Writing Attractive Resumes

A resume is an advertisement, a selling agent through which you present your self as an obvious choice to your future employer. Make claims about your abilities, qualities and achievements. Show yourself a perfect fit for the company.
To write an effective resume you should focus on the employers specific needs. You should set yourself a truly exceptional candidate for the position. With your resume the employer will visualize how serious you are yourself and the job you are eyeing for.
Bring out a topnotch resume so that employer can glance how successful you will be in the new position. Your resume should inspire the prospective employer to set forth an interview. Be specific to the job title and the employer's specific needs. Before writing the resume get clear what the employer is looking for. If this is your dream job highlight your professional skills. Describe the most relevant skills and experience you have for this position. Describe the jobs you held before. Don't just provide information. Provide enough evidence for your claims. Make the reader excited while he or she goes thru your resume. Project yourself as the best product for their money.

The elements of your resume

• Personal Information
• The Objective
• The Summary
• Accomplishments & carrier experience
• Professional Experience
• Education History
• References
• Additional Information
• Appearance matters
• Resume Checkup
• Content
• Conclusion

Personal Information: (All your contact information should go at the top of your resume).

Include your name, contact address, telephone numbers and e-mail. Use a permanent address. Use your parents' address or the address you plan to use after graduation. Use a permanent telephone number and include the area code. Add your e-mail address. Many employers will find it useful. (Note: Choose an e-mail address that sounds professional.)

The Objective:

Your resume should have a clearly stated objective, which makes you standout as a truly exceptional candidate for the specific job. Do not use fluffy, vague and broad statements even though you are not clear about your target. This gives the employer a sense that you are not sure this is the job for you. Decide a specific job title for the objective. Make sure you are up to the point. If you are not sure about the job, craft separate resume for each one. There is nothing wrong in doing so. Clearly stating your objective you are telling the employer you are seriously thought about the job and have a positive work attitude and you are well prepared for the job.

The Summary:

You should have a very strong and convincing summary that highlight you best among the other candidates for this position. Briefly describe your professional expertise, unique skills and accomplishments. You can also describe your appropriate personal characteristics here. Give a clear picture to the employer why you are the best to untangle the issues they have and how the company benefits from your presence.

Accomplishments & carrier experience:

List your major skills and what you accomplish using that in the chronological order. Highlight the relevant ones for the job you are looking is demanding.

Professional Experience:

Focus on the most recent jobs. If you have a long list of jobs bring attention to the most relevant ones. For the rest just give the job title you were holding or Summarize them into a paragraph in which you are explaining all you did. On the other hand if you don’t have a very good job history try to bring out the volunteer work or small jobs you have done for supporting your education. No matter what job you did. All it counts is the experience you have. Also don’t forget to give the Dates for each job. It is good idea not to provide the months until a job title is held for months. Also try not to leave gaps in between. Say what you were doing in between.

Education History:

List your Education in chronological order.

References:

Don’t include actual reference name. Reference requests are made when there is actual hiring interest. Just write “ Reference available upon request” .

Additional Information:

This is an optional title. You may include a variety of information under this title such as Publications, personal Interests, volunteer Experience, Leadership roles etc.

Appearance matters:

Write briefly and clearly. Write in professional tone. A two-page resume is always better than a tone of paper. Your resume should be formatted appropriately. It should look good both electronically as well as on paper. Try to avoid fancy layouts. Make sure it looks good in recipient’s end too. Try to see your resume in different browsers.

Resume Checkup:

You've written your resume. It's time to have it reviewed and critiqued by a career counselor. You can also take the following steps to ensure quality:

content:

• Run a spell check on your computer before anyone sees your resume.
• Get a friend (an English major would do nicely) to do a grammar review.
• Ask another friend to proofread.
• The more people who see your resume, the more likely that misspelled words and awkward phrases will be seen (and corrected).
• Check your resume for content and spelling before you send it off.
• Try to use powerful action words like accomplished/ achieved/ customized/ constructed/ Organized/ Restored

Conclusion: Your resume should be a well organized, well presented, easy to read piece of advertisement and should convey the message “Hire me. I am the best product”. Bring out you have a strong commitment to the job and you will well fit into the organization. Also make sure that the employer will get the message that you are worth for the money they are paying.