Resume writing tips

Lim May Lee

Resumes are your representatives to prospective employers: People will try and judge you based on what they see – in this case, your resume – since they won’t see you personally. With that in mind, wouldn’t everybody do their best to come up with the most impressive resume possible? Surprisingly, this isn’t always the case, as Hans Toh, a professional resume writer on the site www.hans.com.my, discovered. Through his experiences dealing with resumes that “needed a lot of improvement,” he managed to pinpoint the most common mistakes found in resumes. It is important to remember that what makes a good resume isn’t necessarily a high CGPA, or hours of soft-skills training, but how the information is all presented.

Everybody can write a resume, but do you know how to write a great one?

Appearance

Just like how you would prefer to pay more attention to a sleek car rather than a rusty, old junk, employers would be more drawn towards a resume that looks polished and standardised. The content is important, of course, but that doesn’t mean that jobseekers should neglect appearances. It’s the small details that matter: “If you can’t pay attention to the details of your own resume, how would the employer expect you to pay attention to his business?” asks Hans. Designs make resumes catch the eye, whereas details like standardised headings and spacings as well as font sizes will make the resume’s overall appearance look well-planned. Hans also recommends bullet points, as opposed to long-winded sentences. Look at it this way: Recruiters don’t just read your resume, they have to read through every single resume that lands on their desks. The numbers can run into the hundreds, and possibly even the thousands. Even if they wanted to, they might not be able to read your essay word-for-word, so important things might go unnoticed, and you would miss out. Bullet-point everything, and keep sentences short and simple. State your facts, and leave out unnecessary flowery words and adjectives unless you’re applying to be a writer. Avoid unnecessary use of bold and italics, they are for emphasising only, says Hans, adding that “bolding and italic is use to highlight specific words. If you do that with the whole paragraph, what do you expect to highlight?”

Content

Measurable Results

Your content needs to be relevant and powerful. That means making sure it contains relevant measurable results. This shows potential employers what you’re capable of doing, with proof in the form of figures and other measurable values. To get started, ask yourself a few questions: 1. What were the objectives that you had to achieve during your work career? 2. What were the obstacles that you had to face? 3. How did you overcome those obstacles? 4. And what were the measurable results obtained? Put those results in terms of dollars, percentages or any other measurable values.

Tailoring your resume

Hans Toh, a professional resume writer

Resumes aren’t meant to be a history of every single course, training, and exam paper you’ve ever been through in your life. Of course, it goes without saying that your education should be displayed as prominently as possible, together with work experience. However, you should tailor your skills to suit the job you’re applying for. As Hans says, there is no point in sending an accountant’s resume for a marketing position, so you should take a good look at your own skills. There are two types of skills: Specific job-related skills, and transferable skills that are more general and can survive the shift from one industry to another. Highlight the ones that match the position’s requirements; the more matches, the higher the chances of getting a phone call. Hans’ advice for those who are already groaning at the idea of re-writing their resumes: “Don’t be lazy!” It’s really not that difficult to write a good resume. Just be sure to keep the relevant, important information in, with short, simple sentences and bullet points, and your resume would have a much higher chance of catching the right attention!