This write-up is inspired from what my friend Ranjith posted on his Facebook timeline a few months ago. I thought I should sum up and add my own two cents to it. Things a fresher should ponder while writing his résumé/CV (from the point of view of an HR, who will be viewing it amongst tens of other résumés a day):
- Avoid short forms (SMS language). Sad to see fresh graduates stick to that.
- No spelling mistakes and obvious structural mistakes which in turn give the opposite meaning. In the era of services like grammarly.com, this should be simpler.
- Please send CVs or résumés in PDF formats unless otherwise specified.
- Under the heading strengths, graduates tend to give a list of random adjectives, which is an immediate turn-off. Such words without substantiating evidence
is substandard. - It is always suggested that one give an overview
about him/her, at the start of the document. This will give a quick intro to the reader (who might be flipping through tens of resumes a day) without going into details. - No
multi-color résumés unless it is required for the post you are applying for. Maximum of twocolors . - If the employer has asked for a covering letter, do add. That’s something people would like to read, rather than going through a résumé. A bad résumé along with a good covering letter might at least keep you on wait-list.
- Appropriate fonts and sizes. No bolds and underlines in paragraph text unless really required (only those you want to ‘really’ emphasize)
- No photographs on the résumés (update: May 2021: photographs on resumes have become a fashion in India recently, which means it is no longer a ‘must not do’ item)
- We are not interested in knowing your parents’/spouse’s name and jobs.
- Use proper email IDs. No
cooldude androckingjohnnies . - Keep a subject, if you are sending it as an email. Keep it meaningful
Originally posted at my personal blog: TAAism