Norwood Consulting Group

I thought I would make my first post about the absolute basics of the construction of a resume.

What is a Resume?

A resume is the first and most important document to be prepared while looking for a job. It is more like a marketing tool for an individual that helps to grab the hiring manager’s attention. This can be compared to product marketing wherein, the most attractive advertisement grabs our attention. In many countries a resume is comparable to a CV (curriculum vitae). However, in some countries like US and Canada a CV is detailed and used in the medical or educational field whereas a resume is used for a job.

How to Prepare a Good Resume?

The art of resume writing has evolved from a dull and long document to an impressive and precise one. Amongst the pile of resumes, each resume gets around 10-30 seconds screening time. A good resume must be concise and not exceed more than two pages. The most effective formats for resume writing are – chronological, functional or a combination of both.

The chronological format is mainly used for those who already have a good work experience in a particular field and are applying for a job in the same field. In such a format, the first page usually contains sections like job objective, educational background, skills and other relevant information that adds to the job nature including certifications, workshops etc. The second page contains a chronological order listing of work history with the most recent one appearing first. Such kind of reverse chronological format helps to highlight credibility built through gained experience, illustrating career growth.

The functional format is ideal for those who had career gaps, starting a new career or those who would like to shift work fields. A functional format is useful in asserting skills that are specific to the job that is being sought after.

The combination format has a list of functional capabilities followed by a chronological list of work history. This often becomes repetitive and long and so is not widely used.

For all formats, it is important to keep the resume short containing a clear objective with lots of keywords relevant to the job.

Tags: how to write a resume, Norwood Consulting Group, professional resume services, resume writing, Tyrone Norwood

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 19th, 2010 at 4:06 pm and is filed under resume writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.