Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) on Resume Writing

Here are some common Frequently Asked Questions regarding Resume Writing and responses from the point of view of the Recruiters and Interviewers.

1      What is Resume for you? What is a recruiter’s definition of a resume

Ans : Resumes are the eyes of the recruiters through which they look at the world (corporate world), feel and judge.  An irrelevant and loosely prepared resume can be a big turn off for a recruiter and a perfectly matching, appropriately informative resume is the bread and butter for a recruiter. It is a multipurpose tool of a recruiter. They not only look at candidates profile in a resume but they judge and follow the market and industry trend, even the technology enhancement and up gradation. Now you can very well understand the significance of a resume for a recruiter. You may be amazed, how precisely a real recruiter can judge a person by his resume.

2.       What is your idea of a perfect Resume?

Ans: A perfect resume is a Resume that most appropriately serves its purpose i.e. gives the best synopsis of the person in question. It is absolutely wrong to bind the resume in certain format or way of writing and then only call it a perfect Resume. We recruiters do invite some creative innovations in the way to present or showcase oneself in the job market. It gives a relaxing break to the monotone and even grabs eyeballs. In the age when each day a new trend is set in the field of marketing then why should we follow the age old ways and formats to market ourselves.

3.       What should the Fresher’s do? Should they take advice and formats from their seniors?

Ans: I am not against taking advice from your seniors but I would recommend you not to follow or copy the formats. A totally nascent mind dares to tread on the new path. Take advises from your seniors and take note of the current market trends and visualize as to what an employer would like to see in your resume that will stand out in the hordes of resume that we receive. Just keep in mind that it doesn’t stand out in other way.

4.       Does font, format of the Resume matter, while writing a resume?

Ans: Yes, it does matter but only to the level that the content is clearly readable and understandable. I would suggest applicants not to use flashy fonts and formats just to grab eyeballs. We as a recruiter love the format which speeds up our process of selection. The font should be readable and should not look messy or crowded. The format should be like which gives right information at the right place without unnecessary repetition.

5.      What is the optimum length of a resume? How many pages a Resume should have?

Ans: There can be no fixed length of Resume or predetermined number of pages it should have. This has been debated numerous times with reasons to back, but I don’t think any of the reasoning can be put above the opposing one. Hence, throw out this binding question out of the window when writing a Resume and feel free to express yourself. It is true that excessive long resumes are a big turn off when we encounter with hundreds and thousands of resumes every day. Most likely they will be kept aside for later reading which will never see the light again. A very short resume helps us to reject it easily. I have drawn the demerits of both the extreme cases of the Resume’s length. My suggestion is to write a resume that describes the best of you irrespective of the number of pages it consumes. You have to just keep in mind about the receiver or the evaluator of your Resume and to understand you can read my post Know about your Resume?

6.       What are the must-haves of a resume? (like skills, objectives, work experience)

Ans: All the facts that you want to flaunt about yourself in order to grab an open position. There is no need to bind oneself to the past tradition without justification and proper backing for e.g. everybody puts his/her objective with pompous words on the top of the resume without even understanding what it means. However, the important sections that a resume must have according to me are

• Education and Professional Qualification along with the year of passing and division/marks.
• Skills – Technical, Personal Traits, Job specific, Competencies.
• Work Experience starting with the current experience having required details like designation, role and responsibility, projects, team size(if applicable) company and domain.
• Major Achievements within and outside profession.
• Personal Details like Current and Permanent Address, contact details, languages known etc.

In addition to this I would love to read the professional journey of a candidate mentioning the important events and the learning. It can be kept in a very short paragraph. One more section that a resume can have is the important points of the resume or the candidate describing him/her as a whole.

7.       What is the main attraction of a resume?

Ans: The main attraction of the Resume in question is the person it describes. It should portray the overall personality of the person in the best possible way.

8.       Should I list Hobbies and Interests in the Resume?

Ans: I want to clear one thing to my readers that the a recruiter is also one amongst you all and has gone through the same stage before taking a place on the other side of the recruitment table and best understands the way a job seeker thinks or reacts. You must be wondering as to why I have stated this fact here in response to the above question. I would like to counter question you in response to this question. What is your motive in listing your hobbies and interests? To add some more content in the Resume OR to follow the tradition OR to flaunt your interests as an augmentation to your professional competency. According to me it is unnecessary if it doesn’t relate to your professional competency or skill, and however even if it is ever looked upon than it is only during your personal interview and that to in case of the interviewer running out of questions. You can better judge now whether to list them or not.

9.       According to the traditional recruitment process, resume is the first communication from the job seeker’s side. How much role does it play or the percentage of contribution it makes in the selection process?

Ans: Resume plays the pivotal role in the recruitment process. It is difficult to judge the extent in terms of percentage of contribution in the selection process but if this piece of paper actually represents you on your behalf then you can understand the extent to which it contributes to your selection for a given position. It creates an imaginary you in the eyes of the recruiter even before you arrive at the scene. Here I would like to mention the psychology that works against or in favour. Your Resume creates a level of expectation about you and your selection or rejection depends on your performance above or below that level of expectation that your resume has created. And the most important aspect which nobody can deny that a Resume is the first communication from the job seeker and if it fails to impress your whole preparation, skill, competency, education everything goes ashtray.

10.   Are references required to be given in a Resume?

Ans: No. References should be given only when asked for. It is unethical to give vital information about other individuals in form of references in your Resume as it can be misused.

11.   Should one’s photograph be put on the Resume?

Ans: Again this depends on the requirement of the employer or otherwise there is no need of a photograph on your Resume. There can be certain positions that require applying along with photographs but it is mentioned in that case. Otherwise, a photograph can again be misused and it can make the soft copy of your Resume heavy for attachment and downloading.

12.   What to write in a cover letter? Are cover letters necessary?

Ans: Yes. Cover letters are necessary and they add to the presentation. First let us understand the real meaning of a cover letter as it has lost prevalence in the current job applicant’s armoury. Cover letter is no special letter but it is just an ordinary professional or business letter directed to the HR or the hiring executive, presenting oneself for the open position with attached resume in support to the fact. It was used in a more formatted specially written way when Resumes or application to be true were sent in hard copy. But recently when most of the applications for open jobs are sent through mails, many people ridiculously attach a cover letter along with the resume separately to the forwarding mail without any mention in body of the mail.  They are also few who are merely following the ritual of the method of job application without understanding the purpose of the cover letter. Most of the rest job applicants don’t even bother to write anything in the forwarding mail or at most type a few words like, “Find my resume”, “My resume”, “Resume for particular opening” etc. as they are busy sending mails in bulk for all possible job openings. Some are even more lethargic to send separate mails and instead forward a common mail for all the possible open positions carbon copying (CC) to all the available mail ids. I am afraid this does not show the seriousness or maturity on the part of the applicant.

The real meaning of a cover letter should be first understood and then you won’t need to ask anybody on the content of the cover letter. It is merely the application letter that you should write in your mail body directed to the HR/Recruiter mentioning about the position you have applied for along with the source of your knowledge about the open position. Further, you should mention a real brief about your experience and yourself drawing a match with the open position. I know it is difficult to do when you are applying for as many possible job openings advertised but believe me it is worth it because this practice will force you to properly go through the job description and can actually shortlist only those jobs that really match your profile. Further it will also create an impact on the recruiter and interest him to actually go through your resume with special attention. 

13.   How can fresh Graduate best represent their Resume and make it stand out and get noticed?

Ans: This is a good question and most important because it is challenge for a fresh graduate to stand out sticking their neck above the multitude. It may also be prevalent for those experienced professionals who counter major competition from a large number. To your relief, your resume doesn't play that much of a significant role in selection than that of an experienced specialists resume does. Your Resumes are mere means that get you shortlisted as even the recruiters also don’t expect anything thing extraordinary or outstanding in your resume. It is your sincere duty to incorporate whatever skills and competencies you possess. However, it is really difficult to make your resume to stand out because you don’t have any specific experience to boast but then also there are a few aspects that you can focus on in order to increase the weightage of your resume. Do not fail to mention the additional certifications and special trainings attended. Do emphasize on the learning’s from all the projects along with their details. Consider your projects as your work experience.  Follow up your application or resume submission with a call to the concerned person.

14.   How can I increase my resume response and obtain more interviews?

Ans: There is no sure shot technique for this but you can certainly increase your resume response by following the above suggestions and by giving more time for a bit of research on the job openings before applying and also by increasing the visibility of your resume as explained in the following question. Follow up mails and calls can work wonders sometimes so I would advice fresher’s and experienced alike that there is no harm in following up with a polite mail or a call on the status of your Resume or even Interview. It has a direct impact on the hiring executive and you can make a positive impression on them. Try to bond yourself with a few recruiters and keep a constant touch with them.

15.   What are keywords and how should I use them in my resume?

Ans: Keywords are one of the most important aspects of the Resume in this age of online application and job openings. Right kind of keywords mentioned in your resume will always keep you in top of any search. There are certain rules that are followed by the search engines to fetch the relevant results like Resumes in this case which is technically known as Search Engine Optimization (SEO). It ensures that your Resume comes at the top of the search. I would like to cite an example for you to understand.

There is an opening for say an HR Manager with a particular recruiter. He tries to search for some relevant Resume for the same by putting a few keywords like “HR Manager”, “Recruitment”, “Performace Appraisal” etc. Now for a certain location I can bet that his search will result in nothing less than 2000 resumes that are active in past one month. Now he may narrow down the search with some more specific keywords to keep down the number of resumes. Even then he will land up with nothing less that 500 – 600 resumes to choose from. Now take the case of a specific job seeker and his chance of landing up with this position. All his initial chances of even getting a call for this opening depend on his rank or position in this search result of 500 resumes. You can very well guess as to how many profiles the recruiter will consider or contact with for this single opening – 10, 20, 30, or maximum 50. What are the chances that your resume is visible in the first 50 results of this search?

Now you may understand the relevance of keywords and SEO. Recruiters either search the most relevant resume or the most recent resume and sometimes both. Hence it is advisable to be regularly active and update your profile regularly on the job sites and networking sites. Put relevant keywords at key positions in the Resume so that your resume results at the top of every search and increase the visibility of your resume. It should not be like if a recruiter mentions “Human Resources” as a keyword for his search you profile may land up in the first 10 results but if he mentions “HR” as the keyword you are thrown back somewhere in the last.

I have tried my best to give the best possible answers to the Frequnetly Asked Questions on Resume writing according to my experience and expertise in this field. I invite my Recruiter friends to throw some more light on the questions covered and job seekers to come up with some more questions that I may have missed in due course.