Resume 101

My friends happen to work in a reputable HR company. Last week, we had a coffee session. In one of our chitchats, they narrated to me some of their experiences with reading resumes. Since their job is actually to sort through resumes, I thought of sharing with you guys their ideas and experiences. These could be valuable insights especially for jobseekers and graduating students who will soon find jobs.

Loud resume is a big NO! Loud resumes are those with colored/scented paper, colored and/or huge fonts and smileys. Make sure your resume is not rejected on sight.

Invest in a good ID photo. Friend A said that sometimes, she can’t help but laugh at ugly resume photos. In fact, this can even jeopardize your chances of having your resumes taken seriously.

Double check your resume before printing it. Attention to detail gives the impression of competence, and the lack of this can harm your chances even before you can actually meet anyone at the company. People who misspell major headers really make a bad impression. Why? It feels as though the person writing the resume couldn’t be bothered to use spell check or read through their resume. Nobody wants to hire someone who can’t pay attention to detail.

Clean resume is a must. Appearance counts, especially when it comes to resumes. Avoid submitting crumpled or stained resumes because they are utterly dismaying.

Submit complete resumes. Another important consideration is providing necessary information. Forget to include crucial information like work experience and college course will definitely give the impression that you are stupid---especially if you remembered to include your hobbies---something few recruiters are interested in.

The first part of your resume should include your contact details. Make it easy for the HR personnel to contact you. Some HR people tend to skip over resumes with incomplete details.

Don’t include useless information. Depending on the industry you are in, you can opt to follow with your academic credentials, work experience or work objective. More often than not, though companies want you to get to the meat of your resume; many HR personnel do not want to waste their time plowing through your resume to find out what your credentials are.

Stirring up prejudice. If you list your academic credentials, the useful information is your college degree and any job-related training or higher education. Grade school and high school listings are actually quite useless, and may even prejudice some recruiters against you.

Being vague. Don’t just list your jobs; list your responsibilities. If someone can’t list their duties, functions and/or responsibilities, then the tendency is for the HR personnel to assume that the applicant doesn’t know what he was doing. Words of advice: get your job description for all your work and to list this on your resume as soon as possible.

Include only realistic references. In general, do not list your references unless asked for them. And when you do, choose only two or three. Be honest and choose people who actually know you, not just because they are politicians/celebrities whom you think will make your resume more impressive.

Unnecessary credentials. Diploma, official transcript of records together with the cover letter are the ONLY things required of an applicant. Do not include certificates of participation in any seminar, training or awards and the like.

Expected salary. This is only discussed when the company has decided to hire you. Salary expectation is only indicated in the personal information sheet that the company will give to the applicant.

In the end, resumes are all about business, so they have to be professional looking. Never use specialty papers, as they are only used for personal communications. A plain and simple resume is always the best. One sure-fire tip for applicants to remember – make sure that a resume will reflect an applicant’s good academic performance, and he/she should include his/her co-curricular involvements, especially if they don’t have any work experience yet, because it is only through these that hiring officers will be able to evaluate applicants prior to interview.

Happy job hunting! =)