Importance of resume for Students

No one can ever underestimate that how important it is to have a good resume. First impressions matter. A well formatted and beautifully designed resume changes how employers perceive you, dramatically increasing your employment opportunities. This is the only chance to capture a potential employer’s attention.

It is said that the average employer only spends 6–7 seconds looking at a resume, so it is important to make it makes an impression. In the age of competitive job market, you need to have a professional resume that contains the right information, so that it will stand out among the countless other resume so that the potential employers will have a look of it, and will give you a chance of getting their attention. But always remember, you don’t have too much time. It’s a matter of few seconds that the potential employer is going to be taking to glance at your resume, so it’s very important to make sure that all the working experiences, and your degrees are represented properly in your resume.

There are few different formats of resume that you can choose from, when deciding on how your resume should be displayed:

A chronological resume

The most common type of resume format used is the chronological resume. This is a traditional method of formatting a resume. This format lists your most-recent employment or education history first, with your jobs appearing by date in a time line. This generally works best for job seeker with a stable career progression in one or two fields. To know if this format is for you, please read the points below:

• If your job titles show that you are at a higher position, and you have lots of responsibilities.
• If you want to stay in the same field.
• You have a stable work history.
• Your past job titles match employer job requirements.

A functional resume

The functional resume will focus more on your skills and achievements, rather than job titles and places of employment. This gives you the platform to display your skills and experiences. This also allow candidates to gloss over gaps in their work history. This resume suited best to the following job seeker:

• Graduates and those wanting to make a career change.
• Those who want to highlight specific skills, knowledge, or abilities.
• You’re re-entering the job market after a gap.
• If you have a variety of different or unrelated work experiences.
• You have large gaps in your work history.

However, irrespective of type of resume, what the employers are looking for, is pretty much the same. How you display it, is up to you, but try as far as possible to include as much of the following information.

Contact Information — It is very important to add your contact details on your resume. Some applicants forget this basic yet very essential piece of information. Never forget to add your address, telephone or mobile number and your email address.

Career Profile — This is the part where you should include a brief summary of your skills and areas of expertise. This will quickly give the potential employer an idea as to what you can do.

Skills — Mention any relevant skills in terms of software and hardware systems and other technical skills you know. Education — Mention all your educational qualifications. Make sure you include all your education or certifications you have acquired.

Work Experience — Mention all your work history experience, preferably including the company, job title, responsibilities and the dates of the companies where you are currently working or previously associated with.

It is very important to be completely honest on your resume. Don’t cheat around with dates, etc., if you have been unemployed and don’t want the employer to know that. It is better to be upfront as resume fraud is illegal.