Write A Resume That Gets Noticed
It should be no surprise that the quality of your resume* is critical in landing a new job, but it’s remarkable how often the basics are overlooked. Does your resume have major flaws that aren’t getting you past the recruitment team? Here are our tips for a top CV*
1. Layout
Your resume needs to be easy to read. If a recruiter struggles to find the information they need to progress you to the next step, they may discard your application in favor of candidates with easier-to-read resumes. Or they may be reluctant to hand your CV to a hiring manager who may be similarly irritated by a complex CV.
Lay out your CV in a clean and simple fashion, or if you use a fancy, colored template, ensure all the sections and banners are perfectly lined up. Use a 12 point sans serif font (such as Arial or Calibri), and save the final version in PDF format.
2. Critical Sections
Make sure your CV includes the following:
- Your name, location and contact details. You don’t necessarily need to provide your full address, but the region where you live, your contact number and email address are vital.
- Your job history in reverse chronological order – that means, the most recent job must be at the top. Show the company name and the start and finish dates. If there are gaps, make sure you mention what you were doing in the missing period.
- Your education, again in reverse chronological order. Your university studies should be first, followed by high school, if that’s relevant.
- If you state a “career objective”, make sure it’s meaningful. If it says “I’m looking for a role where I can use my skills to the advantage of the company” or similar, delete it as this adds no value and wastes precious space on the first page.
3. Mention the right skills
If you are applying for a job as a bookkeeper where a critical requirement is Xero experience, make sure Xero is mentioned on your CV. If it’s not there, the recruiter will likely assume you don’t have it. If you don’t have it, and it’s critical for the role, don’t apply. Similarly, if you are seeking a role as a Full Stack Developer, mention all the technologies that you know. If you leave one out and it’s a critical requirement, your CV may be passed over.
4. Optional Details
Recruiters and hiring managers should be assessing you on your skills and experience, not on your age, gender, religion or marital status, so best practice is to omit these details. If you keep your resume contained to the relevant and professional, you minimize “the noise”.
However, many companies in the Philippines require bio-data in order to progress you, so you may want to include these details at the end of your CV.
You can include references or not, though it’s common to mention “References available on request”, which enables you to get in touch with your referees should you progress to this stage.
Hobbies and interests aren’t necessary, though if you have one that is unique, the recruiter or hiring manager might find a connection with you. If you sing in a band on weekends, are a chess champion or a volunteer English teacher, you might find these enable you to build rapport with a future interviewer.
Finally, if you include a photograph, make sure it’s recent. Your graduation photo might be your favorite, but if it’s 20 years old, the interviewer might think there’s been a bait-and-switch.
5. Keep it Brief
Your resume should be concise and easy to read, so it will ideally be 2 pages long. If you have been in the workplace for 20 years, you can consider a brief summary of your job history – job titles, company names and dates only, and then only cover the last 10 years in more detail.
*Technically, a resume is a concise summary of your professional experience, skills and qualifications relevant to a job application. A CV or curriculum vitae is a comprehensive history of job history and academic achievements and are more often used for fellowships or teaching positions. Practically, they are used interchangeably.