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Tips For Building a Professional Resume

Resume Writing Tips

Tips to write an effective resume

Resume creation process is usually boring and tedious. We've tried our best to provide you relevant content and helpful tips on different sections you fill as build your resume. Here are some of the important tips that can be helpful for you. All these tips are also available to you while creating resume with our free resume builder.
01

Contact Section

  • Enter the correct mobile number & email where recruiters & employers can reach you.
  • Enter the current address to receive any correspondence from your prospective employer.
  • Use a professional email Id, avoid email id having weired verbs.
  • Enter the alternate phone number in case your primary phone is not reachable.
  • Employers, recruiters primarily user primary phone and email to reach out to the candidates.
02

Experience Section

  • Highlight your work with actionable keywords like Delivered, Organized, Improved etc.
  • Showcase significant achievements in the experience for ex. Saved $1 million revenue by improving logistics, Increased the sales by 40% etc.
  • Enter the accurate information about past experience, some employers do a background check.
  • Use the complete job title, this makes the resume look more professional. Avoid using short forms.
  • Start with your most recent experience details. You can always add more details or rearrange them later on.
  • Perform a spell check on the content to ensure there are no spelling, grammatical mistakes.
  • In case you don't remember the exact dates of previous employment, take a best guess and edit it later on.
  • If you are a beginner, you can enter the details about any internships/workshops you attended.
  • List your work history in reverse chronological order, with your current or most recent job listed at the top.
  • Include start and end dates for each position.
  • Use strong action verbs ("led", "planned", "organized") to showcase your responsibilities and include numbers ("Increased sales by 50%") wherever possible.
  • Don't use personal pronouns like "I", "Me", or "My�.
03

Education Section

  • Start with your highest degree. You can always add more qualifications or rearrange them later on.
  • Add any courses you've attended if you don't have much work experience.
  • In case, you don't have a good CGPA/Percentage, skip adding this information. If you have a good one, add them.
  • Avoid adding any certifications and trainings here, there is a separate section for it under 'More Sections'.
  • Avoid adding any course which is not relevant to the desired job profile.
04

Skills

  • Enter the skills which are most relevant to the desired job title.
  • Avoid adding any skills where you lack practical knowledge. This creates a negative image in the interview process.
  • Avoid using unknown or not so common abbreviations for skills.
  • Enter the skills in the order as per your experience and command on them.
  • Use the abbreviations & impactful keywords instead of full sentences. For ex. Goal-Oriented, Energetic self-starter etc.
  • If you are a beginner, add some generic skills like committed professional, hardworking, self-motivated etc.
05

Summary

  • Remember, summary is the entry gate for your resume's success. Most of the hiring managers filter the resume on the basis of summary content.
  • Customize your summary according to the target job profile.
  • Keep the content of this section precise and short, preferably less than 5 lines.
  • Describe more about your key strengths and your abilities than your past experience.
  • Use the robust keywords to describe your strengths. Avoid using unknown abbreviations.
  • Ensure that you do a spell check on this section as well.
06

Accomplishments

  • List down top 4 to 5 significant achievements made in your career.
  • Order the achievements in terms of significance or impact.
  • Avoid adding any personal/family achievements here.
  • Add the content as bulleted points to keep it crisp.
  • Add any special recognitions you got from your current or previous employers.
07

Awards

  • List down any professional awards you have got in your career until now.
  • Add awards earned in college or school only if you are a begineer/fresher into the industry.
  • You can also add any recognitions earned in your career until now. For ex. Recognized for special contribution in creating architecture.
  • Add the content in the order of importance and in bulleted form.
08

Certifications

  • List down any professional certifications you have done.
  • Specify the certifications in the reverse chronological order of the value they add.
  • Try to restrict yourself to the certifications which are specific to your targeted job profile.
  • You can also add any certifications earned in your internship programs if you have not added internship details separately.
  • Avoid adding any certifications which are no longer valid or have expired.
09

Interests

  • List down the interests specific to the job industry you are targeting.
  • Avoid adding details about any interests which are political or religious in nature.
  • Add the content in the bulleted form to keep the content short and crisp.
  • Avoid adding this section if you are a professional.
10

Languages

  • List down all the languages you can speak, read or write.
  • Adding foreign languages can be really helpful in some of the job profiles.
  • You can also specify your proficiency in the languages known for ex. Can Read, Can Read/Write, Can Read, Write, Speak.
  • Avoid adding this section if the knowing languages doesn't have any impact on the targeted job profile.
11

Portfolio

  • Adding your LinkedIn profile or website can boost your job search if you have a strong professional network.
  • This section can be really important for some profiles for ex: Photographer, Journalist
  • Remember, this is completely optional to add these details so not to worry if you don't have a website or professional profile.
  • Avoid adding any profile which has strong political or religious opinions.
  • Avoid adding any personal website which has no context with your work.
12

Presentation

  • List down any presentations made by you in your career.
  • The section is specifically important for people in marketing segment.
  • Specify the purpose of the event, dates and audience details to give a clear context.
  • Add the content in the bulleted form to make the content crisp.
  • Avoid listing down any college level presentations unless you are a beginner into the industry.
13

Publications

  • List down all the publications written by you, start with the most recent one.
  • Avoid listing down any publications written by you on political, religious or sexual topics.
  • You can also list down any whitepapers published by you.
  • Specify the details about the magazine or newspapers along with date/edition where your publications appeared.
  • You can also specify the website details for any content published online.
14

Voluntary

  • Add this section either when you have done some outstanding job in social service or you don't have any professional experience.
  • Keep the content specific and try adding the content as bullet points.
  • Adding social service details helps you make your profile stronger in case you are planning to pursue higher studies.
  • The content here should be focused on your contribution rather than some project.
  • Hiring manager often look out to identify the personal traits about the user from these sections.
15

References

  • This is again an optional section, only share the details if the tageted job profile requires you to provide references in Resume.
  • Specify the reference name, their email id and phone numbers.
  • Always share the references of the people who have positive opinions about your work.
  • Restrict to list down maximum of two to three references.
  • References are usually shared on request post hiring process for background check.
16

Dissertation

  • This section should only be filled if you have done any thesis/research that you would like to highlight
  • Add very limited information here, don't make the resume bloated with entire thesis details.
  • Highlight the subject on which the thesis has been done and a short abstract about it.
  • You can optionally specify the duration of the dissertation.
  • If there were multiple people involved in the process, try to highlight your contribution.
17

Extra Curricular Activities

  • Avoid adding this section if you are an experienced professional.
  • Showcase your talent and hobbies in case you are a fresher. This gives more idea to hiring manager about your personality.
  • List down any association with any societies, professional clubs or bands like soccer club, tennis club etc.
  • Don't list down any detail which doesn't match your personality or is against the job profile.
  • Avoid listing down any non-productive activities for ex. Watching tv, surfing net etc.
  • Add the content in the bullet points to keep the content short and crisp.
18

Personal Information

  • Avoid giving out any personal details like social security number or details about your marital status etc.
  • Only specify your gender details if its required in the targeted job profile for ex. Some jobs may be specifically available for a particular gender.
  • Avoid giving out any personal details like passport, social security number or details about your driving license etc.
  • This section should be avoided unless specifically required in the targeted job profile.
19

Additional Details

  • List down any additional information that you feel can impress the hiring manager. Remember, this is an optional section.
  • You can add the patents you own, any contribution you've made for your country or state for ex. military services.
  • Keep the content crisp and to the point, too much information here can make your resume look bad.
  • Avoid giving out any personal details like passport, social security number or details about your driving license etc.
  • Keep the content professional and related to the targeted job profile.
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