Criteria for Effective Resume

Resume writing is an art in itself. If you want to stand in the crowd with your shoulder and head high, you should first understand what it takes to create an effective resume.

Criteria for Effective Resume

The job search is usually an interaction between two people—the applicant and the hiring person responsible for the selection. The mode they communicate with each other is the resume. It is the key that has the potential of opening the doors of employment. Treat it as an opportunity to promote your skills for the applied position. If the resume is effective, you would surely grab an interview.

But to reach the stage of the interview, your resume must foster a feeling in the reader’s mind as if a biography is being read. This doesn’t mean you should write history of your life. The main aim of your resume is to communicate your skills, educations and achievements pertaining with the applied job, and finally secure a place in the list of interview probable.

With that aim in your mind, you should write your resume in either of the two resume formats that are widely used in the job industry. The choice will again depend on your professional background, and whether you are following the same path you have been trained or achieved work experience.

Let’s find out the two resume formats, and when you should consider either of it.

Reverse Chronological Resume

You should write your resume in the chronological format when you

•   Are a recently completed your high school o college studies and in the age group of 18 to 26.

•   Wish to make your future in the same field you have earned a certification or training in

•  Have been in one profession for a few years and make significant improvements by receiving promotions and salary increments

•   Would like to retire in your current profession

Functional Resume

This style will suit if you

•  Are not a traditional job applicant. This means you are not as young as a graduate, or you have taken    few years of gap from work and would like to go for any profession that could take care of your   necessity.

•   Are seeking a profession in which have no formal training or qualification

•   Have never remained in any single profession continuously

•   Are trying to make your living in an entirely new profession

Now, that you are cleared about the difference in these two widely accepted resume formats, it will be easy for you to decide which to choose from.  The purpose of either of the format will remain the same, to appeal the hiring professionals.

In my next posting, I will provide you an example of each resume style.

Importance of a Resume in the Job Market

A job search is demanding. You have to maintain your cool and positive attitude to inherit all the qualities of professionalism. Only then you would be able to face the heat of the hiring business. Just consider what makes you to buy a product or service? The possibility is either you have seen the advertisement that has appealed to your senses and needs, or heard from your acquaintance. Likewise, the employers too need some appealing features in your resume to enable them in offering you a job. And what else could inspire or appeal them about your suitability other than a well-planned and formatted resume.

Resume gives you an opportunity to promote your skills and abilities in front of the potential employers. It works like a bridge on which you will be driving your career vehicle for a long run. It should whet employers’ appetite to meet you personally. However, it is possible only when the foundation of the bridge is strong enough to support the weight the company would be bearing by offering you an employment. Therefore, each word in your resume should be cemented with keywords and phrases that are synonym in your profession.

Words are valuable. At the same time it is difficult and hard to come. It could communicate a lot if used in the right sense, and would mean a world. It has the potential to instigate and douse a war. And when you are communicating for an official purpose, you need to understand how to convey your message like a guided missile to hit the target. The resume should work exactly like the guided missile targeting the job. In the war, lots of missiles are thrown in the battlefield. But every few hit the right target. Similarly, in the job industry, lots of resume are posted for each job. Those which are written focusing on the job needs only get a chance of consideration.

Now, how to be focused and get into the readers’ frame of mind are the striking questions that hit like a torpedo in the job seekers’ mind. Whether you have just got a degree in your hand or been in your profession for few years, these questions keep nagging you when you want to apply for a job. This is the real challenge of writing the resume.

If you want to learn how to embrace the heat and face the complications involved in the job search, stick around as I will be generating unique ideas that could frame you as the promising candidate for the job.