A Synopsis of your life…

The first step towards embarking on a new career whether after completion of education or after serving in an organisation for a certain amount of tenure is making (or redoing) your resume. Yes, the one (or 2 or 3) sheet/s that have to encompass your entire life accurately and smartly.

Call it by any other name, Curriculum Vitae, a Biodata or a Resume it still remains a synopsis of your life.

Writing this synopsis has been one of the major challenges for all job hunters – what template to use, which details to be included which are to be left out, should one include passport details, height and weight details, family details etc. From the various resumes that have passed me while taking interviews, I believe the ideal ones are those that include all or most of the following data:

The Individual’s full name and complete contact details
An individual should always provide detailed contact information so that he/she may be contacted for any further queries or for further rounds of interviews. Lack of information gives an impression of poor attention to detail of the candidate.

A brief executive summary of the individual’s work experience
This is usually meant for candidates having 3-4 or more years of experience wherein they can give a brief summary of their professional experience and their competencies. This helps in giving the interviewer a brief understanding of the candidate.

The individual’s academic / educational details including any diplomas undertaken
Educational qualifications should be mentioned in a sensible chronicle order. For individuals with vast experience their qualifications may start with their graduation details. For individuals with less experience and wanting to present their previous excellent academic records they may include their 10th and 12th class results too. It may not always be necessary to include the percentage of marks acquired at various stages of education unless the job profile calls for it. Inclusion of any extra post-graduate diplomas undertaken should be mentioned as well.

The individual’s professional experience

Name of organisation – the correct and full name of the organisation and maybe a couple of lines regarding its business give the interviewer a clearer picture of the organisation.
Tenure at the organisation and designation held – this may be given in terms of Month & Year or Date/Month/Year. These details are necessary as it informs an interviewer about the tenure that you have spent at the company and may want to question the candidate on the same. The designation held at various organisations help in seeing the career growth of the candidate, if any.
Brief summary of the profile and responsibilities – By including a synopsis of the profile and responsibilities, the candidate gives the interviewer an insight to the kind of work and tasks that he/she has been exposed to and has been able to achieve. This is important as the past responsibilities should be in line with what the interviewer has in store for the candidate in the future.

Any extracurricular activities undertaken by the Individual and awards earned by him/her
This lends an insight into the personal side of the candidate, his/her interests, hobbies etc. This may also bring out certain managerial qualities like leadership, motivation etc in the candidate.

Details about height/weight/eyesight
This would depend on the type of job applied for, e.g. companies hiring for airline staff and hotel staff may require this necessary information – but don’t make it a standard format for all job applications.

Remember:
Your resume reaches first and it needs to be able to “sell” your candidature to the interviewer before you can go in and meet up with him/her.

Be honest and truthful in your resume and do not try to over-sell yourself.

Type your resume in a legible font and text size; preferably stick to the Arial, Times New Roman and the Verdana fonts and a text size of 10 or 11.

When in doubt about the content in your resume get a second opinion.

For candidates from the software industry, highlight your involvement in the various projects that you were part of and the responsibilities undertaken by you.

Be brief and to the point, highlight your achievements.