How to prepare a resume

When we enter the job market, we are viewed as 'products'. If we are viewed as such, then our resume could be said to be the 'product brochure'. The product brochure would speak for the product in ways more than one. It could give an impressive array of information regarding the 'product', which could stimulate interest in the recruiting community.

A resume should be a reflection of what all you stand for, what all you are - as an individual as well as a prospect for recruitment. It should

 present a clear picture to the recruiter about you;

 describe you precisely in all aspects, and

 engage the attention of the recruiter.

Before you start your work on your resume, you should find out what the company is looking for in the prospect, and try to tailor your resume to match the requirements listed by the company.

To this end, you could take the help of your seniors in the college, elders at home, peers in the college, friends, search the Internet for information organisation, and placement agencies. These sources would go a long way in helping you script an excellent resume.

Please understand that to get to the final copy, you would need to prepare a few drafts. This would essentially help you fine-tune the information, which you would carry in the resume. The best way to prepare a resume is to 'get going' by noting all the possible points of information you would like to project in the resume.

Objective 

The reason as to why you should prepare a resume would change according to the nature of the situation you are in. If you are a fresher (final year student / just out of college), then a resume does not serve the purpose of getting you a short-list for an interview. This is because you would be selected for the interview on the basis of the aptitude test. At the same time, it does not mean that the resume serves no purpose. In the case of a fresher, the recruiter checks your resume only after the candidates for the interview are short-listed. Now this entire issue of checking your resume would be dealt with only minutes before the interview.

While most of you are freshers, however, in case of a candidate with work experience, the primary objective of the resume would be to seek a short-list for the interview. In such case, your resume should hold the attention of the recruiter for long enough to get you a short-list for the interview. In this case, your resume should highlight the nature of the work experience as well as accomplishments in academic and work-related activity.

Basic guidelines

Use white-coloured executive bond paper for preparing a resume. Use only one side of the paper.

There is no hard and fast rule as to how a resume should be prepared and how it should look. If somebody asks you to not to write 'Curriculum Vitae' or 'Resume' at the top, then kindly ignore such advice. Also, it is not compulsory that a resume should begin in a standard format like where you begin with your name followed by address, contact number, e-mail id, etc. You may choose any format that puts out the best picture of your candidature for the job.

Do not mention your height, weight, gender, religion, caste and other other such odd details. Just remember that you are applying for a job and not for a bride / bridegroom contest!

Do not paste / staple your photograph on the resume unless the recruiter specifically asks for the same. If need be, use a latest photograph.

Please try to align the left as well the right side of the page. The resume should not appear in a haphazard alignment indicating an unfinished job.

Major sub-heads

The following are the major sub-heads under which you should carry the relevant information:

Objective
It is a largely accepted notion that you should start the main body of the resume with your objective(s). It is not mandatory to state an objective. The objective could change between companies as it would depend on the nature of the job you would apply for.

If you want to state your objective, then use simple words and short sentences. Avoid the use of high-sounding words like "determination / discipline / industrious", which are used more for the effect they create. Please remember that you will have to substantiate such words when questioned in the interview.

Education
Here, you should mention your educational qualifications in reverse chronological order i.e. starting with the latest (degree). Please make sure that you quote accurate percentages / absolute scores.

Other Academic-related activities
Under this head, you could write about project(s), mini-project(s), paper presentation, industrial visits, apprenticeship, etc. This area should highlight your skill set in the relevant field.

Achievements
If you have won any awards / prizes, citations / certificates of merit, then you should mention them. Please do not shy away from highlighting these important points as they reflect another facet of your personality.

Strengths / Weaknesses
This is one area where you should be very careful. Before you mention your strengths, make sure that you have enough examples / situations where you have exhibited such strengths. Also make sure that you should be able to substantiate such strengths if you are asked to demonstrate the same in the interview.

The same caution applies in the case of weaknesses. Make sure that in case you are asked to specify an instance where your weaknesses have let you down, then you should be able to come with such situations.

It is very easy to get carried away especially when we talk of our strengths. Please ensure that you use simple words to describe this specific area in your resume. You could list words like discipline, dedication, honesty, hard-working, etc., as your strengths. But as said earlier, you should be able to come up with the right answers if asked to demonstrate these qualities in the interview.

Extra-curricular activities and Hobbies / Interests
First of all, you should know that there is a simple difference between extra-curricular activities and hobbies / interests.

An extra-curricular activity is something that you pursue at a serious level, where you put in a dedicated effort and pursue the same with passion. In other words, you take time-out to indulge in an extra-curricular activity. For example, in the college, you had captained the college cricket team. In case, in the pursuit of such extra-curricular activity, you had won any prizes or any other honour, then do mention the same under the relevant head. Award or no award, you could still mention the pursuit of such extra-curricluar activity under this head.

An interest / hobby is something that you involve yourself in when it comes your way. Like watching cricket telecast on TV. You would watch it only when you have time for it and only when it is there. So, an interest / hobby could be called a fad, something that you pursue at a not-so-serious level.

Computing skills
If you are applying for a position in software development / programming, then mention the skill set you have acquired in the relevant field. Please make sure that you state all programming languages / applications / programmes as well as your proficiency level in the mentioned areas.

Positions held
The need for writing down about positions held would not arise in case you are a fresher. However, if you have any work experience / or are working, then you should mention about positions held / job profile in the organisation(s) you worked for / working for.

These would help the recruiter ascertain the fact of your suitability for the vacancy in the organisation.

Languages known
If you are applying for a job in sales / marketing, then you should mention the languages you are comfortable with. You could mention the same in case you are applying for an opening outside of your home state.

Do's and Dont's Make sure that you carry accurate and relevant information in your resume. Please jot down all such information that could engage the attention of the recruiter. In case, you have participated in / organised a social welfare activity (like a blood donation camp), then mention the same. You may not have any certificate to back-up your claim but still you could go ahead and include the same in your resume. But do not mis-represent any information. Use a eye-pleasing font like Arial or Times New Roman. Capitalise proper names. Please send to / use the original copy of your resume for any new application. Do not send / use photocopies. You could also customise your resume to suit the skill set requirements listed by the company for a specific job. Avoid spelling / grammatical errors. Your resume should not have stains / cuts. Avoid slang / college lingo / informal language. You could also use action words like awarded, achieved, performed, led, planned, presented, etc. But do not use them just for the sake of the effect such words create. Use them only if they are apt. In conclusion, please understand that a good resume should highlight two important issues: your skills (academic and work-related) and you as a individual / person. Always bear this in mind that a well-written resume always has the potential to arrest the recruiter's attention. This is the first step toward getting 'that' much-coveted job.

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IIM CAT criterian..

 The CAT 2008 brought a new initiative from IIM’s. Till now, the GD/PI calls and eventual admission calls from various IIM’s used to be considered a black box. People used to get 3 calls, 2 calls, all 6 calls or sometimes even with 98 percentile not even a single call.  Even 

the sharing of percentile scores was introduced recently in this decade only (since CAT 2003 onwards). Can you imagine the kind of confusion your seniors who took CAT before 2002 used to have about their performance? Well keeping the trend of making the admission process more transparent, various IIM’s have publicly displayed their criteria for shortlisiting candidates for Personal Interview/GD rounds.

Till Now, five out of seven IIMs have done so and it shows an interesting pattern. No IIM have same criteria and actually, they differ a lot vis a vis each other. All of them have used one or more criteria form a list of five criterias. Their choice of criteria also signifies the kind of student they are looking at. This also explains why a student do not get all the calls or a few specific calls. 

Please look below to see a snapshot of criterias used by various IIMs.

Factors/Institute	IIMA	IIMC	IIML	IIMK	IIMS
CAT Score	High	High (100%)	Medium	High (90%)	Medium
Work Experience	Ni	Ni	Low	Medium	Nil
Class Xth marks	High	Nil	Low	Nil	Low
Class X11th marks	High	Nil	Low	Nil	Low
Bachelors marks	Nil	Nil	Low	Nil	Almost (100%)
Looking for	A student with consistent academic background in schooling with common aptitude. Candidates with zero work ex have equal chance vis a vis students with work ex.	A student with common aptitude. Candidates with zero work ex have equal chance vis a vis students with work ex. Also, no focus on prior academic scores ensures that a last match performance can still make you the best batsman.	A student with consistent academic background with some work experience. Candidates with more work ex have an advantage chance vis a vis students with lesser work ex.	A student with common aptitude having work  experience. Candidates with more work ex have an advantage chance vis a vis students with lesser work ex.	A student with exceptional academic performance in Bachelors with decent consistency throughout academics. Candidates with zero work ex have equal chance vis a vis students with work ex.

For detail information and analysis of the different selection criteria for various IIMs, check the related articles. But with this summarized information, most of your doubts can be clarified. So , from now on
1.   If you meet a fresher with zero work ex but very high CAT score and still not getting calls from IIML and IIMK, you know the reason.
2.   Many students shall be getting all 6 calls except IIM Shillong because of their stress on performance in Bachelor’s. So 7 years back, when Vivek Gupta ( DI expert with Topcatcoaching) cracked the CAT ( CAT 2001) getting GD/PI calls from all 6  IIM’s , he would missed the IIM Shillong call by a decent margin because of his average performance in bachelor’s.
3.   Few one day wonders might have got IIM Kolkata call. 
4.   Looking at the table also should tell a student that why the preparation of CAT starts in school only. So if you are reading this article, do let your/your’s friends younger brothers/sisters know this. Their performance in school exams also matters for most of the IIM;s.

Success by design

In Indian cities, lifestyles have changed, consumption patterns have changed. The reader is inundated with news and information from a variety of competing sources — TV, print, radio, the Internet and cell phones. Along with this has evolved the presentation of news and information, their treatment and organisation, and the role of the people behind it.

A 2006 EyeTrack survey by Florida-based Poynter Institute pointed out the critical utility of visuals as news vehicles. “Alternative story forms… drew a higher amount of visual attention, compared to regular text in print… This confirms the findings of earlier EyeTrack studies and other research that short text, especially with visual elements, is accessible and attractive to readers,” the survey found.

As Tarun Deep Girdher, co-ordinator for the graphics design course, National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad, says, “design is the differentiator” in today’s marketplace. “Content is something that the reader gets live. So, he picks the newspapers for the analysis and the way it’s written and the design — how the information he got on TV last night is presented and analysed,” he says.

Most publications — from serious newspapers to film or fashion magazines — now invest substantial time, money and energy in design, hiring the best in the trade when a new paper or magazine is to be launched or an existing one revamped.

In major professional organisations, the design team is there not just to put copy on the page, place the pictures and be done with it; the team is supposed to conceptualise a package and help in its execution.

Shorter attention spans demand immediate impact, and the power of design is well understood now. For example, when Uttar Pradesh farmers protesting against sugarcane prices ran amok in Delhi about a fortnight ago, Hindustan Times chose to use telling images. Ashutosh Sapru, national design editor, Hindustan Times, recalls, “We told the story through visuals and captions, in case you didn’t want to read the story.”

Compare a publication or magazine about a decade older to the current offerings in the market and you see an explosion of colour, images, charticles, graphs and illustrations. “Till about seven years ago, you would find hardly one picture after every two pages of Span,” says Hemant Bhatnagar, art director of Span, the American embassy’s bi-monthly mouthpiece. “Now, there’s not a single page without a picture, and the pictures are bigger than earlier.”

A designer has now become a design journalist or visual journalist. His/her role is summed up by Anup Gupta, group creative director, HT Media: “Earlier, s/he would just arrange the stuff (content) in a pleasing manner; today, s/he is required to ideate.”

Such a role requires awareness of world events, Gupta emphasises. A design journalist must have news sense and the ability to fully comprehend a report to figure out the best way to present it in the finished product. “A visual journalist leverages photos, illustrations, graphics and uses any one or a combination of these to tell a story,” he adds.

Employment prospects are improving as newspapers are rediscovering themselves, says Girdher. Besides, there are newer avenues,including in the web and electronic media. Peali Dutta Gupta, who set up her design studio in Delhi after working for major newspapers and magazines, says, “The demand has increased with the emergence of so many newspapers and magazines.”

The profession demands a lot in terms of practice and dedication. “Every graphic needs to have some extra zing, some unique selling proposition,” she says. “You should be able to tell what to blow up (highlight in a visual) and what not to, and be sensitive in what you are showing, for example, disturbing photos (of a riot or an accident).”