During job applications, many companies are still sticking to the traditional method of reading resumes. With over thousands of resumes lying on an HR manager’s desk, an HR manager would often take less than 10 seconds before forming a judgement of a job applicant.
To stand out amidst the thousands of resumes, here are some things that you should definitely take into consideration to fit into your 2-page resume.
1. Include your title, name, email and contact number
That’s right. Tip number one tells you to include your name, email and contact number at the top of your resume. Some of you will think that this is quite obvious, but you would be surprised at the number of people who leave out some of these basic details.
2. Educational backgrounds
Include the education institute that you attended last together with the year of graduation. Remember to pen down your grade point average only if it is excellent (or if it is compulsory). By not writing down your grade point average, there is a benefit of the doubt on how well you perform as a student.
3. Work experiences
This is one of the more important subsections that an HR manager would look at, and it is extremely helpful to to showcase and quantify your achievements in an organization. For example, indicate new ways of working, cost-savings, added or increased revenue streams etc. that you have achieved for your company.
4. Award and honors
Employers love employing people who have some sort of achievements or accolades. So if you have achieved awards and honors in your previous organization or educational institution, remember to include them in your resume. It could be a competition won in your academic years, or even the happiest employee of the year in your previous workplace.
5. Special skills
Do you have special skills that are not reflected in any of the subsections? This subsection is dedicated just for that! You can put intangible or even non-tangible skills that you want your employers to see. They don’t even have to be all work-related, as they will still reflect a level of ambition and grit. Black belt in karate? Put it in there!
6. Hobbies
Many applicants choose not to include this subsection, but it may actually be interesting and relevant information for an employer. It could help them not only formulate an image of your character, but also show that you are an exciting person. Most employers would not want to engage a boring person. Therefore, write down your hobbies. It could be reading, running, travelling or fishing. The more exotic your hobby, the more your employer would be interested in you. But maybe refrain from mentioning too weird and exotic hobbies.
7. Travels
If you have travelled wide and far, be it for school exchange, hiking trips or volunteering work, you definitely do not want to miss out on mentioning it in your resume. Some details about your travel experience will show your future employers your ability to leave your comfort zone and remain independent. You can also share about the soft skills that you have acquired during your travels.
8. Include live URL or QR code
In today’s digital age, everyone is tech-savvy, at least to a certain extent. To stand out from the rest of the candidates, include a live URL in your resume! This would trigger the HR manager’s curiosity to explore more of you, which is a great thing since a resume is only one or two pages. Do make sure that the URL is short and sweet. If typing of the URL is too troublesome, or if you just want to show off – add a QR code!
With that, Student Competitions would like to wish you all the best in your resume writing and job applications! If you want to write a good cover letter, check out this template.
