Resume Writing

Your resume is a brief summary of your professional life written in a paragraph form. On the other hand, your CV for short, sometimes also referred to as a bio-data, is a structured delineation of your biographical information. However, in practice the term resume is to mean CV. Here also the terms have been used interchangeably.

The job market has a peculiar dual nature. The demand supply equation works both ways. As a job-seeker, you are in the market with a need or a demand for good employment. Companies on the other hand also have a demand for people from supply of job-seekers.

In today's scenario, both the markets are in short supply. There are not enough good people to go around all the companies. Yet there are not enough good jobs to go around for all the people. Under these circumstances an individual is nowhere in the job  market if he cannot distinguish himself. But he will have enormous demand if he can stand out from the crowd. Even then, unfortunately 99% of applications have nothing that distinguish them from others. They usually comprise a CV and a standard covering letter.

The CV has following items :

• Name
• Date of Birth
• Address
• Phone Number
• A table showing educational institutions and marks/ grades for class X and XII, bachelor's and post graduate level
• Hobbies

Let's look at each item on the CV :

i) The name is irrelevant to the selection process. Most applications for a given job are those of a similar age. ii) The address and phone number are only for logistical reason.

iii) Every one has passed class X and XII and college and most have same kind of post graduate qualification.

iv) Except for the few who have a big name institution in college or post graduation, again there is very little to choose from.

The positive in all of this is that this is a wonderful opportunity. If you can make your job application different and if you can do that in the right way, then you are definitely going to get the attention of the recruiter and you will benefit from the present situation in the job market. Prepare a standard CV and it should be customised for the job and the company you are applying for so that it looks unique. This means that for each job re-mould your CV and not just keep on photocopying your CV and sending it.

In general your CV have different headings :

•  Name
•  Contact Details
•  Education
•  Professional Qualifications
•  Work Experience (if any)
•  Extra Curricular Activities
•  Special Achievements
•  References

Some CV's have additional headings such as :

• Career Objective
• Skills
• Portfolios
• Summary

Types of CVs :

Depending on the job you applying for and, more important, depending on the strong points in you, you can choose that which is most suitable for you :

1) Functional CV:

A functional CV is best if you already have a fair amount of work experience. You can then arrange the information in your CV according to the work experience you have. 

2) Skills CV :

The second approach to writing a CV is the skills-based CV. This is suitable if you are applying for Job that calls for specific skills, such as 'software programmer'. Here, you would do well to use the various languages/ platforms that you are familiar with as the headings. Under each skill you could highlight your specific strengths  

, education and experience pertaining to that skill.

3) Chronological CV :

The chronological CV structure is suitable for most fresh graduates. Here you would arrange the key elements of your CV in date order. The usual way is to put education in date order and summer trainings or any other work experience in reverse date order.

Your CV would highlight your aptitudes, skills and personality in the context of the job you are applying for and should, therefore, be unique. Not only should it be different from other applications, it should also be different from your applications to other companies. Of course, you have to be prepared to invest time and money to develop separate CVs for each jab that you apply to.