Tips to get 110% of your resume without much efforts

 Having a decent resume is an absolute must in these days of cutthroat competition. It does not necessarily have to be a great one but at least, should succeed in giving recruiters, a concrete impression of your skills and achievements. A recruiter typically gets hundreds of resumes a day and on an average spends not more than half a minute on any particular resume. This point should have surprised most but it is a true observation! These tips contributed by a highly experienced recruiter could help you in bettering your resume, thereby enhancing your career prospects.

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•  A resume should not be too short or too long. 2-4 pages should be ideal usually.
•  Devote at least 2-3 hours in constructing your resume. If possible, take advise from friends too.
•  Depending on the job vacancy available, customise your resume if required. Having 2-3 ready-made versions is not a bad idea. 
•  Spelling mistakes or grammatical errors are very detrimental to your prospects and should be avoided completely, Use spell check feature in your word processor and then proof read at least 2-3 times.
•  Instead of using commonly used words like 'good performer’, use something like 'result-oriented performer'. Be creative. But, at the same time, don't go overboard using rarely used words. No recruiter would have the time to refer dictionary for your welfare!.
•  Format your resume in such a way that it looks good both ways - In a Word processor as well as in the printed format.
•  Avoid using fancy fonts. The HR Personnel reading your resume may not necessarily have the same font installed on his system, rendering your resume illegible.
•  Don't use too many acronyms. It may unmotivate the person who does the initial filtering.
•  Repeatedly referring "I" could give an impression of you being self-centric and not a team-person. Use "I" only if it is strongly required.
•  Ideally, a resume should contain the following in the order given above.

    a. Career round up
    b. Special Achievements (Optional but could impress the recruiter)
    c. Employers - Present and previous (With timeframes)
    d. Educational Background
    e. Skills or Expertise.
    f . Work experience details highlighting your individual role, achievements and other relevant information.
    g. Personal Information (Only include Date of Birth, Marital status, Passport details)
    h. References (Optional)
    i.  Include Contact details at the beginning or at the end. ( E-mail Id, Address, Phone numbers etc.)

Writing objective is out of fashion these days. But if you prefer writing, it should appear unique and impressive rather than the usual.
•  If you plan to take printed copies of your resume, the contents should not be o both sides of the page.
•  If you plan to e-mail your resume, send the intended email first to yourself. Check the mail to see that the contents of the mail are in the expected format.
•  Also while emailing your resume, keep an eye on the size of the email. The e-mail including your resume should never cross the usual 40-100 KB range. Leaving out photos, graphics like logos, fancy fonts, multi-colouring are preferable options to reduce the e-mail size.
•  Have a resume in text format too, since some companies are allergic to attachments because comparatively, attachments are more bulky and also could carry virus threats. While converting your resume to text format, recheck the resultant text file for alignment and legibility. Since formatting is lost in such a conversion, you could use capitalisation, asterisks or other characters for highlighting contents.
•  If at all your resume does not land you any interview calls, consult a third-person. It may be your friend, your mentor or a career advisor to redo your resume.

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