Write your resume by yourself

 

The resume is considered the first communication mean between the employer and the candidate, and some experts call it the entry card that conduct to the interview. Its importance lies in its being the key to the initial impression of the candidate for the job with the employer, so if your resume did not leave a good impression, is a failure, the employer will not give it any attention and your name will be included in the list of rejected.

The success or failed of the job application is directly based on your mastery of the resume. It is not a routine document like the rest of the documents we use to request the job only, but it is a marketing tool for your skills. From this point, we conclude that the resume has a significance amounting to persuading the employer to hire you.

The first challenge is that the employer will spend less than thirty seconds (and some do it in less than fifteen seconds) due to the number of the resumes that reached him daily.

The resume should be drafted with all the important information, concise and attractive at the same time. How is this done?

There are many templates of resumes on the Internet and they are very tempting especially for beginners, but in reality, these templates are just showing you where to put the sections of your resume, it does not teach you how to write and highlight the important points in it. In our article, we will talk about all the details and you will learn how you write it professionally.

Definition

The Latin term "Curriculum vitae" literally means the course of life, its abbreviation CV.
CV is used in academic applications and scientific research and is lengthy, Resume is used in professional applications and it is brief.

Specialists describe it by:

It is a dynamic self-marketing advertisement, it is a document written by a person to briefly present a set of information related to the work required. Information is often academic level, experiences, achievements, skills, and personal information.

Type of resume:

1-by its arrangement

• Chronological arrangement
• Functional arrangement
• General arrangement

2-Included experiences

• New graduate.
• Entry level.
• Experienced person.

Resume format and shape:

Suppose that the form of the resume as shown in the picture and each form is a section of it

Section arrangement:

The resume does not have a specific shape, but depends on the candidate's circumstance or design. The resume of a new student differs from that of a candidate with previous experience, and according to the position advanced to him, the important points related to that position are highlighted. The location of the CV sections varies according to the applicant.
For example:
Inexperienced will have to demonstrate transferable skills in his academic achievements, volunteer or social work, and academic level.
An experienced person will highlight the results of his experiences and accomplishments related to the required job and will focus on standard terms that suggest concrete results. 

The page:

The number of pages should not exceed two pages and we advise to not exceed one page, as the length of a resume may cause boredom to its reader and thus not grab his attention.
The margins are from 0.5 inches to 1 inch (2.57 centimeters) on all four sides. Maybe the employer is interested in printing your resume, and if the margins are too narrow, it may not be suitable for his printer, so you will lose some information.

Fonts

Use a common traditional font and avoid strange fonts. The most common fonts are Arial, Time New Roman, and Calibri.
These fonts can be found on almost all computers and mobile devices. The recipient may not use your special font, and thus your resume will lose its format.
The font size ranges between 10.5 and 12 points for the body, and the full name is slightly larger, from 14 to 16 points.
Line spacing is neither narrow nor wide; use consistent spacing in all sections of the resume.

Attractive design

Many, especially beginners in their resume design, exaggerate the inclusion of a lot of colors, shapes, and even decoration, but the fact of the matter is that this causes the reader to be distracted and therefore cannot extract the information that he will compare it with the conditions of the required job.
You have to tend to a somewhat simple, design that makes it easy for the reader to quickly scan at the beginning. If you make a good impression, the reader will continue to read.
What you need is only to show consistency in the type of lines, sizes and numbers, for example, if you wrote dates with numbers in the scholar level section, then do the same in the experiences section.
Do not leave too much white on your page (clean space) and do not make it narrow nested.

CV content:

Sections should contain sufficient information:
The main rule in writing a CV is not writing something that leaves a question. The content must include all sufficient information, since its reader does not need to ask a question about what was written, such as inquiring about the achievements, results or tools in the experiences section.

Avoid the grammar and linguistic errors:
The content of your resume must be free of language errors, even if it is not applied to an academic field.

Use action verbs:
" Action speak louder than words"
In order to be attractive to your employers, you should highlight the action verb , especially at the beginning of the sentence (bullet point ). such as " I achieved... for that project." " I found a mean to resolve the..." 

Easy to read:
You have to pay attention to the ordinal aspect of the sections, prepare it in such a way that the reader continues to read your resume, so that it is not cloudy or chaotic, as this indicates your lack of professionalism.

Highlight important information:
Results and achievements, for example, in the experiences section that are related to the required work are clear and easy for the reader to find.

Resume sections

The resume contains:

1-Name of the candidate:

It is usually at the top of the page in large font. 

2-Contact information:

Address (optional)
Telephone number.
LinkedIn account (i.e. social account but not as professional as LinkedIn)
E-mail

3-Scholar level:

It contains the name of the major with the date of graduation and the name and location of the school or university. the highest level of education is listed first.
Awards, related activities, study abroad, scholarships and courses are include. The important information is presented to the reader

4-Experiences section:

Relevant experience is written with the organization's name, address and dates.
Arrange a chronological arrangement.
Uses a professional, direct, brief language that highlights achievements, results and impact.
It contains quantifiable results.
Use list arrangement, not paragraphs, ordered. (bullet point )

5-Additional information:

Contains the name of the organization, address, dates and location as appropriate
Leadership roles, accomplishments or related activities such as volunteering are included.

6-Photo and personal information

If your resume must include a photo, do it professionally.
If personal information must be included, do not exaggerate, write only the required brief information (manifestations of exaggeration: the person’s height, color, weight...)
It is advised not to include the photo and personal information unless they been requested, as they may cause some kind of prejudice.

7-Objective section:

Specialists differ as to whether or not to include a career goal, as supporters see it as a way to advance work and explain why.
in other side some think that the applicant originally intended to work in the first place, so any other words in the resume is a waste in page.

Tips on building your resume:

Never imitate your writing, and try to show your personal style
The available forms do not fulfill everything, they will not help you in highlighting the required job
Do not overdo the decoration and style, adopt a rather simple model.
Employers like to see results. Try to highlight achievements with kinematic numbers and verbs.
When you send the resume via email, send it in PDF format as it is a fixed format that is not like other formats. If you send it in Word format, for example, and the recipient owns an older or a newer version of Word or another software, the possibility of incompatibility is contained, as your page will lose its formatting.
I liked someone’s said “Think that your resume is a billboard on the way.”




Free online lessons at Coursera
Writing Winning Resumes and Cover Letters
How to Write a Resume

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