Find out how to present your resume in the best possible way.
How to prepare your Resume
Your Resume has two objectives:
1. To inform your next employer about your education, job skills and work experience.
2. To make the employer believe that you are a suitable candidate for the job advertised.
Resume Requirements
Your Resume should be both informative and persuasive and should be designed to:
- Highlight your marketable skills; abilities and work experience which are most useful to an employer and which match the job requirements.
- Outline all relevant information about your education and work experience which are most useful to the job or type of job you have targeted.
- Identify the selling points that set you aside from other candidates.
- Communicate your most relevant qualifications and achievements to potential employers.
- Present your positive aspects in a concise and well-structured document.
- Sole objective is to get you short-listed for interview.
A good Resume should:
- Be clear, short, targeted, well written and well presented.
- Highlight your strong points relevant to your particular job target.
- Highlight your most relevant work achievements.
- Highlight most useful aspects of your education and training.
- Highlight most useful aspects of your work experience.
- Stand out from the rest in showing that you are the best candidate.
- Encourage the employer to want to meet you.
Compiling Your Information
- Define your Job Target.
- Describe your current and previous positions.
- Main responsibilities and most important function.
- Special training or skills essential to performing key tasks.
- List your job-related achievements; quantify and assign values.
- Profile your key professional skills demonstrated in current/previous jobs.
- List personal strengths essential for satisfactory job performance.
Resume Content
A Resume usually comprises 6 different sections:
- Personal Details
- Educational Details
- Employment History
- Additional Information (Optional)
- Interests and Activities (Optional)
- References
Personal Details
- Name
- Address
- Telephone Number(s)
- Date of Birth
- Nationality
- Marital Status (Optional)
Educational Details
- Schools/Colleges Attended
- Dates
- Examination Results / Qualifications
- If you have a Primary Degree, no need to list your Leaving Cert results
Employment History
- List all employments in reverse chronological order
- Employer’s Name and Address
- Dates
- Position(s) Held
- Duties and Responsibilities
- Job-related Achievements (From your Skills Assessment exercise)
- Try to portray yourself as high achiever and problem solver
Additional Information
- Other Skills i.e. Computer Literacy including levels of competency in modern software packages, keyboard skills etc.
- Driving Licence / Car Owner
- Occupational Training Courses Completed
- Languages
- Career Breaks
- Personal Strengths
- Career Objectives (Optional – include only if you have clearly defined your job target)
Hobbies & interests
- Sporting Interests / Achievements
- Voluntary Work / Local Community Involvement
- Physical and Cultural Activities
- Club/Society Memberships
References
- Persons who will vouch for your competence and character.
- Suggest maximum of 2 Referees.
- Ideally Previous Employer, College Lecturer / School Principal.
- Seek their permission first.
- Include Name, Title, Postal Address, Telephone Number.
- Open Letter from previous employer if outside country – Attach to Resume.
- Suggest references from current employer be only furnished upon request.
Resume Presentation
- Maximum 2 A4 Sheets. Ideally 1-Inch Margins all round.
- High Quality Print – Laser or Inkjet.
- 100-gram Top Quality Stationery.
- Headings and important details highlighted in Bold Capitals.
- Correct Spelling, Grammar and Punctuation.
- No need for covers or binding – the employer is interested only in the content.
Rules:
- Keep it short – maximum 2 pages.
- Keep it simple and easy to read – Reader should be able to get information from each line without having to work through lengthy paragraphs of text.
- Must be easy to understand – don’t use terms which are not universally understood.
- Must be completely original and truthful.
- Be positive i.e. outline benefits from course of study not completed.
- Use strong Action Verbs to highlight your Achievements.
- Quantify and assign values to each of your Achievements to make them meaningful.
- Use general job titles if possible.
- Avoid jargon.
- Do not indicate desired salary on your Resume.
Choosing a Resume Format
Three standard types of Resume:
- Chronological
- Most frequently used format.
- Used by Students / Career Starters and Career Changers whose employment history is consistent.
- Functional
- Suitable for those who have been unemployed for long periods, held different types of jobs in the past, changed jobs too frequently, are returning to work after a long period or who wish to change career.
- Targeted / Prioritised
- Suitable for those who have identified a particular job target and whose abilities and achievements relate directly to the job
- Requires a different Resume for each job targeted
Cover Letters
In response to Job Advertisement:
When responding to a job advertisement, study the ad carefully and list the key requirements listed
Try to match each of the requirements with a brief note on your appropriate skills and experience and summarise these in your letter
Structure your letter into 3 or 4 paragraphs and keep to 1 page
Speculative:
When targeting a company where no position has been advertised, make sure you get the name and correct title of the person within the organisation if you want your letter and accompanying Resume to be read
No point in writing to the Personnel Manager if you are looking for a job in Manufacturing
You can get this information by a simple phone call to the Receptionist or Secretary in the organisation.
Never address your letter to “Dear Sir/Madam” or “The Production Manager” – you may as well bin it yourself
Strategy
In the final analysis, there are only 2 things you next employer needs to know about you:
What you can do for him (i.e. your Professional Skills and Personal Strengths) given the specific requirements of the job, and
What you have done for others (i.e. your Achievements).
If it is to be successful in its objective of getting you short-listed for interview, your Resume must:
Match the key requirements of the position advertised
Outline your skills relevant to satisfactory performance of the job
Give evidence of those skills by linking them to your achievements
Be targeted so that the Reader can readily assess your value to the job
It is considered a good strategy to outline key skills and strengths in relation to specific job requirements i.e. demonstrated strong planning and organisational skills if targeting a position as Project Leader.
This can be accomplished by including a Profile Summary or Overview on the Resume which provides a strong word picture of you to the Reader and, if done skilfully, will capture the Reader’s attention in the first few seconds.
It is important, however, to be able to demonstrate where you have used those skills in the past (i.e. your Achievements) if your claim is to be believed.
Your Resume will form the basis for discussion at interview so study its contents carefully and make sure you can stand over everything listed on the document.
Finally, keep your Resume up to date with ongoing job achievements, training courses etc. while these are fresh in your mind even if you are not on the move.
Debbie O’Halloran
