Resumes, it’s farfetched to be in the workforce without having written one. College students have an idea about it, with many using one during internships or summer jobs. Many often mistake resumes (also spelled résumés) as CVs, though in some regions such as France these terms refer to the same document. Application and cover letters are also common write-ups people confuse for being resumes.

Understanding what a resume is and why you need one is critical to writing it. Here’s everything you need to know about this piece of document alongside how to create one.

Image credits: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/career-resume-hiring-job-interview-3449422/

What’s a Resume?

A resume is a crucial document that contains a concise description of your work and educational background. It’s a summary highlighting your expertise, especially to a recruiting team. This document serves as a stand-in for you during a screening or hiring process, convincing your potential employers why you are the right fit for a job.

What’s the Purpose of Writing a Resume?

Resumes are the first point of contact between you and a recruiting team. It aims to land you an interview by convincing recruiters that your skills will be an asset to their firm.

This document highlights your educational background and expertise in a standard format that potential employers can easily read. Recruiters also use resumes as reference material while conducting interviews.

Why Do You Need a Quality Resume?

A perfect resume is the first step to landing that interview for your dream job. Recruiters get scores of applicants and seldom spend over 7 seconds skimming through their files. So it’s crucial your resume isn’t just concise, but also showcases your expertise in the best possible light.

Every year millions of students graduate into the work or labor force from tertiary institutions, a situation that further increases the struggle for employment. Your write-up should demand attention and clearly show your values to your recruiting firm.

Many individuals often get professional assistance on their resume. You can read through Find My Profession review to check if it’s the right fit for you.

Essential Information in Resumes

Profile

Here’s where you provide a summary of your expertise and relevant achievements. It serves as your job bio and gives recruiters an idea of the values you’re looking to bring to their firm.

Educational Background

One of the many benefits of having a higher education is improving your career choices, you can read more about this information here. It’s critical to list your Alma mater, degrees, and any relevant certifications in your document. Certificates are indispensable career boosters and you can obtain them remotely, here’s an article about a program you can try.

Work Experience

Where did you render your services in the past and in what capacity? What’s the time spent during these engagements? Information on these questions and more information about your job history goes into this section.

Contact Information

When it comes to writing your contract information it’s best not to add your home address in your resume. You can use digital communication means instead, such as your mobile number, email, and relevant social media handles. It’s helpful if you add your LinkedIn profile.

Skills

What skills do you possess and which are valuable in helping your potential employers achieve their goals and objectives? If you don’t know how to answer on this question, strengths test might be a good way to find out what skills you possess, and how great they are. Remember to add these qualities to your document.

Here is additional information you can consider adding to your documents if relevant.

  • Accolades
  • Projects and Publications
  • Interest
  • Licenses

Structure of a Resume

Remember you are aiming for an eye-catching document, so formatting is just as critical as contents. Here’s a style you can use.

  • An aesthetically pleasing font at a size of 11 or 12 pt;
  • Single or 1.15 spacing;
  • It’s best to set margins to 1 inch;
  • Use a different header to place your contact details;
  • Try to make navigating your document easy by using sections; and
  • You can use bullet points to describe work experience.

Types of resume formats

Functional

Here, your skills are going to be your most prominent information, while your work history takes a supporting role. It’s helpful for individuals without prior work experience or switching industries.

Reverse-chronological

In this form, your selling point is your work experience and accomplishments. It’s also the common and safest option in many scenarios.

Combination

Just as its name implies, this form is a combination of both functional and chronological formats. Here, you’ll need to kick things off with a brief description of your skills. Afterward, proceed to highlight your relevant skills.

Tips for Writing High-quality Resumes

  1. Keep your language simple and avoid using technical terms alien to the industry you are sending.
  2. Find ways to convey your accomplishments and experience to suit the attributes needed for the job.
  3. It’s helpful to keep a concise resume and avoid adding irrelevant information.

Image credits: https://pixabay.com/illustrations/resume-cv-resume-template-3604240/

Final Thoughts

Keeping things simple and engaging is crucial to writing an amazing resume. It’s best to always proofread your write-ups multiple times before sending it to recruiters. Here is an article about how you can use grammar checkers to fix errors in your documents.