By: Yulin Peng
If there is one skill you need, then resume writing is probably the first and most effective skill that you will have to develop for your job search. Your resume is what sells you as a business proposition to your prospective employers. It is the document that goes along the hallways and rooms of Human Resources managers advertising the fact that you are the right person for the job. It introduces you, sells you and prepares them for what to expect from you at the organization. Naturally it deserves to go to all these people with the right preparation, content and presentation. From the stationery to the font to the envelope, your resume sells everything about you in minute detail. As they say, God is in the details and this is something that prospective employers look for. The details.
Simply put, your resume outlines your skill set and your experience to the employer. Once he has finished scanning through your resume your employer would have formed a fair idea of how you can be of use to the organization and what kind of a person you are. The ideal resume should therefore be able to highlight the exact strengths that you have for the job and make you one of the strong contenders for the job. In short it should get you past the first hurdle and get you an interview call.
How do you do that? It helps to know the job you applied for because then you can align your strengths around the requirements of the job and the organizational goals and requirements. bunch you achievements, highlights, strengths and qualities appropriately and convey the picture well. What it means is that you must take some time to write your resume with care. That way you give yourself a good shot at the job.
Resumes normally fall into categories such as Chronological and Functional. In the chronological resume you mention the events and experiences in a chronological manner with recent jobs listed first. This is a simple and logical format that most people tend to understand easily. Though it is an easy format for people who have stuck to a logical career path it may not be the best option for people who are staring anew or for someone who is shifting jobs. For these people the functional resume is better because it focuses more on the different functional abilities you have accumulated over the years. It would help if you could put across the benefits you have accrued out of the experiences in each function to help the employer get a fair idea of how to slot you.
Experts figure that your resume has about 30 seconds to sell your case to the employers. Well-written resumes give the employer's the feeling that 'yes, here is our man'. There must be an energy about your resume, an enthusiasm that's infectious and a creative something that remains with the reader. So work on getting that perfect tone, the perfect layout, your best strengths upfront and make that interview list.
