By now, I need not say more on how bad and negative the global economy is right now. Retrenchment are no longer something uncommon. And look around you, most likely you find someone who has just been retrenched. Or maybe you've already been one of the victim of retrenchment.
What are some of the things that you can do when the eventuality falls upon you? You naturally want to look for a new job. And that means writing your resume.
My suggestion is that instead of writing it when you need it, update your resume now when you still can afford the time.
To increase the chances of you landing yourself into an interview, your resume is the critical element. A resume will be the first thing that an interviewer used to judge you. So here's a few tips to help you to write a better resume:
1. What type of job are you seeking
Never make the mistake of having a general resume and send to every and any job postings / adverts. You'll only increase the chances of landing your resume into the dustbin.
Write down a list of job that you're seeking first. Different jobs have different job requirements and skill sets. So the first and foremost task is to list down 2-5 different jobs before you write your resume.
2. Understand the job requirement
After you list down the types of jobs you're seeking, the next step is to list down the type of job requirements and skill sets. This will set the tone and overall content when you're writing your resumes. The requirements should be both technical or specialized skills, and the soft skills that is require to translate your technical knowledge into practical actions.
Technical requirement are like softwares requirements (MS Office, AutoCad, SAP, etc.), specific engineering processes, SAP payroll, full sets of accounts, HR compensation and benefits, programming language (C#, C++, Java) etc. These requirements are essnetial for a staff to perform his/her role that is assigned to him/her.
Softskills are like project management, leadership, program management, Research & Development, etc. These skills are the main skills that translate your techniacl skills into execution, actions and results.
This step is one of the most critical as most recruiters will only spend less than 2 minutes to browse through your resume, and they'll always tend to search for keywords and the general contents, the words that you used. And these requirements will form the keywords for your resume.
3. Writing your resume according to the specific job requirements
When writing your resume, stay focus on the job requirements and phraze your sentences based on the keywords that have been generated earlier (see item 2).
For instance, if you're writing a resume for the position of Software Developer, the job requirement should be on the types of programming language you're familiar with, and the past programs that you've written. This position are more technical and you should therefore put in more technical jargons.
But if you're seeking a Software Project Manager role, then you should emphasize more on project management skills, with just the essential technical jargons in place.
4. Rephrazing your working experiences
As per item 3, rephraze your working experience to show more of the required skill sets, both techncal and softskills. If you think a particular experiences may not be that relevant, but you still want to put it it, make sure it is acting as a supporting role, so summarizing it will be fne.
Always put your latest working experience at the top instead of at the bottom, and list it according to chronological orders. Ususally recruiters only look at your last 5 years of wroking experiences, so make sure it's written with a lot of relevant keywords to capture their attention.
5. Writing your summary
The summary inside a resume should be placed at the start of the document, but it's best that you write it last after you've written all the above mentioned items.
The Summary is like a teaser, to attract the recruiter to continue to read on. It shouldn't be more than half a page. Inside the summary, fill it up with as many keywords as you can. This encourages them to read on to find out more.
To Your Success,
Allan Heng
Read more about Writing a Good Resume, and How To Ace In Interviews.
What are some of the things that you can do when the eventuality falls upon you? You naturally want to look for a new job. And that means writing your resume.
My suggestion is that instead of writing it when you need it, update your resume now when you still can afford the time.
To increase the chances of you landing yourself into an interview, your resume is the critical element. A resume will be the first thing that an interviewer used to judge you. So here's a few tips to help you to write a better resume:
1. What type of job are you seeking
Never make the mistake of having a general resume and send to every and any job postings / adverts. You'll only increase the chances of landing your resume into the dustbin.
Write down a list of job that you're seeking first. Different jobs have different job requirements and skill sets. So the first and foremost task is to list down 2-5 different jobs before you write your resume.
2. Understand the job requirement
After you list down the types of jobs you're seeking, the next step is to list down the type of job requirements and skill sets. This will set the tone and overall content when you're writing your resumes. The requirements should be both technical or specialized skills, and the soft skills that is require to translate your technical knowledge into practical actions.
Technical requirement are like softwares requirements (MS Office, AutoCad, SAP, etc.), specific engineering processes, SAP payroll, full sets of accounts, HR compensation and benefits, programming language (C#, C++, Java) etc. These requirements are essnetial for a staff to perform his/her role that is assigned to him/her.
Softskills are like project management, leadership, program management, Research & Development, etc. These skills are the main skills that translate your techniacl skills into execution, actions and results.
This step is one of the most critical as most recruiters will only spend less than 2 minutes to browse through your resume, and they'll always tend to search for keywords and the general contents, the words that you used. And these requirements will form the keywords for your resume.
3. Writing your resume according to the specific job requirements
When writing your resume, stay focus on the job requirements and phraze your sentences based on the keywords that have been generated earlier (see item 2).
For instance, if you're writing a resume for the position of Software Developer, the job requirement should be on the types of programming language you're familiar with, and the past programs that you've written. This position are more technical and you should therefore put in more technical jargons.
But if you're seeking a Software Project Manager role, then you should emphasize more on project management skills, with just the essential technical jargons in place.
4. Rephrazing your working experiences
As per item 3, rephraze your working experience to show more of the required skill sets, both techncal and softskills. If you think a particular experiences may not be that relevant, but you still want to put it it, make sure it is acting as a supporting role, so summarizing it will be fne.
Always put your latest working experience at the top instead of at the bottom, and list it according to chronological orders. Ususally recruiters only look at your last 5 years of wroking experiences, so make sure it's written with a lot of relevant keywords to capture their attention.
5. Writing your summary
The summary inside a resume should be placed at the start of the document, but it's best that you write it last after you've written all the above mentioned items.
The Summary is like a teaser, to attract the recruiter to continue to read on. It shouldn't be more than half a page. Inside the summary, fill it up with as many keywords as you can. This encourages them to read on to find out more.
To Your Success,
Allan Heng
Read more about Writing a Good Resume, and How To Ace In Interviews.
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