How to Write a Resume for Job – For Freshers and Experienced

Over the past years, the job market has evolved tremendously, the unemployment rate in 2017-18 was 6.1 per cent, though new job opportunities are drafted every day, there is a tough competition when it comes to applying for any position. Resumes play an important role during job hunting, even if you are eligible for any position, if a potential candidate is making a resume better than you are, their chances of getting selected increase tremendously. If you want to know the science behind making a resume that gets shortlisted you have come to the right place! In this blog we will teach you how to write a resume and how to make some basic changes to your resume that will make a great impact. Let’s get right into it 

If you’re not into reading, here’s a video for your reference:

Here are the topics that we will be  covering in this blog:

How Recruitment Works
Pick the right Resume Format
Mention correct contact details and personal information
Write a unique resume headline
List your notable work accomplishments
Add your soft and hard skills
Mention relevant keywords
Write a similar cover letter
Proofread your resume before sending it

How Recruitment Works – The Science Behind Resume getting Shortlisted

First let us understand how the recruitment process works. HR and recruiters all around the world are adopting new technologies to help make the recruitment process easier and more manageable, one of these technologies that is widely used is the application tracking system or the ATS. What the application tracking system basically does is to act as a database for the thousands of resumes that it receives and matches it with the job description. It also scrapes off the irrelevant data from your resume and keeps the one that it thinks is important. This is when using the right keywords pays off, we’ll be talking about it shortly for now lets focus on the recruitment process first. Once the application tracking system gives your resume a green flag, you get selected for further rounds and this means that you are a fit for the job. 

Picking the right Resume Format

Picking the right resume format can be a bit challenging for someone making their resume for the first time, though there are thousands of formats available online you should pick the one which is simple, easy to use and like we discussed – “scrape-friendly”. To make things easier you can refer to this checklist before choosing your resume to know if it the right one for you:

1. Does it have the proper fonts and indentation?
2. Does the format have all the sections that I want to include?
3. Does it look professional and will it work for the job that I am applying for?
4. Is it scrape-friendly?
5. Will all my data fit into this format?
6. How many pages will my finished resume have?

Check if these questions are answered before editing your resume. Here are some resume formats as examples, 

To create a perfect resume you should not only know how to write a resume but of all the sections that should be included in them. If you are confused as to what sections should be mentioned, here is a list that are a must for any resume:

Mention Contact Details and Personal Information

There are a lot of things that could go wrong in this first section, most of the times applicants send out resumes with incorrect or incomplete information which leads to them being rejected right away. To avoid this you have to make sure that the data included in your resume is correct and up to date. Start with your working contact number, your professional email and any of the website URLs which would make it easier to get in touch with. 

Writing a Unique Resume Headline

Freshers have a habit of googling resume headlines and copy pasting the first example that pops up, though this might be an easy way out, recruiters know right away if the headline you wrote is unique or not (they are not a fresher like you of course!). What really catches the eye of any interviewers is a unique honest and straightforward headline. And this is really easy to construct. What you can do is see some examples on the web and try to structure your headline according to what you think might suit you the best. 

Example 1 

Example 2

List your Work Accomplishments

If you are a fresher you might not have much to write in this section but what you can do is mention the internships or projects that you have done during your graduation. If you don’t have any internships to mention you can simply write about the technologies that you are well versed with along with.
If you are an experienced person, you can start off by including the major clients or projects that you have worked on or any notable accomplishments that had an impact on the company.

Add your Soft and Hard Skills

Adding your soft and hard skills in your resume gives the recruiter an idea of how you might be as a person, soft skills comprise of your work ethics and abilities such as good communication, leadership skills etc. on the other hand hard skills are the technical abilities related to the job. Both are equally important  and play a huge role when it comes to selecting the right candidate for the position

Mention Relevant Keywords

Keywords are nothing but the words that are mentioned in the job description. To tackle the application tracking system you have to pick put these keywords and mention them seamlessly into your resume in order to get selected. Whenever a resume is received by the recruiting team, they look for these keywords and shortlist the resumes that include the same

Write a Similar Cover Letter

A cover letter is a one-page document that you submit as part of your job application. You should think of a cover letter as a direct message to the hiring manager. When writing a cover letter  You just have to explain why you would be the right person for this job. Its purpose is to introduce you and briefly summarize your professional background.

Proofread your Resume before Applying

It’s always better to take two minutes and proofread your resume for any grammatical errors and typos before sending it. These errors might seem minor but they could be a reason for your resume to get rejected so it’s better to be safe than sorry! 

  With this we come to the end of this blog on how to write a resume I hope you enjoyed learning about the small changes you can make in your resume which will have a big impact. Happy Learning!

Got a question for us? Please mention it in the comments section below and we will get back to you.