For the best first job, you need the best first Resume.
It’s a significant phase of a person’s life. Studies are over, and they’re transitioning themselves towards a new role as an employee. Freshly graduate students with hearts filled with hope and enthusiasms probably can’t wait to build a resume as fast as possible (and in most cases, they just copy their seniors’ resumes with basic details changed) and start applying for jobs.
It’s time to stop right there. As an advisor, the most important advice I can give you is to do it right the very first time. There’s more to the resume building process than what meets the eyes.
When you make it a habit of building and using a perfect resume EVERY TIME you apply for a job, you increase your chances of getting an interview call.
Why is a resume so important?
The reality of the job world is- when recruiters post a vacancy, they receive hundreds of applications from applicants like you on the online job portals. To make things easier for them, they use ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to scan, process, group and shortlist the desired candidates. The desirability of your candidature at this stage depends solely on your Resume. There lies the importance of a perfect resume that helps you get more interview calls.
A tailor-made resume for every application?
What we recommend is a tailor-made resume for every job application you send out. It may sound pretty tiresome but ultimately pays off a great deal. When your resume is target-oriented, your chances of getting called for interviews improve significantly. And it’s not like you have to build a resume from scratch every time. Once you have a standard resume made for yourself, you can customize it for each job description by changing the keywords and updating the information a little.
A resume specially optimized for the ATS is extra-helpful. Before a recruiter even sees your resume and considers it for further processing, you have to get past the ATS software. Majority of the established organizations, as well as new companies and start-ups, are using some kind of ATS software or the other in their recruitment process. So, your resume should be smart enough to beat them and rank higher than the others.
What is Applicant Tracking System?
ATS or Applicant Tracking Systems are the kinds of software that help recruiters in the recruitment process by parsing, sorting, grouping and ranking resume s received from applicants, and showing only highly relevant ones to the hiring managers. Other functions of ATS include scheduling interviews, screening applicants by asking relevant questions, and helping in the onboarding process for new recruits. However, as a job applicant, having sufficient information about the resume parsing and ranking systems of ATS will be enough.
How to build a perfect resume to get more interview calls?
To build a perfect Resume, you should pay attention to every little detail. Before you enter a single piece of information- ask yourself and confirm if it is necessary/ will it be relevant for the job you are applying for? Take your time and proceed carefully.
How to optimize your resume for ATS?
ATSs generally look for keywords related to skills, qualifications, achievements, and experiences specified by recruiters in the applicants’ resumes. The resumes that have the greatest numbers of keyword matches are ranked higher, and vice versa. So, optimizing resume by using keywords wisely will make sure that your resume lands in the hands of the recruiters.
You can optimize your resume in two ways:
- Study the job description really well. Make a list of the desired skills, qualifications and other criteria. Then, change the data in your resume according to the job description. For example, the job description for “Accountant” and “Accounting Assistant” may be the same, but whenever you are applying for a job that says, “Accounting Assistant”, you should go the extra mile and change the job title in your resume from “Accountant” to “Accounting Assistant”. Similarly, for hard and soft skills too, you should try to imitate the exact keywords mentioned in the job description. For example, if the job description wants an applicant who is a “Great team leader”, you should change the skill “Leadership Qualities” from your resume to the one mentioned in the description, even though they mean the same.
Or,
- You can use a resume optimization tool online that will scan the job description for you, match your resume with the description and provide you with necessary suggestions to improve your ATS rankings.
What are the other important things for building a perfect Resume?
Your specially-optimized resume passed the ATS and landed in the hands of recruiters, now what? Recruiters probably still have a 1:25 ratio of vacancy to applications before selecting a candidate, finally. So, they will just scan through a resume for 5-10 seconds and make up their minds about whether to call someone for the interview or not.
So, your next step will be to take measures to impress the actual recruiters, not software. The most important things in a resume are:
1. A Great Summary
The summary is the crème-de-la-crème of your Resume. It should be 2-3 sentences long and contain all the important facts about you. Sounds tough, but it’s totally achievable. A summary should only consist of provable facts, and not your imaginations, ambitions or emotions.
2. Resume Objective
To include or not to include- that is the question! Most recruiters believe excluding the resume objective altogether is the best idea for a fresher’s Resume. Unless you have something really substantial to add here that you absolutely want to declare, you should steer clear of it.
3. Design and Layout
The layout should be professional, yet a reflection of your personality. Keeping it simple and elegant by using solid colors (don’t use more than 3 colors) against a plain background, with standard font style (Times New Roman/ Calibri) and font size (11/12), with Bold Headings will be enough.
4. Proof-checking
To make sure the resume is free of any grammatical or spelling mistakes.
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