「Resume - The First Step」の版間の差分

2016年7月27日 (水) 20:08時点における版

The 1st step in the recruitment process requires sourcing prospective candidates' profiles. This is done by advertising the vacant positions on various channels or media like Newspapers, Internet sites, Radio, Billboards and mobility services. Interested candidates reply to the advertisement by sending their applications along with their profile. These profiles are normally called Resume, Bio-data or Curriculum Vitae.
Technically speaking, all the above three has different meanings. A Resume, which is of French origin, indicates a chronological set of jobs whereas a Curriculum Vitae of Latin, focuses on academic credentials and is also more comprehensive. The term bio-data traces its origins to Industrial age when a definite format which has a specific variety of fields were chosen to capture a candidate's details. Since the format was uniform for all those candidates, it was easier to compare these skills and predict suitability to get a position. However, nowadays these terms are utilized interchangeably and then for any profile uses a combination of a few definitions.
Resume-Purpose
People wrongly think that the purpose of a resume becomes a job. Far from it! If a resume might get you work, there will be no need of interviews, group discussions, presentations and the like. Again, if your resume cannot fetch employment, you might wonder about the need of a resume!! One could simply send names and make contact with numbers for registering for an interview or presentation. That would be ideal but pragmatic only for the small pool of applicants. In a country which has a 61% employable workforce out of 1 billion people (the absolute number itself is an incredible 610 million which is expected to grow year on year).
As per a UN division report, the quantity of people inside workforce is likely to rise to 64% in the population.
Considering the massive populace, it's possible to imagine the amount of people looking for any job vacancy that's advertised. Of course this may not hold best for areas which are relatively niche but such requirements will also be not common. Again, the variety of applications received is higher at lower levels and decreases even as we move up the hierarchy. However, that is a relative comparison and absolutely the numbers are still high. A view in the recruiter's desk or email inbox will better demonstrate this. So it can be practically impossible/un-economical in order to meet every candidate. The better option then would be to short-list relevant profiles for a meeting.
An average recruiter won't spend more than a minute on any resume. The time spent is mostly inversely proportional to the number of applications/resumes received. So it is essential to hook the recruiter's attention at his first glance. The role of an resume is just to fetch an interview call. Since there can be numerous profiles with the exact same backgrounds, the resume helping to make the best impression contains the call.
One For All?
Does a sales representative use the same sales page with all his prospective customers? No way! He changes his pitch as outlined by his prospect's background and requirements. Similarly a career application tries to convince the objective customer .i.e. the employer that you will be the right product (candidate). Applying and interviewing is like a sales process. Hence it is important to align one's resume to match the advertised position. Aligning will not mean fudging. It rather means emphasizing skills which are more relevant for that advertised position. For example, teaching/research positions lean heavily on academic credentials, publications and research inclination. However, a business development job requires much more of networking and communicating skills.
Switching careers may require an all-together different resume to exhibit how the existing skills and experience can be useful in the new position.
Major Resume Gaffes
1. Several spelling errors
2. No specifics of experience (time duration, work profiles etc). Only company names mentioned
3. No paragraph alignment this provides you with a very illegible look
4. Lots of blank spaces between paragraphs
5. Punctuation errors thus making the statement incomprehensible
6. No contact details
Essentials
It is widely believed, specifically in India, a resume must be very long to produce an impression. Lengthy resumes supposedly indicate "more" experience. So it is not unusual to see people who have 10 years experience carrying resumes that run approximately 10 pages or maybe more. Of course, sheer organization in the same text itself is able to reduce the size to a minimum of 7 pages. So what exactly is meant with a good resume? What do recruiters expect? Why some profiles get short-listed whereas others (similar background) do not? This article will give a "scoop" of the secret behind this selection. Fatalists always resign for their fate and blame it around the L-factor. But some serious home work can beat the L-factor to some considerable extent.
1. Length of a Resume
Entry level to middle level candidates should NOT have resumes exceeding a website. You doubt that it will fit? It will. Yes it will-provided you utilize the space as efficiently as you possibly can and make using powerful compact words as opposed to long sentences. For example: Instead of writing "Extremely good performance" it's possible to write "Stellar Performance". Senior level applicants' resumes may run as much as a maximum of 2-3 pages. In case of project experience, the same should be appended as a possible annexure instead of including within the main body from the resume. In no case, however, if the resume come across dozens of pages.
2. Content at Top of Resume
Does one need to follow a standard format of mentioning Objective, Education, Employment, References and after that perhaps the age-old kind of ending the resume using a signature? When you approach the cute school girl number outside, would you start of along with your weaknesses and tell her that you will be a short-tempered guy without any education and a worthwhile job? Not really! Rather you add your best foot forward and tell her about all the great qualities you have. You also tell her something that will impress her. The resume works inside same fashion. You write what exactly is most important for the top and also the inconvenient stuff goes on the bottom. So persons with an exemplary professional career though poor academic credentials may prefer to de-emphasize on education and talk much more about their professional achievements. If you are applying for a teaching job by having an experience in Marketing, you try to align your wording showing how your experience will be useful in pedagogy.
This is particularly important because, the recruiter will read all of your profile only when he "feels" you are the best fit for his requirements. Else your resume goes straight into the bin or perhaps into a folder waiting to get picked up another time (in majority cases it can be forgotten there)
3. Contact Details
Of what use is an aptly matching profile, if it won't carry valid info. There are candidates who provide emails but usually do not check their email accounts for months. Worst still, they supply mobile numbers and then change their numbers. It is always safer to provide multiple contact information (like 2 mobile numbers, postal address and 2 email addresses).
What a goof-up it will likely be, in case you realize that you are sent a meeting intimation email that you checked 15 days following your interview.
4. Grammar
This will be the saddest portion of any profile-even senior executives overlook this aspect. No one expects Wren & Martin's using perfect grammar, but, adherence to some few important rules is quintessential. Improper or insufficient punctuation can provide a sentence an altogether different meaning. Usage of wrong verbs, tenses and adjectives not only spoils the impression and also makes reading difficult and boring. End Result: Resume is rejected halfway itself-sometimes the recruiter may pass up important aspects of your career which may have been described within the latter parts from the profile. Moreover, improper usage can even be offensive.
5. Layout & Flow
Any presentation features a flow which grasps the audience's attention and keeps it glued till the end. Similarly, a resume should make reader through his background without abrupt changes. For example, beginning the resume using a synopsis or perhaps a summary is a good idea. So this way the various readers has already a framed images about the candidate's background. This picture gets clearer while he reads more to do with the employment history, education etc. If some listing of hobbies crops up involving the summary and employment details, the flow is shattered.
6. Standard Abbreviations
People hardly understand that the reader is the one who really should understand the matter mentioned inside the resume. But majority in the candidates write from their own point of view thus assuming that your reader will understand just about any abbreviations. Of course, generally accepted and standard abbreviations are fine but non-standard ones can bring about misunderstandings and possible rejections.
Standard Format
It is a myth there's some "standard format" that is to be utilized to draft a profile. So we have job-seekers always chasing these "standard formats". These formats can be purchased at the neighborhood book-store or in the photocopy shop around the corner. Students obtain copies from their placement offices and others get their hands on it through the friendly placement agent.
In reality, nothing is called a "standard format". What we do have is often a set of guidelines which might be followed while preparing a user profile. These are industry accepted standards and hence may be considered sacrosanct. But otherwise it's possible to always be creative to come up having a beautifully developed resume.