Once you approach your final year in college, you first think of getting a job somewhere. This is the most common thing students can think of as soon as they complete their studies. When you enquire about how to go ahead for searching for the job, the first reply you will get to prepare your Bio-Data. Bio-Data is nothing but an old-fashioned name for a resume or CV. It is the Biographical Data of the candidate who is aspiring to search for a job. In the initial period, your Bio-Data will contain all personal information like date of birth, educational qualification, interests, and hobbies, etc. usually this term is used in India while applying for government jobs.
Bio-Data and Curriculum Vitae:
Over a period of time, the terms started changing. First CV (Curriculum Vitae) came in place of Bio-Data and now it is called resume. Curriculum Vitae is the term originated from Latin. Typically, a C.V. contains the details about a person’s education and life. It can be of the length depending on the profile of the person. It contains detailed information about his educational achievements as well as highlight points of his career. It can be of 3-4 pages, in which a candidate narrates his life achievements. There was a time when the C.V’s used to be scanned page by page by the employers. A thorough study of C.V’s was done and the candidate was presumed based on his C.V. His eligibility used to be decided on how elaborately he has narrated his C.V.
Emergence of Resume:
Resume is originated from the French language. It consists of a summary of the accomplishments throughout the career. The resume is a compressed version of a CV and mostly shows the bright spots in the career as bullet points. There is no need to elaborate on the activities done in the past as the interviewers now don’t have time and patience to read detailed information. There is another reason behind the emergence of a resume is that; the interviewers exactly know what the term means and what includes in a particular activity. Therefore they do not want to spend much time on the details of all candidates. Maybe an increase in the aspirants is another reason. So within 30 seconds a decision on the resume is taken.
Necessity of a resume:
This gave the rise in making the resume more attractive so that employers can see some interest in it. Many job portals started to claim to give the best resume design and within no time making resume was commercialized with proper plan. Most of the job portals offer jobs guarantee if the resume is prepared through them, of course by charging heavy fees for it. However, the real number of beneficiaries never came out and in today’s competitive life no one has time to ask such things. Thus a huge profit was gained by job portals through designing the resumes.
Contents of an appealing resume:
What should be the contents in the resume to attract the employers? How to write a resume to get maximum favor of recruiter? Are there any established guidelines for an effective resume?
The answers to these questions will not be the same everywhere. You might have to apply different rules for different job profiles and that is a very complicated task. The requirement of understanding the recruiter‘s needs plays a very important role while presenting your resume. To understand how to write a good resume, first one needs to understand that resume
- Is not your job log history
- Is not a summary of your skills
- Is not going a job to you automatically
It is a kind of advertisement in which you are a product. So how attractive you make your advertisement is important. Follow the resume new rules learning the art of writing a resume. You can follow the below guidelines
Use one of the three formats of resume
- Reverse-Chronological: This currently the most widely used format due to its flexibility with the applicant as well as the hiring manager. The layout be like
- Contact Information – Common in all formats
- Objective – can be tailored as per employer
- Work Experience – Need a consistent work history, not too lengthy
- Additional Skills – Usually your qualities which you think are outstanding
- Education – Prominent mention required
- Accomplishments – Need not be confused with additional skills. Mention recognition and rewards.
- Functional: It is a skilled-based resume and mainly highlights applicants qualifications related to the vacancy. Some key differences are there from the reverse chronological resume
- Contact Information – Common in all formats
- Resume Introduction – Highlight the strongest work areas in the resume.
- Work Experience – All covered in a compressed way but include major points in each workplace.
- Skills Section – If clear work history is lacking then make the skills section stronger.
- Education – Mention the highest degree and certification, if any.
- Accomplishments – Most significant notable reward must be mentioned.
- Combination: Merging of both functional and reverse-chronological resumes bits and pieces. The body of the document should consist of professional experience and skills.
- Contact Information – Common for all formats
- Professional Profile: Highly skilled professionals can opt for a combination type of resume and highlight the rich skills in professional profiles in a brief, clear, and short way.
- Work Experience – More elaborated experience section can be used in a combination resume.
- Skills Section- Based on the importance of work-related skills, divide them into two sections.
- Education – Education is a less important section but must be added in a simpler way
- Contact Information: This must include
- Name
- Telephone Number (Current and reachable)
- Email Address – Appropriate
- Links – (if relevant)
- LinkedIn Profile – (if created)
- Select A Very Impressive Introduction – from options of
- The resume objective
- The summary of qualifications
- The resume profile
- The resume summary
- Highlight Your Relevant Work Experience – Include 3 important bullet points
- Action verb
- Quantifiable point
- Specific and relevant job profile
You can manage your work experience according to the job profile you are applying for.
- Create an education profile based on experience– According to your work experience you need to manage the length of your educational background. If work experience is solid then make it short and sweet.
- Mention the hard and soft skills – You must mention possible hard and soft skills you possess. You need to highlight strongly whichever is having the upper hand.
- Certification, awards, and rewards – You can mention all the certifications, awards, and rewards you have received in your career but mind the length. It should not be too lengthy but easy and fast to read.
How to add interest and hobbies to the resume?
We will understand why we need to add hobbies and to mention interests in our resumes. There are some hobbies which include giving back to society, which may interest the company based on the company’s similar CSR activities. They may feel you fit for it. This is also the reason to include the ‘Extracurricular’ section in the resume.
- It helps to highlight some transferrable skills that may be usable to your role in the company – Consider that a company requires a team player in the role, by looking at your relevant hobby, the company will understand that since you regularly take part in a team sport, you are a team person. That may be what they are looking for.
- It can kick-start a conversation on a good common interest – Sometimes during an interview, a common hobby may become a catalyst to stir the otherwise critical progressing interview. One cannot wipe out the possibility of such a scenario. That’s the reason we can mention hobbies in the resume.
- It is also one of the ways to show the company that you are fit for cultural roles – Nowadays companies seek candidates who are willing to stay longer with the company. One way to do this for the company is to give a good atmosphere to the employee make him satisfied in his job. This is the reason that the companies will have a look at the applicant’s extracurricular activities more often than not.
Difference between hobbies and interests:
Though hobbies and interests are related to each other, they are different in characteristics. Both will indicate your liking or what you love but hobbies are the actual activities you are doing. On the other hand, interests are concepts of what you are fond of. In short ways, hobbies are activities and interests are ideas.
Interests can be classified as follows
- Conversation
- Culture
- Environmental issues and
- Animal rights
Interests are the things and overall ideas you enjoy in your personal life. It is something you feel passionate about.
Reasons for inclusion of hobbies and interests in your resume:
The main reason is to show that your interests extend beyond your work and you are physically and/or socially active in your life away from work. Hobbies and interests on your resume also show your personality strengths, your soft skills, and can open a better communication between you and the aspiring employer. Other reasons you can think of including hobbies and interests on your resumes are
- Your work experience is limited and educational background is not appealing.
- You are a fresher seeking for a job.
- Your job role is relevant to your hobbies and interests.
- The employer values this information or requests it.
Conclusion:
By adding your hobbies and interests on your resume you are at no loss. It is quite possible that a particular employer is not interested in it at all, but quite possible that someone may ask if you have not mentioned it. The other aspect of adding hobbies and interests is to show the employer that you are an active person and if required can contribute to the company’s needs in some areas. In some or other way it may help to increase your chances of potential candidature for a particular post. If, at all, it will help only, but will never be a disadvantage to add hobbies and interests in resume.
