Your first job matters the most. It is the first kind of experience that you gain in the corporate world. If you have just graduated, or are soon to graduate, then you are surely on the search for a job. And to find a job, you need a good resume that makes you stand out from the crowd. So the main question is, how should freshers build a resume?
Table of Contents
Points To Remember While Drafting The Resume:
- Be descriptive. Do not just state that you were a part of an internship or coursework. The recruiter is interested in knowing about what you learned and experienced in your endeavors.
- Do not use the same resume for every job that you apply for. Alter your resume according to each job description.
- Be sure to avoid any kind of typing errors or grammatical mistakes while making the resume.
- Exhibit your area of expertise through your resume very clearly. The case should be that your resume should speak about all that you have achieved.
- Never use any kind of pictures in the resume.
- It is considered absurd if you write your salary expectation in the resume itself. Avoid doing that.
- Only include details that are true. Never lie in your resume.
Points To Remember While Formatting The Resume:
- Keep it confined to one page.
- Divide your resume into parts. Structure it around the beginning, the middle and the end.
- Include personal details like your name, address and contact information in the beginning section. Also include the main highlight of the resume in this section, that is the fresher career objective for resume.
- In the middle section, mention your educational qualification, your skills and qualities that are relevant to the job.
- In the end section, write about your work experience, if any. For instance, there could be an internship or volunteering that you might have done during your college days.
- Make a clear and professional resume format. It should not look like it is congested and contains too much information. This way, there are chances that the recruiter misses on the main information if it does not catch his attention in an overview.
- Set one font and a particular size for the whole document. Also, avoid long sentences. Keep them short and to-the-point.
The Sections OF A Resume:
1- Header
This is the section that contains all the personal details that you need to provide to the recruiter. Keep in mind that the header is the first thing that a recruiter will notice in your resume. So make sure that it is worth it. Your contact information, professional email id and website links (if any) are to be a part of this section. Do not add unnecessary information about yourself.
2- Career Objective
The career objective is one of the most important yet crucial part of a resume, especially for freshers. One of the most common career objectives that is found on a fresher’s resume says, “Looking forward to work in an environment where I can grab the opportunity to learn new things and contribute professionally to your esteemed organization.” But, you need to know that this does not work. A career objective like this one does not give even a vague idea of what you are capable of doing and how you can benefit the organization. It also makes you look like you are passive and lack enthusiasm.
Go in depth of the role that you are applying for and evaluate your skills accordingly. As a fresher, you need to convince the recruiter why you are a good option for the job that you are applying for. You need to exhibit your talent and experience through the career objective.
3- Skills And Experience
While adding skills to your resume make sure that the skill set is relevant to the job position that you are applying for. The skill set is one of the major factors that can help your resume stand out from the bundle of hundred other applications. Mention a mixture of both soft as well as hard skills.
Secondly, do not underestimate the experiences that you have gained. You are a fresher and it is understandable that you will not have any substantial corporate work experience. But if you have been a part of any coursework or project, do mention it.
4- Educational Qualification
Mostly all jobs have a certain qualification requirement for the job openings. They either need someone who is a graduate, a postgraduate, or in some cases even a Ph.D. Therefore, it is always advisable to add education to the resume, in a descending order. Also, make sure that you include courses that you did, apart from your school or college studies. List down all the certificates that you have earned and the courses that you have been a part of, in order to build a strong professional character.
5- Language
Language proficiency is yet another important aspect of your resume. Mention your language proficiency on the basis of reading, writing, speaking and understanding.
6- Achievements
List down all the achievements that you are proud of. This is your chance to let your resume speak volumes and make you stand apart from the others. Specifications like a college project, a published research paperwork, sports achievement, etc., can be a part of this category.
7- References
Lastly, mention the references that you have. Make sure that you add all minute details like their name, contact information, designation and email id. But, one of the most important things to keep in mind is that you should not include the reference section in a resume unless otherwise asked for. References can surely have a very powerful impact on your resume.
In the end, before submitting the final resume, make sure to add relevant keywords. Relevance should be judged on the basis of the job that you are applying for and its description. Show in the resume that you are willing and enthusiastic to learn. Put efforts and thoughts in your resume. Let it not be just another document that you wrote and edited at 3 am in the night. After all, your resume plays the most important part in helping you get the job of your dreams.
About The Author
Sumedha is a content developer at Receptix. She’s a literature student and an avid reader. Sumedha has a keen interest to write about topics in the education, job and higher education space.