Tips on Writing Resume

Although a resume's function is not to get you a job, it helps a lot to get you a chance for job interviews. Follow the tips below and prepare a resume that is able to market yourself to potential employers.

Length

Human resources professionals usually receive huge number of job applications every day. So a resume that is clear and precise will certainly make you stand out from others. Even though there is no limitation to the length of a resume, one to two pages are desirable and the maximum is three pages.

Relevant information

If you want to give as much information as possible within two pages of your resume, you should only give information relevant to the job. Avoid personal details such as hobbies, marital status, weight, height or number of children you have.

Achievements

To distinguish yourself from other applicants, do not just list out job responsibilities in the past. Most employers know these already. Instead, try to highlight achievements especially quantifiable ones.

Keywords

Some large organisations scan resumes by looking for key words of certain industries or skill sets. Therefore, use key words such as contract negotiation, project management, network support, and product development.

Proofreading

Remember to proofread your resume again and again to avoid any typos. Misspelled words will give an impression that either you do not know the spelling or that you do not put effort in preparing your resume. Some employers, especially those in the editorial field, throw away resumes with spelling or grammatical mistakes.

Design

The design is as important as the content. Make your resume easy and comfortable to read. Highlight your strengths clearly. Do not print it on fancy coloured paper.

Even if you apply jobs in the same industry, different firms have different requirements. Tailor your resume to employers� needs. When your resume reaches the hand of the human resources staff, it may stay there for only 15 seconds. So, make it a useful marketing tool. It may help you win a dream job.

A Good Trader Curriculum Vitae

A good trader CV is a trader's passport to a better job. Securities and stock trading is a ferociously competitive career area and these jobs can generate very high salaries. Every higher position in the trading world is subject to intense competition from the best people in the business at that level. Job mobility is one of the keys to success in this industry, and traders work hard to get their CVs looking good. For that reason, CVs receive a lot of scrutiny from employers. The information required can be both technical and quantitative. A trader may need to prove expertise in areas of trading, types of investment, stock analysis or other situations related to a position.

Issues with trader CVs

If you're a trader, you need to know the current benchmarks of the industry as well as you know your job. The parameters for being competitive when applying for trader jobs move higher on a regular basis. What was once a great day trader performance may now be uncompetitive.

When creating your CV, you will need to:

* Research the employer's business, trading history and volumes: There will be information about outstanding performances, sales figures, and a good overview of the trading performance. You can judge whether your own performance matches the needs of the employer.

* Define your own strongest points in terms of the job: For example, if you're looking for a job in funds management, and the trader position relates to returns on acquisitions, you'll need to be able to show very good performance figures. This is where you can quantify your achievements competitively on your CV very effectively to prove your abilities.

This is the hard part of creating a good, competitive, trader CV. The selection process is very much based on quantified statements, as well as the basic CV information. A trader's CV is like an executive CV because you need to both meet essential criteria and show competitive levels of achievement.

An Example

The following is an example of a CV that lists both positions and achievements:

Position: Senior Equity trader, ABC Investments Inc. (Current position)

Responsibilities:

* Purchase and sale of blue chip securities on the NYSE on a targeted daily return per capital volume basis.
* Ensuring compliance with company investment programs.
* Responsible for investment transactions data quality and accuracy
* Supervision of six day traders.
* Management of section daily accounts.

Achievements: Exceeded investment program requirements for monthly returns by 23% six times in 2 year current contract. Excess profit above targets reported on annual return as $46 million. Awarded Trader of the Year by ABC, Inc. as the General Manager.

Writing Online CVs

An online CV is a CV written to be uploaded in the cyberspace. There are a lot of differences between the regular CV and the electronic CV as it is commonly known and this is because it has another medium of transmission, i.e. the computer. Hence, when you are writing for cyberspace you need the ground rules for that domain:

1. Length - CV's need to be crisp and short; most of the time the electronic CV is a door-card; if the companies/ placement agencies like what they see, they will get back to you for details

2. Compatibility - your CV should be uploadable on any computer - old or new - so do not use the latest technology in typing it, lest you frustrate those using older versions of the software

3. Format - as per the point made above, the formatting also needs to be in the simplest form so as not to create problems of compatibility; hence the CV should be uploaded in plain text format or ASCII

4. Visibility - In order to be 'seen' on the internet you need to use specific (to the job you want to attract) keywords; keywords are the way you 'highlight' important things in your CV

5. Keywords - Using keywords appropriately will increase your visibility with the employer manifold. You should first understand that keywords are the means by which a prospective employer searches for an appropriate CV. Hence, you should know how to use these correctly to bring optimum effects

- Use keywords and phrase keywords that are specific to (i) skill set, (ii) industry, (iii) experience and (iv) job
- Add a great number of different types of keywords as any of the relevant keywords may attract your CV for perusal
- Use extremely descriptive and sharp keywords (for best selection, think what would you type in the search bar if you were looking for the job you are applying for; make a list of all the words that come to your mind, and then try to incorporate as many as you can in the CV without spoiling its informative backbone)

6. Content - Your online CV should contain in the one-and-half pages your name and coordinates (include a website if you have a good one), a job title by which mostly your CV will be searched (such as excellent secretary, experienced civil engineer, fast and accurate decoder, etc), profile of your skills, experience, education, additional skills - all of these should be written in reverse chronological order. Be as brief as you can. If the summary is good, the employer will contact you.

How to Create an Interesting CV

DO:

1. Include all qualifications, experience, and studies. Make it interesting, show some actual achievements.

2. Drop names of employers, if you can. It's a character reference, and it assures prospective employers that they can check your references.

3. Include anything unique. Any information that shows value and real ability is priceless, and it's what gets you your job interviews.

4. Put real effort into designing your text, presentation, and the layout of your CV. Get help if you need it, but make sure all the content is working for you.

5. Make sure that you include a statement that you have references. It is essential, and looks bad if you don't because it's a basic part.

Don't:

1. Make any false or possibly misleading claims on your CV. It's a great way to definitely lose a job (This used to be considered 'clever,' for about five seconds, until the world figured it out. Any information you provide which can be shown to be incorrect will be used against you).

2. Include personal information that could be used for identity theft. Keep your personal security extremely tight. Stick to a single point of contact, preferably through the job site itself.

3. Include names or contacts of references without their permission. It's not only bad etiquette; it's potentially risky for them.

4. Use filler, or drab, uninteresting material. Stick to bare bones, if necessary, but avoid things like 'shop assistant' or 'administration duties' and other uninformative interest killers. Describe skills used rather than job titles, because that's what the employer needs to see.

5. Use ancient information. Anything older than 5 years can be relegated to the archives, for use only when relevant to a job.

There's a good way of doing quality control on your CV. Just ask yourself:

- Is this something an employer really needs to see?'
- Does this really look like it will get me a job, or is it just filler?'
- Is this relevant to the jobs I want?'

If it isn't good enough, or isn't obviously useful, get rid of it. You need the space on your CV for the important stuff, and any excess material is really wasting that space.

Online CVs are used by a lot of people to get work, in many different professions. Give yourself a real chance with your own. Remember, the only information an employer has to work with is what you present to them.

How to Write a CV

In the CV heading you can write your general information:

* Name
* Surname
* Local address
* E-mail address
* Phone number

(If applying for an overseas job, please remember to include your international dialing code.) Include your mobile/cell phone number if you are going to relocate soon.

CV Skills Summary

The Skills Summary section of your CV includes your main skills. You should only include keywords in his section, do not go into lengthy descriptions of your skills. The skill summary is also called personal profile.

CV Objective

The CV Objective, sometimes also referred to as CV Personal Profile states "What is the next step in my career?" This should be a short, concise statement that informs the employer what kind of position you are looking for. The type of position, the role (managerial, supervisor, contractor) should be included as well.

If you are job hunting it is a good idea to have several CV's with different profiles or objectives. For example, you can have a CV for a sales supervisor and the other for a shop floor manager. Your 'sales supervisor' CV can highlight achievements in this area, and the CV would be tuned to that particular in terms of job descriptions and achievements.

Education on your CV

List all of your qualifications in this section. Include all of your education including certifications from non-academic institutions, especially those that are related to the job vacancy. If you have more work experience than qualifications, put your work experience before your qualifications.

Professional or Work Experience description on your CV

This section includes any work experience that you have in the field you are applying for. Even if the post was unpaid, voluntary, summer job, internship, co-op experience or extracurricular activity. When listing these work experiences include what kind of job was it (internship/full time/ part time etc).

Each job detail should include this basic information:

* Title of position
* Length you held the post
* Responsibilities
* Name of organization.

Include also languages (spoken/written/understood). Computer Skills (include title of software package and proficiency level), Research Skills and other skills that are not in the rest of your CV.

The Activities and Interests Section in your CV

Any activities that you do in your free time, can be related to your job. If you worked in the school paper it shows initiative and you are willing to make sacrifices in order to further your career. Participating in student activities, professional associations or enthusiast clubs shows leader ship qualities. Leave out any activities related to politics religion or controversial topics.alienating the reader.

CV References Available Upon Request

If you have references, that you are willing to provide include the above statement. Ask people if they are willing to serve as references before you give their names to a potential employer.

Posting your Curriculum Vitae in Websites

When you write a CV for cyberspace, you need to keep in mind two main things,

1. You do not need the regular formatting you do on a regular CV and
2. You need to keep it in the simplest format possible.

The reasons for the above are that computer need different accentuations and style of presentation and in order for the majority of the computers to be able to open your CV, the format should the lowest, i.e. plain text or ASCII. Anything more complicated than this, and you risk cutting off some segment in the market that does not have the upgraded software you use.

Another important point is the presentation. In a regular CV, you highlight certain things in your CV by boldface, or italics. The counterpart of these actions online is using the right keywords. Your CV will be 'visible' on the net only when it has the right keywords. By 'right' keywords means those keywords a person would think about when trying to search for an applicant for a job in your field of expertise. The keywords should be as many as there are facets to the job (ex: 'secretary' can have the following keywords - office assistant, typist, stenographer, back end office, personal assistant, private assistant, etc).

There are a few dos and don'ts that you should keep in mind when you write an online CV:

Dos

1. Use only very specific keywords accurately describing the job/ skills
2. Effectively summarize - the shorter the better (without sacrificing the quality of the content
3. Use the main skills keywords in the beginning; list your major skills in the beginning of the CV
4. Use the simplest format available (plain text is the most acceptable)
5. Do not Use other formatting of the typeset as it will totally confuse the reader while reading the codes attached to it
6. Provide a valid email address (chances are that those who search for you on the net would immediately want to email you) and phone a number for immediate contact
7. Have a hard copy ready in case the prospective employer asks you for it; also keep a properly formatted CV - in case they ask you to attach a detailed CV and send it to them by email

Don'ts

1. Do not send group mails when you apply for a job; each job you apply for should have a separate email with the CV uploaded separately (or as cut-n-paste as it is asked of you)
2. Do not send attachments with your CV drawn up in the latest versions of software; if it does not open when they try to, your CV will be rejected and you will have lost a good chance due to a nominal mistake
3. Do not forget to follow up afterward and send a polite follow-up enquiry after 3-4 days

Writing a Winning Curriculum Vitae

A CV is your first point of contact with an employer. From the employer's perspective, it's the only available information with which to assess your skills and suitability for a job.

How To Write a CV

So your CV has to be tailored for that employer. All jobs are different, and so are all employers. It's important that your CV speaks directly to the job, addresses criteria, and above all else is relevant to the position.

The CV needs to be interesting, as well as clear and concise. It should make a good first impression. You can fit a lot of information into a paragraph.

Making Your CV More Interesting

There are standard CV formats, most of which cover basic information requirements, but to stand out, a CV needs to distinguish the applicant. The idea is to create an identity for the employer to see.

One of the best ways of doing this is to show what you've accomplished in your work. This is very similar to listing skills, which is a common format in many CVs, but here it means showing what you've done with those skills.

Everyone has a storehouse of what they've done, things they've achieved on the job. What's important is to be able to quantify those things as a work value measurement. The employer needs to see results which relate to the job.

Remembering that this CV is being targeted to a specific job, you need to show a potential employer that your previous work has been both productive and impressive.

What is a Targeted CV?

Think about your previous work, and how it relates to your CV.

Say you were on a production line, and you managed to come up with a way of speeding up production by eliminating some wasteful or unnecessary part of the process. Or, if you were in a government job, if you found a quicker way of processing applications.

Note that this all equates to a clearly defined situation. It took 20 minutes on the production line, now it takes 15. Applications used to take three days, now they take one.

If you're in a money-making job, prove you know how to make money, when listing what you've done. If you can say 'My section took in million in revenue in the course of our project' you're saying something that means a lot to your employer. If you can say 'My register takes in ,000 plus per day,' it's a quantification of your level of responsibility and your experience.

The whole idea here is that your CV is a very interesting document to anyone reading it. There are clear indications of what you've done, how you did it, and these are tangible proof of your skills.

Compare this to a colorless, drab, statement like 'Worked on production line' or 'Processed applications' and there's a bit of a difference.

Note that without these identifying characteristics, your application can get lost in the crowd quite easily, and quite understandably. What's to distinguish one process worker from another?

Because that's exactly what the employer has to do. Somehow, with only the CVs to guide them, employers have to try to find the best people for the job.

Every word on a CV is valuable.

You have to produce an advertisement for yourself and your skills. Like any advertisement, presentation matters. How you describe your experience and skills is crucial.

CV Writing for Fresh Graduate

What to do when you are a fresher? A fresher is a fresh graduate by definition. What to do if you are a fresher who has to compete for regular jobs with other more experienced people?

Do not be intimidated by the competition. Apply highlighting your academic record (if it is good), and your personality traits (for example extremely friendly, deadline oriented, a good organizer, a born leader, etc) that best match with those required for the job

Mention specific courses or training programs which you might have attended and which might give you a good edge over those who have only the required qualifications and work experience. Relate the achievements in such a way that it should show you as a theoretical expert in certain angles.

You might also mention in your CV that you are a self-taught person in terms of the latest technological trends and techniques. For example, that you can learn basic programming, software engineering and design and web designing (among million other such skills) by yourself with the help of the Internet and good book supplements. Be prepared to be asked in detail questions at the interview though - so be careful that you write only what you really know well.

Highlight the fact that you are young, raring to go and are ready to work hard to prove yourself; many employers love the enthusiasm of the young and the go-go approach which is very good for the company.

Highlight the fact that you are a fast learner and that you are looking forward to starting your career in an established and famous company such as X (the company you are applying for), and view it as an excellent learning experience

Offer to get additional training (naming the exact courses with their duration) if the job entails it, without any interference to the job deliverables.

Overall be sure that you project a postive attitude and a willingness to jump and get things done.

Targeting Your Curriculum Vitae

The CV is the make or break of your job application. Everything in it tells a potential new employer something about you. The only information available to the employer is in your application. We regularly advise people to target every job application with a tailor made CV, and that's why.

The fundamental principles of targeting your CV are pretty simple:

* Make sure every part of your CV directly relates to the current job application.
* Use exactly the same descriptions for skills, experience, and qualifications as on the job ad or application guidelines.
* Always cover the essential job skills, qualifications, and experience in your CV.
* Ensure that everything in your work history is clearly relevant to the job application.

This is a lot easier to do than it might look from that description. You have the raw material available from your basic CV, and it's quite easy to adapt that material to any job.

Let's go through the basic CV outline:

Objectives

The objectives part of your CV defines your motivations. You're telling the employer why you want the job. Write the objectives section showing a clear reason based on a career track motive like, 'I want to gain direct experience as part of my management studies.' This will explain why you want a supervisor's job.

Skills

Skills are often keywords in job applications, like essential criteria. Any job for which you can apply will include a range of skills you can use. You may not have all of them, but you must include all the required skills as much as possible. Use exactly the same description of these skills as used in the job ad.

Work History

Your work history needs particular care and good use of terminology. Explain briefly, but as clearly as possible, your job role and tasks. Again, use the same terminology as in the job requirements, particularly the essential skills, as the framework for your description. Spell it out in those terms.

Use multiple examples, and if possible show how your skills developed through your work history, making clear your level of experience.

Achievements

Achievements added on to the work history as part of each job description are a real positive, particularly when you show obvious relevance and value to the employer. Use examples that are clearly related to the new job application.

Qualifications

Many applications contain a set of required qualifications. You must provide a list of qualifications that meets those requirements. Difficulties sometimes arise when you have similar qualifications, but aren't sure if they match the requirements. Don't guess. Make sure they do, preferably by email, and get a definite yes or no.

Your qualifications also need to be spelled out in detail. Broad descriptions of qualifications aren't good enough, particularly when all the other applicants will have similar qualifications. Again, spell it out, so you're obviously qualified for the job.

As you can see, targeting a CV isn't difficult. Get the content right, and you get the job.