Before receiving a job offer, you must have a resume. Your resume is your personal marketing tool to get shortlisted and interviewed for a job.
Remember to always tailor your resume to each job application. This demonstrates the relevance between your skills and experience and the needs of the employer. Identify the requirements and selection criteria for the advertised job offer. Highlighting how your skills and experience are relevant to the organization’s requirements.
Here are some tips for good resume writing to help you make a powerful first impression on potential employers.
Personal details
You must include your name, postal address, contact numbers, email address at the top of the page. Consider using a reasonably conservative email address, such as your name. I have seen some job seekers with the “little scoundrel” email address in the hotmail address, potential employers may not find it appropriate and you may miss out on being shortlisted.
Career goals
The career objective may not be necessary, however if you are going to include one, make sure it specifically matches the job you are applying for.
Professional experience
The best resumes are short, concise, and informative. Structure your work experience in chronological order with your most recent position first. If you’ve worked for multiple years, simply list the job title, the organizations you’ve been working for, and the dates of your previous positions.
Date of employment: Remember to indicate the months and years for each position. If there are gaps in your employment, for example promoting your education, explain this briefly on your resume and if you are shortlisted for an interview, you can elaborate on it to the interviewer.
Company and job title: Provide an overview of the nature of the business and include your designation and term of office.
Job Summary: Summarize your responsibilities and accomplishments concisely for each role, showing your contributions to each of the organizations you have worked for.
Ideally, try to quantify your achievements. For example, it increased sales by 35% over a one-year period. Structure and list your responsibilities and achievements in bullets and introduce the point through action verbs, eg “managed”, “delivered” to indicate how accomplished you are.
Educational skills, achievements / qualifications
List your grades in chronological order and include the name of the institution, grade, graduation date, and your course of study. Also list your skills and accomplishments in school, as well as your past work accomplishments.
References and arbitrators
It is not necessary to include arbitrators on your resume, however if you want to include arbitrators, you must first ask your arbitrator for permission to include them on your resume.
It’s also important to make sure your resume is free of spelling or grammatical errors. Always highlight your accomplishments and accomplishments. Remember, the job search process can take time. Don’t give up, the time and effort you put into customizing your resume will pay off when the right position appears.
