page document that provides a brief description of candidate and focuses mainly on the skills and qualification of the candidate while providing minimal description of the candidate’s personal details. Resumes are used by candidates that have low work experience and are fresh out of college, apprenticeship or training.
BIO-DATA:
A bio-data is basically a single paged document that provides description about the biological and personal details of a candidate with very scarce information of the candidate’s educational qualification, work experience and salary information. These bio data’s are usually used for the informal interaction between individuals. Most often bio-data’s are used for matrimonial purposes and informal introductions.
CURRICULUM VITAE:
Curriculum Vitae or C.V. comes from the Latin word which means course of life. In general it is an emphasized document of more than two pages the sole purpose of an c.v. is to provide the candidate the power to express its candidacy for a high position in an organization or institution because the c.v. contains the description of the candidate providing his complete educational details, work experience, work duration, salary and nature of work with the information regarding the post and his contribution to the organization. The C.V. also provides some description about the candidate’s achievements, awards, or any other functional expertise.
TYPES OF RESUME:
Depending on the personal need and target of a candidate, there are various types of resumes available to design. Some of which includes:
· Reverse Chronological Resume
· Functional Resume
· Combination Resume
· Profiled Resume
· Targeted Resume
· Mini resume
· Non- Traditional Resume
Now we will have a brief introduction to these forms of resumes-
REVERSE CHRONOLOGICAL RESUME
Reverse Chronological resume is focused on the work experience of a candidate. It is a type of resume where the work experience or history is described in the reverse order. Which means the summary of the last job is described the first, descending to the history of the summary of first job offer. This format is mostly preferred among the employers because it is easy to find the job history of the candidate with whom he has worked with, at what designations and in what environment. This resume format should be used by the professionals with large work history and experience.
FUNCTIONAL RESUME
A Functional resume is basically focused on the experience and abilities or professional skills of a candidate. The Functional resume format is used by the job seekers who frequently switch between careers in their work background.
COMBINATION RESUME
It is a combination of experience and abilities followed by the work history of the candidate. In this format of resume the professional skills can be highlighted remembering the relevance of the job and post being applied for. Also a candidate with strong work experience can add the chronological history of his previous work.
PROFILED RESUME
This is a very basic format of resume commonly used by the fresher candidates to brief out the qualifications, training or internship experience, professional skills and aims relative to the position being applied for. This provides the summary of profile and all abilities of an applicant.
TARGETED RESUME
A Targeted Resume is a type of functional resume but it emphasizes on the relevant skills and experience of a candidate. This format is more elusive to write as it focuses on the eligibility of certain job a candidate is applying according to his profile. An applicant should carry this form of resume while applying for a designation which suites best to his profile.
MINI RESUME
A mini resume is a format where the qualifications, skills and experiences of an applicant are briefly summarized. This is meant to provide an overview of the works done by the candidate. Mini resumes are merely used by artists or writers to provide a reference for their attainments.
NON TRADITIONAL RESUME
A Non Traditional resume format is a web layout form of resume consisting anything of photograph, graphical images, tables, charts, visuals and colors. These resumes are not used often and are not recommended for generic candidates.
WRITING A RESUME:
Before you start writing a resume you should first of all understand the need for writing the resume and where this resume is to be used; and if the resume is necessary then you need to choose the type of resume that you require.
CHOOSING THE RESUME:
Choose the reverse chronological order resume if you have a good qualification and plenty of work experience to make the resume look like, ‘it’s going backward as you go down.’ Simply choose the reverse chronological order if you have more years to put in your resume, but there is no need to choose this type of resume if you have only one or two things to state; it will not make sense to do so.
Choose the functional type of resume when you master over good number of different skills and want to show the vibrant colors of your personality and the variations in your sensibility. This will provide you some extra juice where things do not go by the protocol and there is still some room for creativity.
Choose the combined type of resume if you are applying for an organization or institution; searching for the scope of extra studies or training, and you have to present yourself as an eligible and potential candidate for the position this type of resume has balanced dosage of both: your educational qualification, soft skills and your interpersonal skills and hobbies etc.
DO’s And DON’T’s
THE NAME: While writing the name, always write your full name as on the school certificates. You can write last name first or the first name first whichever format you prefer. Don’t write the name in all capitals or all small use capitals for the first letter of the first, middle and last name and the rest needs to be small alphabets. There is no need to write your nickname or any other name you use on the internet. The name should be provided at top of the page below the heading ‘RESUME,’ aligned either to the left or the right corner.
THE ADDRESS: The address should be present mailing address and should be provided near the name; and some landmark or reference shall also be provided if necessary. If the permanent address and the mailing address are the same then you should not rewrite the permanent address. Don’t forget to mention state and pin code
CONTACT DETAILS: In the contact details you can provide your mobile no, home/office no. and your email address. There is no need to provide any class-mate’s no. or colleague’s no.; if you don’t have a personal phone give your residential phone no. Try to provide an email address that seems professional, because it is not for impressing your friends by using fancy names and words in between. Simple and mature is the required thing here.
OBJECTIVE: Clearly think and decide what is the objective behind making the resume, the vision behind the resume posting and what you intend to achieve after applying this resume in an organization and after attaining the position that you have applied for please don’t fake it just say it, it will show you willingness but never try to show that you desperate for the position.
EDUCATIONAL QUALIFICATION: Arrange the college, year of passing and percentage or division in the manner as per the selected resume’s type. Don’t make this portion too elaborated.
TRAINING/INTERNSHIP/APPERENTICE: List the appropriate description of the Organization year, duration, program and remarks.
PROFESSIONAL SKILLS: List all the professional skills that you have learnt during the course of campus education and training in the organization. This section is especially emphasized by the interviewer for questioning, so you must provide only genuine traits.
PROJECTS AND ACHEIVEMENTS: You can list the projects that you have worked on till date. If many; list the most admired and latest. You must avoid listing your personal achievements rather, focus on the professionally achieved.
PERSONAL DETAILS: You can provide personal details like languages you know and their proficiency level, marital status, and your date of birth.
Following the above steps will surely help you in making a resume.
