What you should consider when writing a resume

A resume (or curriculum vitea) is the very first point to impress your potential employer. It should entice the reader (be it the HR or hiring manager) to invite you further for a job interview. Most people often underestimate the importance to write a good resume. 

Below are some of the pointers to get you started:


Information to include


Personal information
The personal information should describe your location, basic contact information and some other details about yourself such as date of birth, gender, and photo.

Work experience
If you have had previous working experience(s), you should put in your previous employment after your personal information. However, if you are a fresh graduate with no experience, you can put your education information. The working experience should also include the period you have been employed for the particular position. Add your role and responsibilities in this section so that the hiring manager is able to gauge your abilities to perform certain tasks.

Education
Education information includes the institution, year enrolled and graduated, courses taken and results. It would be to your advantage if you can list some extra curricular activities that you have been involved in.

Skills
List the basic skills you have. Skills are the skills which are useful for your employment such as trainings you have attended, Microsoft Office, communication and technical skills. Currently there is a trend on digital skills which you can include your programming knowledge, digital marketing experience and social media exposure.

Availability
State the preference time for interview. Also include the earliest date you can join the company or your notice period.

Reference
Reference should be your current or previous supervisor/manager. If you are a fresh graduate, your lecturer or academic supervisor should be your best reference. A personal friend or family members are the worst reference to state. It shows that you don't have a reliable reference to backup your professional identity.


Sequence

The sequence of your education and work experience should be latest on the top and follow up with the experience before that. A lot of people made mistake by listing the very first job on the top.


Reading pattern

Always be reminded that the hiring manager and human resource personnel receive a lot of job applications. It is your duty to make their job easier by providing a resume that is easy to read. One way is to put yourself into their shoes and read your resume if it is easy to understand. Always start your line on the left margin (instead of centralized your line). This is because everyone's eyes are programmed to start reading a fresh line from the left. Properly section your resume by personal particulars, work experience, education, skills and reference. That way the reader is able to find the information he needs easily.


Header or footer
Almost 90% of job seekers do not know the importance of having a header or footer. So, what are the information that should be included in the header or footer? It should contain the page number, in case the recipient printed out your resume and in the process of passing to the hiring manager, a page got dropped out. Being said so, you should indicate your page as "Page 1 of 3" so that the receiver knows the entire package of your resume. You should also include the period or version of that resume, example "Updated - February 2015" or "Version Feb 2015", so that the receiver knows whether it is the newest version that they are receiving. It also allows you to keep track of your skills and knowledge.


A good resume requires a lot of effort and practice. You can always improve your skills by writing resume and let your friends read it. There will be more resume writing tips coming up soon. If you have any questions, please leave a comment. I would be glad to answer it.