How to Create a professional and a Effective Resume?

1. First of all, choose an effective resume format
  • Formatting is the styling and order you chose to display information in the resume. There are three types of resume formats you can choose from depending on the job you are choosing for or depending on the experince you have:
  1.   Reverse-chronological (most common approach),
  2.   Functional(least usable as it omits the experience section),
  3.   Combination

2. Inclusion of Contact details
  • You should start your resume with your name and contact details. It should also include your Email Address and Phone Number. Please format your name so as to be clearly visible at the top of the resume but font size not more than 14. You can also include your social networking handles like LinkedIn Id, Twitter, etc depending on what position you are applying for.

3. Add a resume summary or objective
  • Next section is to include an objective statement or a resume summary. An objective statement generally comprises of your career goals and is preferable if you have just started with your career with a little experience or a fresher. A resume summary is a good option if you have a decent work experience as it includes the description of your skills and experience.

4. List your soft and hard skills
  • Take a moment to consider which skills make you a great fit for the job. Review the job description and highlight keywords that you have had proven success with in the past. Consider both hard (technical) and soft (interpersonal) skills, as well as transferable skills you can use when changing careers or industries. Create a skills section with the keywords that are relevant to the employer. List any required skills like certifications or licenses first.

5. List your professional history with keywords
  • Write your professional history section in reverse-chronological order. Start with your most recent job and provide a short description including the company name, time period in which you were employed, your job title and a few key achievements during your time at the company. You might also include relevant learnings or growth opportunities you experienced while employed there.

  • listing your professional history, you should keep a few best practices in mind:

  1.   Use keywords from the job description.
    Similar to your skills section, you should also include information from the job description in your job history bullets. For example, if the job description mentions the importance of meeting sales quotas, you could include information about how you’ve met or exceeded quotas in past roles.

  2.   Be brief.
    Employers have mere seconds to review your resume, so you should keep your descriptions as concise and relevant as possible. Try removing filler words like “and,” and “the.” You should also only list key achievements instead of multiple lines describing your role.

  3.   Use action verbs.
    Make a stronger impact by using action verbs to describe your professional achievements. Some examples include “developed,” “saved,” “drove” and “managed.”

6. Include an education section
  • An education section will be especially valuable if you have limited work experience (such as recent college or high school graduates) or if you are transferring to a new industry.
  • You can include information such as:
  1.   Relevant coursework
  2.   Grade point average
  3.   Participation in clubs or organizations
  4.   Leadership positions held
  5.   Awards, achievements or certifications
  • When writing your education section, you should include the name of the institution, dates of attendance and your degree or area of study. If you are applying to mid or higher-level positions, you might remove all but the name of your school and dates of attendance to make room for more relevant professional experience on your resume
  • If you have certifications or licenses that are relevant to the job description, you can include them in this section as well. To save space, you can leave off any credentials that are not directly related to the requirements of this job.
7. Consider adding optional sections
  • If you have significant white space on your resume, consider adding an achievements or interests section. This can help supplement a shorter resume, especially for those with limited work and educational experience. Makes sure that the achievements and interests you list support your career goals and are relevant to potential employers.
8. Format your resume

  • While the layout of your resume is important, you should also take time to pay attention to formatting details like font style, font size, margins and spacing. Formatting your resume can make it look clean, professional and improve readability. This is key when attempting to keep an employer’s attention.

  • are a few key tips that can help make your resume look polished:
  1.   Make your font between 10 and 12 point size.
  2.   Select a font that is clean and easy to read like Arial or Helvetica; avoid stylized fonts.
  3.   Make sure your margins are 1 to 1.5 inches.
  4.   Make your name and section headers bold or slightly bigger in font size (no more than 14 points).
  5.   Use bullet points when listing several different pieces of information, like under your education and professional history sections.
9. Proofread your resume
  • Carefully review your resume for spelling, grammar and punctuation errors. Reading your resume backward can help you identify errors by presenting the words in a new order. You should also ask trusted friends, colleagues, professors and family members if they can review your resume. Third-party opinions can help reveal new information you might have overlooked.
  • If your resume is more than one page, review for ways to consolidate or shorten each section by removing filler words or extraneous information. Two pages may be acceptable if you are applying for high-level positions or industries like healthcare or academia.
10. Tailor your resume for each position
  • It’s important to revise your resume to tailor it to each position you apply for. For each job, adjust the keywords in the skills section so that it’s a great fit for what the employer needs. You should also change what you emphasize in the professional history and educational experiences sections depending on what’s listed in the job description.