Giving the resume a professional look
In our present times the job market scenario has reached an unprecedented state of cut throat competition in the recent times. A kind of almost mindless rat race has begun among the job hopefuls all over the world in all kinds of professional sectors over the past decades where a proper job is considered to be as prized a possession as the Holy Grail itself. As a result, an exceptional amount of attention is given to each and every step involved in the process of recruiting fresh staff in to an organization by both the employers and the authorities and also by those who are seeking jobs.
For the later, cracking the interview is always considered to be the most important step in the process of ending up with a job although before sailing through the interview session smoothly there is one very crucial step where a candidate faces certain amount of uncertainty which is all about the getting that much coveted call for an interview.
Now, getting a call for an interview depends entirely on the resume submitted by the candidate to the HR department and the employer's conclusion about the individual based on the facts and figures printed on the resume.
Thus, from the above discussions, one can easily interpret the extreme importance of a good resume in the contemporary job market scenario. A resume today is considered to be nothing less than a well made advertisement which while highlighting one's strengths and positive points and withholding the weaker aspects will succeed in selling his or her skills or qualities to the prospective employer.
Gone are those days when a resume used to be perceived as just a mere piece of document carrying the past records of a person including the academic and vocational background, the work experience and also certain relevant personal information. Today, preparing a resume can be considered to be quite a creative task where an individual is expected not to merely report certain facts but constantly improvise upon the presentation style in every way possible with the sole objective of making the resume stand out even in a whole pile of them.
It is significant to notice that there is no such thing as a universally accepted layout or a design of doing even a professional resume and thus one can pour in his or her creativity in to the task although in certain traditional sectors or professions there is more or less a set of guidelines which are followed when it comes to the question to receiving the resumes from the job hopefuls.
Thus, it can be said that despite the absence of a specific format, it is always recommended to follow certain things or at least keep in mind a few points while making a professional resume for oneself. To begin with, the career objective in the resume has to be very clear and well defined and thus the facts and figures printed on the resume should also be put accordingly so that the resume reflects an individual who is perfectly suited for the job in question. It is also equally important to gather as much knowledge as possible about the organization one is submitting the resume to, the personal details of the employer and the concerned authorities and most importantly the post which is vacant.
This kind of awareness will help the job candidate to prepare a professional resume which will certainly help the individual to modify the resume according to the requirements of the post and not present a general resume and thus increase his or her chances of getting an interview call. One of the most significant aspects regarding a professional resume is the fact that it should be to the point, concise, relevant and yet effective. The main reason for this is the fact that nowadays even for a single job vacancy in an organization the HR department can receive even thousands of resumes from candidates with similar backgrounds, qualifications and age group.
Hence, it is simply impossible to devote more than half a minute to forty seconds to each of them separately and so it becomes extremely important for the candidates to make sure that they get noticed within such a short time and can influence him enough to get a call for an interview. While making a professional resume for submitting to an organization, the candidate must be able to strike the right balance between the factors of what to write and how to present them. In fact, although the presentation style and the creative aspect is really important in a resume, there is no point denying the fact that at the end of the day it is the skill and qualification of an individual and not the use of a particular font that will get him or her the job.
Also see our professional resume section for some specific professional resumes.