Top tactics to create best fresher resume format

They say the First impression is always the last impression. But for someone who is trying to get hired this impression must also be long-lasting and most importantly positive. As a fresher or someone who is applying for an entry-level position you might be having a lot of questions on how to make a good resume, what to write, what not to write, etc. But worry not! Given below are the simple yet effective guidelines to help you create a resume that best defines you and help you get your dream job.

Writing a resume sounds a bit complicated with all these parameters- fonts, Grammar, structure and the actual matter that is to be listed in it. But with the help of this guide, you would be able to create THE resume for yourself.

Let us begin with what do interviewers actual want to see in a resume –

1.Resume Length:

The thing is that no matter what job you are applying for, there would be hundreds and thousands of people applying for the very same job. Thus the recruiters would be required to go through all these job applications and the average time that they would be spending on your resume would hardly be 10 sec!! So for you to get this job, your resume must stand out in between these many applications. It is just like your social media profile and dating apps, if you fail to make a good impression, you’ll be swiped left. This is why your resume must not be a long boring biography but must be short, to the point and crispy. Ideally, resume length is one page for every 10 years of experience. Make sure your resume sticks to one page. This would not only keep your resume organized but also help the recruiter to identify your skills and shortlist you quickly.

2.Resume Structure:

A properly structured resume makes it easier for the recruiter to asses you and certainly helps you earn a few brownie points. A well-structured resume highlights the quality of a systematic working style.

• Header- Name, contact information.
• Summary-career objective
• Education details
• Experience – mini-projects, internships, part-time jobs, etc.
• Workshops and courses attended
• Achievements and extra-curricular activities.
• References

Firstly your name must be on top succeeding with your professional title- your skillset in a smaller font. Also mention your correct contact details – phone number, email, and postal address. And yes, in college we do have all sorts of weird profile names. Please don’t put papakipari@gmail.com as your email, it creates a really bad impression. Create an email id that has your full name. Also, you can mention any of your social media handles that are relevant to the job, e.g. – Your LinkedIn profile, etc.

You must write a career objective of your own- a summary of what kind of a job and organization you are looking for to work in. Do not copy it from the internet, because there are so many other people just like you who make the most use of copy-paste. To stand out you must write your career objective on your own. Yes, you can use the internet as a helping tool.

Now comes the Experience- As you are a fresher, you may not have anything to write in this domain. So you must mention your educational details in chronologically reverse order. This must contain the educational qualification, the institute, date of passing, and the marks that you obtained. You can put this in a tabular form as well to make it look more organized.

Apart from that mention the projects and internships that you have worked on. Mention the name of the organization, duration of the internship. And most importantly, write in two lines, what you did in that project or internship. It must be short but complete. Remember that this section is where you can showcase that your experience is aligned with the job that you have applied for.

You can also mention the part-time jobs if any e.g. taking tuition, or working in a cafe or freelancing as a content writer, etc. as it shows that you have developed a sense of commitment and professionalism earlier in life. You can also mention about any courses that you might have completed – be it a certification course on leadership, any language that you have learned, software courses, etc.

Ensure that you highlight your other achievements as well. Be specific while writing these. A recruiter looks for someone who is also active in extracurricular activities. If you are associated with any NGO, volunteering work in any event, all of this must go in your resume and highlighted properly.

Apart from that, you can also mention your hobbies, strengths, etc. Avoid mentioning your weaknesses in your resume, unless asked for. But make sure that for whatever data you are putting in the resume, you must have relevant points and incidences supporting it. For example, if you have put Multitask-er as your strength, you must have a point that justifies that you are a multi-tasker.

A resume can be brought to the next level if you have references to back you up. References can be of two types- references of someone within the organisation you are applying to, reference by a well-known Professional. If you are referred by an existing employee, there are quotes chances of you getting an interview but if a known professional refers you then you would get a call for the interview. Make sure that you provide the contact details of the person that has referred you

Make your resume relevant to the job role you have applied for –

• One thing that most of the fresher do not know the importance of and naturally get pulled back by is the fact that you must customize your resume according to each job that you are applying for.
• Suppose you are a civil engineering student and searching for jobs. Now civil engineering is a vast domain in itself. So if you are applying for an on-site job that requires you to be on the site for long hours and talk to labors, the skillset that you must possess would be different than the skills you require when you are to be working on software like CAD, Tekla. Thus in both these cases, you would be required to make changes in your resume highlighting the relevant information for that job in each case.
• Thus make sure that you read the job profile properly and then craft your resume accordingly.

Other pointers –

• Now that you know the content that is to be put in the resume, and the basic structure, you must know the tricks to make it look more appealing.
• Make sure you have a margin on your resume page. Also, your resume page size is ideally A4. Make sure that both these things are followed
• Ensure that you use a simple font e.g. Times New Roman, Georgie, Bell MT, Garamond, Arial, etc. These fonts are easy to read.
• Make your Headlines Bold, Italicise, underline capitalize, etc. Also, you can make your font size up to 14 or 16.
• Play with colors! Yes, you read right. It is not necessary that you must have a black and white resume. You can use a few colors that may be in fonts, or to bifurcate the page in sections. Just make sure that the colors you used are not too vibrant and pinching to the eyes. You can use subtle colors for bifurcation of the page like really light hues of blue, peach, grey, etc. For fonts, you could use darker shades of maroon, navy blue, Browns, etc.
• Bifurcate your resume page in different sections even vertically. Thus you can write information in both the halves of the page and use the space more efficiently.

3.Proof Read the Resume:

After making your complete resume, it is very important to get it to proofread and checked by someone or even you can do it for yourself. Make sure that all the links put are complete. Double-check everything as nothing hurts a resume more than a grammatical error. Make sure the font is the same throughout and the font sizes are proper. Basically, you ensure that there is a uniformity throughout the resume- all the headings are highlighted in the same way, the bullets if used are also of the same type, etc.

To make it easier for you here is a checklist –

• Grammar and Spelling mistakes
• Incomplete website links
• Wrong punctuation
• Incorrect contact information
• Incomplete and unclear sentences
• Long, ambiguous paragraphs and information

4.Mistakes to avoid:

• Never Ever lie in a resume. Make sure that all the information you provided is true to your best knowledge. If you lie and get caught which is a high chance, you would not only get disqualified from the interview but also may not be able to sit for any other future recruitment process for that company. Ultimately honesty is something that the company cannot compromise on.
• Do not send the same resume to every recruiter. As told before you have to make changes and customize the resume for every job you apply for.
• Do not press the send button without checking your resume for grammatical errors. Any grammatical or spelling error reflects an insincere and disingenuous attitude. Avoid typing errors as it shows your carelessness.
• Do not write a long long resume. Make sure you stick to the one-page policy. If you have additional information to share then you may add on a page. But if you are doing it only to increase the number of pages then do not or your resume is likely to suffer.
• I hope that this guide proved to be useful to you and helped you create a good resume best defining yourself. You can use google docs, Microsoft word, etc.to create a resume.
• Several resume formats and templates are also readily available on the internet to choose from. My advice would be to take help from these templates and create your template for the resume.

Conclusion:

As a fresher resume making is not only the first step to get yourself hired but also an important one. A resume basically must outline your personality and must define you best. Thus you must take enough time and effort for this activity. Your resume must have a proper structure and chronology to it which we have gone through.

All in all, it must be to the point and crisp. After reading your resume, one must be able to create an accurate and positive image of yours highlighting your skills. Once you make a resume, you can share it with your teacher, mentor or someone who can tell you whether it has all the necessary information and also proofread it. I would suggest you not share your resume with your colleagues as in campus recruitments these very people are also be applying for the same job. If they copy and have a similar resume like yours, you may not be able to stand out amongst others and it would create an obstacle in your quick selection for the interview.

With this article, you must have understood that resume making is not as tough and complicated as you initially thought it would be. Just follow the guidelines provided and be completely honest in your resume and you would be good to go. Also, make sure that the mistakes that we jotted down are avoided. Use appropriate colors, fonts, and proper English and there you go – you create the perfect resume for yourself.

I am sure this article proved to be useful to you and guided you to make a decent resume. Why wait!! Get started on your resume game now.

I hope you get your dream job and All the very best!!