It has often been seen that when a candidate drafts his/her resume, they search for sample resumes on the Internet. Once they come across a good resume they end up coping the entire content in it as it is. This is a biggest mistake a candidate performs while documenting their curriculum vitae. Human resource managers are quiet familiar with the particular job profile resumes available on the Internet. So, if your resume seems similar to those available on the World Wide Web, you are increasing your chances of getting disqualified in the first round itself.

As a human resource expert for around 9 years, I often guide candidates on using the sample resumes available on the Internet just for reference. They can specifically give you an idea about what all things you can include in your resume. However, what works effectively is a resume template. It just guides you on how to draft your resume yet making you write all the essentials necessary in your resume.

However, selecting a good resume template is also essential for composing perfect curriculum vitae. Following is a detailed guide that will help you in judging the efficiency of an ideal resume template.

#1 Resume Format

Your resume is nothing but a professional document that portrays your talent and skills to the employer. Hence, your resume format must be simple yet professional. Remember following points while formatting your resume:

• One must use standard fonts like Times New Roman, Arial and Calibri
• Font size and color should be restricted to 11 and black respectively
• The heading of each section must be made bold
• Avoid marking any borders or partitioning the sections within your resume
• Make use of bullet points wherever necessary

#2 Career Objectives or Profile Summary

This section usually holds the primary section of your resume after your personal information. Candidates often find it difficult for drafting this section since they don’t know what to write that will actually impress the employer. Following guidelines will help you in writing the career objective section for your job profile:

• Where you want to see yourself in the next two years?
• What skill sets will make you achieve your goal?
• How will the company be benefited after hiring you?

#3 Your Expertise

It will be comfortable for you to write this section if you have a considerable job experience. However, what if you do not have any job experience? This is where the sample resumes come in the picture. These resumes guide you on what all possible expertise are necessary for the job profile you are applying for. However, knowing and mentioning them in your resume is not the only thing you need to do. You must also understand them and undergo a firsthand research so that you are able to answer any question asked on this section.

#4 Prior Job Experience

This section usually comes under the experienced candidate’s resume. This usually is the most important section in your resume and can get you your dream job if drafted efficiently. Following guidelines will help you in drafting this section:

• Mention the company name you worked with along with the address
• Duration of your employment in that company (example: May 2012 to Dec 2013)
• Your job profile or designation in that organization
• Your responsibilities in the organization (in bullet points)
• Awards and acclimations if any

#5 Educational Qualifications

The educational qualification section is important since it gives the employer an idea whether you are eligible for a particular job profile. Hence, mentioning this section in your resume in quiet important. However, if you have a considerable experience even without proper educational qualification, you can mention it after your professional experience section.

A best resume template for any job profile will guide you on all the above five aspects. Such template not just guides you on formatting and drafting your resume efficiently but also on ensuring that it attracts the employer’s attention.

Do you think there are any other factors that are necessary in a perfect resume template? If yes, please do share it in the below comment box.

Candidates often spend a lot of time preparing themselves for interviews, group discussions, and aptitudes. And they forget one of the most important constraints to reach these rounds, the resume clearance round. Your resume is the most important thing that gets you your dream job. Every big organization round the globe first goes through your resume before they call you for any personal interactions. Thus, spending some quality time in drafting your resume is necessary to create that first impression on your dream organization.

Fresher as well as experienced candidates tend to make many mistakes in their resume that create a negative impression on the interviewer. Hence, one must follow proper steps while drafting their resume to create that first impact on the employer. One must go through several sample resumes that would give them an idea on how a perfect resume should be drafted. An ideal resume comprises of several important fields that sometimes make no sense but yet they are important to be mentioned. Let’s now understand some of the important fields one must include while drafting their resume.

Personal Information

Your resume must always start with your personal introduction. This helps the employer or recruiter to know who you are, what’s your name, your address, age, gender, etc. These fields are essential since many a times the job profile is applicable for either gender. So this information helps the recruiter to filter out resumes accordingly.

Career Objectives

One of the most important and impression setter field in your resume is the career objective section. This is the section that helps you create your first expression on the employer. So, your career objective statement must clearly portray your ambitions and how would your presence help the organization. However, when I say this field is an impression setter field, it doesn’t mean that you elongate it. Your career objective statement must be simple, crisp, clear and up to the mark.

Educational Qualifications

Your educational qualification is the next important section in your resume. This section is notably important if you are a fresher and it’s your first job. For fresher, he/she should smartly draft this section as your selection totally depends on it. However, if you’re an experienced candidate then this section hardly matters to you. When I say hardly matters, it doesn’t mean you can skip this section. This section has to be present in your resume.

Internships/Experience

This section is another important section and an impression re-gainer (if the above two sections have messed you up). Yup! Smartly drafting your internships and experiences may get you your dream job within minutes. While drafting this section one must ensure to mention the roles they played during their internships or previous jobs. They must also include things they learnt, accomplishments, etc. in this section.

Key Skills

This section includes all your positive points that are closely related with your job profile. These points usually portray that you know several important thing about the profile and are an eligible candidate for that profile.

The above mentioned points are more than sufficient to draft a great resume. However, not just understanding these points will help you to write your resume. You must often refer to several sample resumes to avoid any minute mistakes. Even resume templates can be used to draft an effective resume.