How to write an effective resume

Australian Human Resources Institute Fact Sheet

A resume is your chance to present all of the information that proves that you have the required skills and experience for the job. Writing an effective resume takes time: you need to ensure that you have included all the desired information clearly and succinctly.

Make it clear, easy to read and understand and related to the job description

When writing your resume, remember that its purpose is to persuade an employer to consider you for the position over the other applicants. It is a compilation of your skills, achievements, employment history and personal interests, and provides the first impression of you and your skills and experience.

Remember that the difference between gaining an interview or not is approximately two minutes. That is the period of time it is estimated an employer will devote to reading a resume to decide whether to consider you further as a potential candidate. Having decided this, they will probably re-examine your resume in more detail, but it is this first impression that can make or break your initial application.

Resume Content

When writing your resume it is important to remember your objective to make it clear and easy to read and understand quickly.

Your prospective employer wants to read information only that is relevant to the position on offer, so think of your resume as a series of facts. Keep sentences short and list your most recent jobs first. Before you decide on the layout of your resume, do some research and prepare the content.

Your resume should contain the following information about yourself:

1. Educational Qualifications

List the qualifications you have gained since leaving school.

2. Vocational and Professional Qualifications

List details of any apprentice training, industry accredited courses in specific skills, technical training, management courses etc.

3. Career History, Past Employers and Job Descriptions

When supplying details of your employment history, be aware that this can vary depending on the situation. You could list your previous employers in chronological order, or you may choose to concentrate on job descriptions or the skills used or developed.

This is the most important section of your resume, and you should focus on the following areas;

• Skills;
• Experience;
• Responsibilities;
• Achievements;
• Evidence of progression.

Think about your previous positions and the specific situations where your work or actions made a task simpler or easier or solved a problem. Did you save the company money, increase efficiency, identify or act quickly to deal with a problem?

If you have been out of work for a longer period, you may find it difficult to think of examples—if so, try talking to friends or ex-colleagues who may be able to help you. For this reason it is important that you regularly update your resume to ensure that all details are correct and up to date.

4. Awards and Achievements

Make sure you include a list of your achievements—your accomplishments are an important selling point.

5. Personal Details

It is essential to include contact details in your resume to enable interested employers to get in touch with you.

They should include:

• Your full name;
• Your residential and postal address;
• Your contact phone;
• Your email address.
  

6. Personal Interests

When deciding what to include, try to ensure that information is relevant in some way to the position you are applying for. Do your interests exhibit an ongoing active interest in a relevant field, or demonstrate skills such as leadership, organisational ability or teamwork? Remember that an employer may be considering how you will fit into their team when reading your resume. It is inadvisable to mention your political or religious activities, and remember that a reader does not want to be overloaded with superfluous information; be selective about what you include.

7. Referees

Most employers will want to contact referees when they are seriously considering you for a position. If you supply the contact details of your referees in your resume, it is important to contact them to advise them that they may be contacted for references.

It is also important that your referees are people who have worked with you and know your responsibilities and skill levels. A referee who can give a detailed response on your work and your abilities is better than someone very senior in the organisation who may not know you at all, or a personal referee who will be unable to make a comment on your job performance. When listing referees, you should include their name, job title and name of organisation, telephone number, address and e-mail.

If you want this information to remain confidential, include in your resume the statement “Referees will be supplied upon request”.