Resume Writing

A resume is a formal document that summarizes an individual's work experience, education, skills, and achievements. It is typically used when applying for jobs to showcase qualifications and suitability for a particular position.

Resumes serve as a marketing tool for job seekers, presenting their professional backgrounds in a concise and organized manner. They should highlight relevant experiences and skills that align with the requirements of the job they're applying for. Resumes should be tailored to each job application, emphasizing qualifications most relevant to the specific role.

Contents of a Resume:

1. Your Name:

This is the actual Title of the document (Resume)

Your name is the title of the document, this would make the job of the interviewer easier as he need not search around for your name; another advantage is, he would call you by name. So please write your first name first followed by middle name and finally end with your last name.

e.g.-

           Sai Deepak S L S Koilakuntla ✅          Sowmya S L Kolluri ✅
           Koilakuntla S L S Sai Deepak ❌          Kolluri S L Sowmya ❌

           Koilakuntla S L S Sai Deepak ❌          Kolluri S L Sowmya ❌

Please do not make the font size too big, it should be max.13 (for the title) and the size of the whole content in the document should be 12, neither 11 nor 13.  If the font size of the title exceeds 13, it looks like a pamphlet or a flyer. It the font size of the content also exceeds 12, it looks like a wall poster. So always maintain the font size 12 for the content in the Resume and 13 for the title (your name) of your Resume.   

2. Photo:

Nowadays it is important to give a photo in your resume.

(Your photograph speaks a lot about you.

Boys - Groom yourself well, have a haircut, clean shave, formals on (no T-shirt/casuals; tie and blazer would be a better idea), decent background (not in a beach/resort / cut from a group photo), no life-size photo; bust size photo is acceptable.

Girls – decent dress (no casuals) and good background)

3. Contact Information:

Include your name, phone number, email address, and optionally, your address.

(Provide email, LinkedIn, GitHub (for IT-related branches or those who wish to get a job in the IT industry) and your mobile no.
It should be below the document's title; do not waste the space on the first page by giving your address; your address could be given in the personal details section at the end of the document. Give the above details as shown in the model CV.)

It should be below the document's title; do not waste the space on the first page by giving your address; your address could be given in the personal details section at the end of the document. Give the above details as shown in the model CV.)

3. Career Objective:

A brief statement summarizing your career goals, relevant experience, and skills. This section can be tailored to each job application.

(Start the content with your career objective in 2 to 3 lines; one sentence only, without any full stops in between. It should be unique, do not copy it from others’ CVs. To get the best impression, do write a tailor-made one with the help of your unique qualities i.e. your strengths / your long-term goal aligned with the company’s goal etc.  which creates the best impression.)  

4. Education:

Include your highest level of education, along with the degree earned, institution name, and graduation date. You can also include relevant coursework, academic achievements, or certifications.

(Furnish your educational details viz. Course name; Institution name; board/university; year of pass; Percentage / CGPA. Always start with your highest qualification at the top to lowest qualification. E.g. B.Tech at the top and specify your branch in B.Tech and also specify the semester you are currently in.)

5. Work Experience: (Not Applicable for Freshers)

List your work history in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent job. Include the job title, company name, location, and dates of employment. Provide bullet points detailing your key responsibilities and achievements in each role.

6. Skills:

Highlight your relevant skills, both technical and soft skills. This can include languages, software proficiency, leadership abilities, and other competencies relevant to the job.

This is Exclusively for B.Tech Students👇:

(Give only Technical Skills here: Give details of the programming languages you are proficient in; do not write - basics in C, beginner in Java, learning Python etc. Write simply:  C, C++, JAVA, Python

Also write  C++, JAVA, PythonAlso write the software tools you are proficient in; e.g – Autocad, Matlab, Labview, Ansys, Catia, Windows etc. Also, write about the Operating Systems you can handle viz. MS DOS, LINUX

Provide links to your Coding Profiles in Codechef etc.)

7. Certifications:

Mention the certifications you have done from remote learning agencies viz. Udemy, NPTEL, Coursera etc. Sequence it in the order of importance viz. based on the company and the role, you need to keep the relevant certifications first, next etc. Use bullets instead of numbers for individual certifications. 

8. Internship(s):

Give details of the company/institution/agency where you have done your internship and a brief description of the project. Give the details like the month and year of completion.

9. Industrial Visits:

If you have visited any industry/facility, you need to mention the details viz. type and name of industry, processes/departments visited and key learnings out of the visit.

10. Academic Project Details:

Give details of your projects in 2/3 lines by mentioning the principle and main features of it. See that your internship and project details sections should serve as fillers in the sense that any space is left in the CV it should fill it.

11. Achievements: 

This section is very important since you need to draw/cherry-pick your strengths from your achievements. The reason is, that you have achieved something big in any field means you are strong in that area. So you can group it under the achievements list. You need to use your discretion to highlight any word/phrase in the achievements list, do not highlight the whole point or 2 or 3 words in the same point, then it loses its importance. Eg- if you have presented a paper in any IIT, IIT should be made bold to highlight it. If you have participated in a paper presentation contest in our college, then you have to make the paper presentation bold.

You need to divide your achievements section into 3 parts viz. academic, co-curricular and extracurricular.

Academic -  would host your achievements purely in academics right from school level but you need to mention your biggest achievements first viz. your ranks, medals, school-topper/ college topper etc. / trophies you have won in competitions such as Olympiads (maths, science), spell bee, national Talent Search, science exhibitions, inter-school / Inter-college / district / state-level essay-writing / elocution competitions or any other competitions where you got appreciation.

Co-curricular – It refers to any activity that is connected to academics but is not reflected in your marks/certificates viz. workshops, trainings, conferences, guest lectures, participations or prizes you got in technical fests within your college or other institutions, particularly in NITs / IITs etc. The activities include paper/poster presentations, quizzes, hackathons, coding contests, preparing models/robots any innovative projects/inventions / designing websites, maintaining tech-related blogs/vlogs etc. Serving as a member/coordinator/organizer for association activities viz. IEEE, ISTE, CSI, ISOI, ISHRAE etc.

 

Extracurricular – This is in no way related to academics but is very important in the sense that academic performance can not give any clues about a person’s personality, behaviour, social conduct etc. where whereas co-curricular and extracurricular activities showcase the same. Under this section, you may include your participation or prizes you have won in games, sports, NCC, NSS, literary (essay writing, elocution, debates, drawing, painting, model making, crafts etc.), cultural (drama, skits, singing, dance, anchoring/compering, antakshari, rangoli, event management, coordinator/volunteer/organizer for various events within college or outside the college etc.) activities. Write as many achievements as possible to showcase your skills and traits; achievement doesn’t mean winning a prize, participation is also considered as an achievement since it gives an experience to you. When you are participating in any activity you are trying to accomplish something, you are not a spectator, you are a performer, winning or losing does not matter as long as you are learning from any activity and it gives you a rich experience.     

12. Strengths:

This is the most important section in your CV as many students do not know how to identify their strengths. The critical part of identifying strengths is the way how you convert your achievement into a strength. The same is explained below. Before identifying your strengths, let us first try to understand the nature of strengths, how are they different from your technical skills and how they help you in your job or life in general.

 

Basically, talent is something that you possess without learning/practice; you are aware of it, some sometimes you are not aware of your own talent. But skills are acquired through conscious learning efforts by way of practice/rehearsal/exercise. Skill types are explained below.

HARD SKILLS	Soft Skills
Technical skills	Behavioural skills
Tangible – you can see, touch	Intangible – only feel/experience them
Cognitive in nature	Affective nature
You can master them with practice	You can master them with practice
Examples- Drawing, playing, driving, repairing, welding, coding, language learning, singing, dancing, all engineering and technology-related skills	Examples- Presenting an idea, leadership skills, problem-solving, creative thinking, analytical skills, critical thinking, emotional intelligence, discipline, persuasion and negotiation skills (convincing others), empathy, optimism etc.
India’s students are pretty strong in technical skills	The reason for their poor show is only because lack of soft skills as stated above

You need to write at least 5 or 6 strengths under the section – strengths in your CV. Many students inadvertently write the strengths of either all intrapersonal or all interpersonal skills leaving the interviewer guessing about their real personality. If all your skills are either intrapersonal or interpersonal, there is no balance in personality. Therefore, try to strike a balance in your personality by mentioning three intrapersonal skills and three interpersonal skills in your strengths list in your CV.

Broadly soft skills may be further divided into:

'Intrapersonal skills and Interpersonal skills'

Intrapersonal skills	Interpersonal skills
Learned and developed without others' involvement	Learned and developed with others' involvement
e.g.- discipline, optimism, hard work, creative thinking, problem-solving, analytical skills, critical thinking, comprehension, resilience, patience, productivity, resourcefulness, vision, strategic thinking, tactfulness, delegation etc.	e.g.- communication skills, presentation skills, public speaking skills, assertive skills, teamwork, leadership skills, emotional intelligence, persuasion & negotiation skills (convincing skills), conflict resolution, advising, counselling, mentoring etc.

How to identify strengths from achievements list in your CV – some examples are given

Activity/achievement	Strengths
INTRAPERSONAL SKILLS
One among 5 toppers or topper of class/school/college	Hard worker
Represented class/school/college in sports/games/athletics	Hard worker
Won prizes for 100% attendance or maintained the highest attendance	Disciplined
Overcame fear by participating in competitions like Paper presentations, anchoring/stage performances etc.	Self-confident
Solving problems related to real-time problems while doing a project/model/event/program/teamwork	Problem-solving
Taking a lead role in any activity and making decisions towards making it successful	Decision making
Breaking a big problem into small fragments and solving them to arrive at a solution for a bigger problem	Analytical skills
Prepared/presented a model; drawing/sketching / story writing/writing poems / writing short stories/drama/dance / making short films/skits; won prizes / participated in essay writing/elocution/collage; creating/maintaining website/blog/vlog; writing articles in school/college magazines; designing a new model/concept in any dept or college level events etc	Creative skills
Not satisfied with the positive results of a project/activity and searching for mistakes/problems towards making it foolproof or free from errors	Critical thinking
Not getting bogged down by problems / challenging situations and staying focused on a goal	Resilience
Identifying strengths of team members and allotting the right tasks to individuals to complete an event or a project	Delegation
Convincing members of a team/higher-ups/clients/customers	Persuasion & negotiation skills

Activity/achievement	Strengths
INTERPERSONAL SKILLS
Transmission of message effectively in the right medium	Communication skills
Transmission of message effectively in the right medium in formal setting viz. teaching, selling, film, book, official correspondence	Presentation skills
Addressing public gatherings, events, functions, meetings	Public speaking
Taking the lead role of a group of people e.g.- played roles of CR, SPL, Captian, coordinator/volunteer / organizer of any events	Leadership skills
Participated in group activities viz. NCC, NSS; team games/sports like cricket, volleyball, football; drama, skits, group dance etc.	Teamwork
Understanding one’s own emotions and those of others and regulating them towards positive results	Emotional Intelligence
To bring about amicable solutions to resolve Potential fights/differences of opinion/standoff/deadlock situations through dialogue/discussion by involving all parties	Conflict resolution

13. Hobbies:

This is another section that is highly ignored and given the least importance by students. In fact, achievements, strengths, hobbies and personal information is very important in HR perspective as these sections throw light on a candidate’s personality and attitude. Many students fill this section casually and get cought during the interview as the interviewers ask questions on the hobbies they have given in their CVs.

Hobbies are spare time activities that would be nurtured during weekends or vacations where you have lot of time where as interests are the activities that you would ike to do every day. Many stufents categorise news paper reading / watching news as a hobby which not just right. It could be categorized under interest as you would do it on a daily basis. Some hobbies can be extracted from extracurricular activities as shown in the table below and some other hobbies may be taken that are not shown in extracurricular activities.

Hobbies can be further divided into active hobbies and passive hobbies. Active hobbies are those in which you are involved in an activity and you are doing it and getting satisfaction/pleasure out of it. Passive hobbies, however, are those in which you are not involved directly and you are simply enjoying by watching them. To get the best impression, mention active hobbies rather than passive hobbies. You need to mention 3 or 4 hobbies only that are active, creative and offbeat. 

Extracurricular activities	Hobbies
Won prizes / participated in cricket/badminton/chess/carrom/volleyball/football / throw ball/basketball at school/college level etc.	Playing cricket etc.
Won prizes / participated in singing / dance	Singing/Dance
Actively participated in association activities/volunteer/dept level/college level events / served as an anchor etc.	Event management/planning and organizing events
Participated in NSS activities	Social work

• Identify your hobbies: You need to add only the Active hobbies and not the Passive ones.

• Active hobbies	Passive hobbies
  Painting, drawing, sketching, making crafts ✅	Spending time with friends/family members   ❌
  Photography, travelling ✅	Browsing web  ❌
  Playing cricket/badminton etc. ✅	Watching cricket etc.  ❌
  Stamp/coin / antique collection✅	Chit-chatting with friends ❌
  Singing / Dancing✅	Watching movies ❌
  Listening to music ✅	Bike driving ❌
  Making short films, video editing✅	Reading holy books / doing rituals
  Reading books, writing reviews✅	Watching TV ❌
  Doing yoga/meditation/ introspection ✅	Helping mom in daily chores ❌

1. 
   

14. Personal Information:

You need to furnish your details viz. gender, date of birth, father’s name, languages known, PAN no, Aadhaar no, Passport no etc. as shown below:

Date of Birth    : 06-06-2003	Languages Known   : English, Hindi, Telugu
Gender             : Female	Aadhaar                    : 3445 2312 2357
Father’s Name : V Ramesh	PAN                         : BSRUK9674C
Nationality       : Indian	Passport No.             : 2967823465901
Address             : D-NO: 2-346-7B, Teachers Colony, Secunderabad-500011

15. Declaration:

State that everything you mentioned in your resume is true to the best of your knowledge.

You need to write a declaration at the end of the document as shown below:

DECLARATION:

I hereby declare that the above-mentioned information is true to the best of my knowledge and that I will be responsible for any deviation from the truth of these facts.

16. Date and Place:

Mention when and where this resume is written.

Place: Secunderabad                                                                                      Date: 16-06-2021                                                                                                                                  

17. Signature: Sign at the end of the resume.

(SOWJANYA V K L)

18. References

Some companies ask for 2 or 3 references of people who have done significantly in your particular Field. Give the names and details of your HOD / Professor / your supervisor during your internship etc. as shown below:

1.      Dr K Ramakrishna Mob: XXXXXXXXXXX Email: XXXXXXXXXXXXX Head of XXXX dept. XXXXXXXXXX college of Engineering Hyderabad

2.      Mr V Ratnakar Mob: XXXXXXXXXXX Email: XXXXXXXXXXXXX Production Manager XXXX electronics Ltd. Patancheru Hyderabad

 

Here are some samples for good resumes:

Resume Sample-1

Resume Sample-2

Resume Sample-3

Resume Sample-4

Resume Sample-5

Resume Templates: 

Resume Template-1

Resume Template-2