Sonu wrote a fresher resume but since he did not have much to write, he finished in a page. Monu wrote a fresher resume but since he did not have much to write, he wrote every detail of every project he had done during his college. Which one is better?
A resume is the most important document that can get you an interview call. As mentioned earlier, your resume has to be dug out from under the cover letter which is the gateway to your resume.
1. Clear objective
Ensure that your career objective is not some vague sentence full of adjectives. Put some thought into it and write out a clear sentence. The objective will change over a period of time but for now, you just need to show a direction in which you want to pursue your career. Most youngsters want to copy the best sounding, earth shattering sentences adorned with the choicest adjectives. But trust me, something that comes genuinely from your heart is much better than creative writing with artificial passion injected into an objective.
2. Academics and projects
Mention your academic details in reverse chronological order. Prioritize the projects you want to mention. Limit the details you want to mention about your project work/internship. A couple of key points you achieved and can answer questions on should suffice. Make sure you prepare thoroughly on the projects you talk about in your resume. The idea of mentioning them in your resume is to make them the talking point in the interview.
3. Extra curricular activities
As a fresh graduate, your academics and activities in college are of paramount importance. Highlight your extra curricular activities. Pick out your best awards. Use these to bolster your candidature. the qualities that you developed through them and how these activities moulded your personality are things you can add on during the interview.
4. Personal traits
Since you will be selling yourself as a person for your first job, you can add personal qualities that describe you. You could use adjectives like self-motivated, quick learner, good communication skills, confident, enthusiastic, team player etc. You can think of what extra curricular activities have added to you as a person. To make it easier for you, ask your family and friends. They will be able to help you with the qualities you have better than you can judge yourself. Here again, refrain from adding a string of adjectives just because they sound impressive and make you look good.
5. Hobbies
Most people are clueless about this. It’s great if you do have hobbies like reading etc but most want to add activities which project them as intelligent. To me, that’s just playing with your future. It is sad if you do not have a worthy hobby but it is never too late to explore your interests and find your passion. Adding what you like to do in your spare time is another thing that tells something about you as a person. Just remember to mention hobbies that are genuine. If you haven’t read a book in the last 3 months, mentioning reading as your hobby is perhaps not a good idea. So, mean it when you write it.
6. Personal details
This section can have different kinds of details. But the standard ones include your date of birth, languages known and marital status. Details like nationality, gender and passport number etc are superfluous information, unless the job profile requires this information.
Do you have all this in your resume? Have you added something else to your resume? Share your thoughts below.
Suggested activity: Write down your academic and extra curricular pursuits in chronological order and then prune it to an ideal length for a resume.