Resume Essentials – for beginners

During university recruitment having a resume is an absolute must, yet what exactly to put in a resume, puzzles many.

In this blog I have tried to condense my experience with resume making, after numerous trials, talks with HRs and foraging the internet.

Hopefully some of your uncertainty as to what to put in it is resolved after reading this article.

First things first. What is a Resume?

Informally it serves as a document that enlists all your accomplishments so far, in a concise manner for the recruiter.

It is also the document that aids in answering the hefty question

Why should I recruit you?

For a beginner resume, the following things are an absolute must:

• Short Introduction
• Skills and Abilities
• Projects
• Internships (if any)
• Courses, workshops and competitions
• Education
• Contact information

Now let’s have a deeper look at each of them:

Short Introduction

This part is to give a gentle introduction about yourself. You can use it as a medium to tell what makes you excited for the domain you are applying for.

A simple example for a Software role would be:

A computer science undergrad who loves coding and optimizing solutions to solve problems.

Skills and abilities

An important area that puts all your skills in a condensed format, to provide a summary to the reader, at a glance. Making each ability or skill a single word which is self-explanatory works best.

Example: C, C++, JavaScript, etc

Projects

These help showcase your interests, passion and capabilities. Therefore, representing your top 3 projects would be a great way to make an impression.

A good format to represent a project would be:

• Short description.
• Technologies you worked with.
• Project impact and accomplishments.

Internships

If you have completed any internship, it adds a huge bonus as it showcases that you have already worked in a professional environment. So do make sure to mention them.

Courses, workshops and competitions

A great way to show your enthusiasm and growth mindset would to be list out the courses you had taken up, workshops and competitions that you participated in. It helps portray that the applicant goes beyond the prescribed curriculum and is a passionate learner.

Education

This section describes the academic accomplishments and relevant courses. A good track record acts as a highlight to your overall resume. This section can also be used to portray other achievements and teams you were part during your studies.

Contact information

Information needed for the recruiter to get back to you is goes here.

You can also add in portfolio links, LinkedIn and other such profiles to further consolidate the impression garnered.

With that, the essentials sections for a beginner resume concludes. However, there are a few other things to keep in mind while framing a resume, treat the next section as an optional.

Optional

1. Make it concise

   The recruiter can only spend a short duration of time per resume so make sure it is short and precise.

2. Include only those projects and skills which you know completely

   Treat the resumes as a self-made question paper, as it provides the recruiter topics to test your skills and abilities. Portraying team-based projects which you contributed partially to or not knowing completely will only get you in trouble.

3. Make sure you have all the documents to prove the credibility of the topics mentioned in the resume.

That’s all folks, if your resume crosses out all these essential points then you are good to go! Walk in into your next interview with confidence and give it your best!