Resume and CV Best Practices

... from the 5 key elements to the worst mistakes in resume writing

Jul 03, 2022

Today marks a humbling experience to share my learnings with students and new graduates. Grateful to be a part of the Career Prep Workshop at Reading Room Calicut. Thank you Reading Room for the opportunity!

And I am sharing some of the Resume best practices with you all - my mentees and teams around the world in hopes it could benefit someone in need.

References:

Resume Best Practices - Div Manickam

In my 10+ years career journey, there are three principles that define me. The first is continuous learning: which started from bachelor's and master's in Technology to MBA in Marketing, but my learning didn't stop there. I am a lifelong learner and a student for life. Winning Together has been key when I look at my teams, and my experiences in corporations from fortune F500 companies to startups.

And the third is Community: it has always grounded me. It has helped me find answers that I didn't really know much about. And I'm grateful to be able to give back to the community here with Reading Room as well.

Through my career, I've had an opportunity to be part of product marketing teams, working on messaging and positioning, product launches, buyer persona, and market intelligence.

And through this experience I also had a chance to take on leadership roles leading teams of 25 folks in 10+ countries at Lenovo and growing a team 3x at Dell Boomi.

Now let's actually dive in and talk about Resume and CV Best practices. The first is what is the difference between CV or Resume?

I thought there wasn't any difference but until I recently realized a CV in Latin means course of life. In contrast Resume in French is summary. Both are tailored to help you find that specific job, and it's to position you as the best candidate.

Resume is a brief summary of skills, experience in 1-2 pages
CV is much more detailed and definitely beyond 2 pages

Key Elements in a Resume

There are five key elements to include: the first is your contact. Keep it to the minimum information as necessary. Your name, location, email, address and phone number. Next, include a summary, relevant experience, education and skills. That's what a resume is. It's an overview of your qualification, experience, skills, education, and accomplishments.

Now, if you a fresher and you're trying to figure out how to write a resume, and thinking: I don't really have much experience.

Start with a clear summary. And next look at your educational achievements - include coursework and any related projects. And then add volunteer experiences and internships. Mostly freshers will have a functional resume focused on skills.

And for a professional resume, here are a few tips:

Keep it simple with a font.
Keep it focused - Your resume is not a list of everything you have done. It's supposed to tell a few things and why they should hire
Apply a visual design.

Always review and edit your resume with a friend/family/mentor. Just because you have spent so much time on it, you might miss out on a few things and we'll talk about some of the worst mistakes you can make.

There's a website called jobscan.com, which I found beneficial for my teams and for my mentees. It compares a resume to the job description through an ATS system (Applicant tracking system), which is where a Resume goes before it gets picked up by a hiring manager if it matches the right keywords.

Worst Resume Mistakes

So what are those Worst resume mistakes you could make?

Typos and grammatical errors. There's nothing more putting off than finding a resume where someone's not taking the time to make sure the resume is representing you well.
If there are much examples, and they are generic and looks like you only know the job, but not necessarily what you achieved.
Don’t try to have a one size fits all resume. It needs to be tailored.
Your duties versus accomplishments.
If there is no clear summary, it’s hard to know what you're looking for and your vision for the future.
If there are no action words - verbs that show vs tell, your resume may fall flat.

So what are action words in a resume? If you have used the words that are on the left hand side - in charge of, hard worker, go getter. Think about words like directed, accomplished, achieved. It makes it more actionable and it gives the person reading a better sense of what you can do.

zety.com has a lot of power words for you to use with examples.

Where to get started

In summary, here are 3 areas to focus on your next resume refresh:

Create a summary with how you can help the company you are applying with your strengths and value.
Have a clean format and style. A few tips - 12pt font, one-inch margin, sections, and 1.5 line spacing can give the hiring manager a good first impression. White space matters.
Metrics and Results help showcase your accomplishments vs job duties and responsibilities that may seem like from the job description.