An award-winning resume is the one that wins you the job interview you desire. The resume is perfect in every sense - contents, presentation, relevance etc. It answers all of the recruiter's questions. The sign of identifying an award-winning resume is when it compels the recruiter to hire you for the position. Find below the various ways of formatting to get an award winning resume format.
The peculiarities of an award winning resume format are as below:
Objective
Draft an impressive objective that reflects the ambitions of the job seeker clearly. It should be written in a crispy way and hence, limit it to one sentence. It should include your strengths, your utility towards the organizations and organization's contribution in your career.
Employment History
Make this section the most impressive. Include details of your previous job positions, duties, achievements etc. Begin the responsibilities section with action words like supervised, diagnosed, determined, compiled, drafted etc to bring out the importance of the tasks carried out by you.
Qualifications
Include the academic record of your graduation, masters and diploma level examinations along with the grades achieved at each level. Either highlight on the grades or the institute's name, depending on which is more impressive. To write the academic details, use tabular or sentence form.
Skills
Include the personal qualities that help you carry out your duties perfectly. They are not related to your field and hence are different from your technical (hard skills).Use adjectives like strong, reliable, excellent or efficient to stress on those qualities.
References Conclude this section with one sentence, available upon request. Refrain from putting any names on the resume, unless asked so. You can always have another sheet ready with the names and contact details of referees on it, in case the employer requests to see them.
Format
There are four resume formats, considered ideal and professional in modern corporate environment - chronological, functional, combination and target resumes. Out of these formats, chronological resume is commonly used. Applicants can choose any of the formats that suit their work profile and prospective job profile well.
Chronology
Adopt the reverse chronology in writing details under the sections like achievements, experience and qualification. The events or the credentials gained the latest would appear first on the resume. One can even put the information in order of importance, with most important details coming prior to other details.
Flow of the Resume
While preparing the resume draft, ensure a steady and logical flow to it. Prioritize the information on basis of its importance and relevance. Abrupt beginning or ending of any section irritates the reader.
Highlights
Highlight the title in bold and large font so that it displays the start of new section. This helps the recruiter to select the information most vital to him. To highlight the details within each section, use italics. Avoid using bold fonts within the section, as it tends to look loud.
Margins
Leave uniform one inch margin on all sides of the paper. Always seek a preview before printing the resume to get an idea about its appearance. Uniform margins help you ensure the contents are arranged in the center of page and help you the resume get an organized appearance.
Alignments
Align the tiles of different sections of the resume to the left side. One can write the title in the center as well. Leaving that title line, start with the details from the next line for better outlook of the resume.
Font Size and Font Style
Ideally, choose of the two ideal font styles - either Times New Roman or Arial to type your resume. Set the font size at 12 to give easy readability and professional outlook.
Resume Length
Do not exceed the resume length more than 2 to 3 pages. Employer would be discouraged to read a lengthy resume. Keep the information crisp and direct. Helping the employer select the information important to him, will contribute a lot in getting you the interview call.
Given here are the various formats of award wining resume. Include them within your resume to score well in the interview selection process.