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Resume Writing Tips

Resume Writing:

A well written resume is essential for getting an 
interview call. Your resume should be Informative, 
Well Structured, Truthful/ Honest and Neatly 
presented Some tips for each aspect of your resume 
are given below.

Structuring your resume 

Personal Details
Always write reference numbers/ codes as specified 
in the advertisement If necessary, enclose your photograph 

Write your name clearly and in bold Give your current home address and contact number. If you do not have
a phone at home and are giving another persons 
number write down the timings you are available 
there/ name of person likely to take the message 
for you. 

Give your current office address and phone number. Specify if you can be contacted there or not. Give 
your email address/ specify the preferred mailing address-the one you check most often ! 

Education
Write in reverse chronological order i.e. highest degree first. 

Avoid holding back any information on percentage/ grades, college name, gaps in education etc. It is better 
to prepared and assume that the interviewer will ask
you about the details in any case. 

High school details may not be necessary in most cases 


Other Qualifications
Write any information on certification such as Microsoft Certification etc. 

Mention period/ duration of training programme attended 

Work Experience
Write down your experience in reverse chronological order Specify period of work accurately 

If you have worked for many years with the same firm, write a new row for every promotion/ change in work assignment 

Exclude summer training and short term assignments 
from work experience. 

If you were employed by a contractor - mention it 


Skills
Skills are those learnt by doing. If you have learnt something but not applied it - exclude ! Generally 
skills are picked up on work, college education may 
not count as skills often. 

Include skills that you are highly proficient in - exclude those you have only used occasionally. Claim proficiency only if there is ample demonstration of the skill in your work. 

Skills are those things which you have done yourself, 
if your project used Javascript but you wrote HTML pages, exclude Javascript 

Summary of Projects
Write in reverse chronological order, write more recent projects first 
Give a representative name/title for the project undertaken.
If your work involves many years in the same job or corporate IT- try to break up your experience into modules of main activities accomplished 

Details of Projects
Describe objectives of projects clearly 
Specify your role in projects clearly 
Comment on the success/ failure of projects 
Mention hardware and software used in your 
contribution to the project 

Additional Information
Inform referees that you have included their names Give complete address and contact phone numbers of  referees  Mention any major achievements/ awards 
Mention other interests/ hobbies 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
General

1.List your technical knowledge first in an itemized fashion. Use as many buzz words as you can conjure 
up which reflect your work and school experience. 
List all operating systems and UNIX flavors you know. List all programming languages and platforms with 
which you're experienced. List all software you've thoroughly used. This will satisfy the visual curiosities 
of hiring managers and OCR scanners conducting 
key word searches (at Taos, every resume received 
is thoroughly reviewed by a real live human being) 

2.List your qualifications in order of relevance, from 
most to least. Only list your degree and educational qualifications first if they are truly relevant to the job 
for which you are applying. If you've already done 
what you want to do in a new job, by all means, 
list it first, even if it wasn't your most recent job. 
Abandon any strict adherence to a chronological 
ordering of your experience  

3.Quantify your experience wherever possible. Cite numerical figures, such as monetary budgets/funds 
saved, time periods/efficiency improved, lines of 
code written/debugged, numbers of machines administered/fixed, etc. which demonstrate progress 
or accomplishments due directly to your work. 

4.Begin sentences with action verbs. Portray yourself 
as someone who is active, uses their brain, and gets 
things done. Stick with the past tense, even for descriptions of currently held positions, to avoid confusion. 

5.Don't sell yourself short. This is by far the biggest mistake of all resumes, technical and otherwise. 
Your experiences are worthy for review by hiring managers. Treat your resume as an advertisement for 
you. Be sure to thoroughly "sell" yourself by highlighting 
all of your strengths. If you've got a valuable asset 
which doesn't seem to fit into any existing components 
of your resume, list it anyway as its own resume 
segment. 

6.Be concise. As a rule of thumb, resumes reflecting 
five years or less experience should fit on one page. 
More extensive experience can justify usage of a 
second page. Consider three pages (about 15 years 
or more experience) an absolute limit. Avoid lengthy descriptions of whole projects of which you were 
only a part. Consolidate action verbs where one 
task or responsibility encompasses other tasks and 
duties. Minimize usage of articles (the, an, a) and 
never use "I" or other pronouns to identify yourself. 

7.Omit needless items. Leave all these things off your resume: social security number, marital status, health, citizenship, age, scholarships, irrelevant awards, 
irrelevant associations and memberships, irrelevant publications, irrelevant recreational activities, a second mailing address ("permanent address" is confusing and never used), references, reference of references ("available upon request"), travel history, previous 
pay rates, previous supervisor names, reasons for 
leaving previous jobs, and components of your name which you really never use (i.e. middle names). 

8.Have a trusted friend review your resume. Be sure to pick someone who is attentive to details, can effectively critique your writing, and will give an honest and 
objective opinion. Seriously consider their advice. 
Get a third and fourth opinion if you can. 

9.Proofread, proofread, proofread. Be sure to catch 
all spelling errors, grammatical weaknesses, unusual punctuation, and inconsistent capitalization's. Proofread 
it numerous times over at least two days to allow a fresh eye to catch any hidden mistakes. 

10.Laser print it on plain, white paper. Handwriting, typing, dot matrix printing, and even ink jet
printing look pretty cheesy. Stick with laser prints. 
Don't waste your money on special bond paper, 
matching envelopes, or any color deviances away 
from plain white. Your resume will be photocopied, faxed, and scanned numerous times, defeating any 
special paper efforts, assuming your original resume doesn't first end up in the circular file.