The resume structure is important in more than one way. The ideal resume structure gives the resume a professional outlook while displaying a career-oriented attitude of the applicant. Also it influences the flow of the resume and thereby affecting its readability. Hence, constructing your resume perfectly will improve your chances of gaining that important interview call. Each applicant decides on the structure of the resume as per his strengths, capacities and the expectations of his prospective employer and hence, every resume tends to differ from the other. However, in view of the current market scenario and the common requirements of employers; let us try defining the perfect resume structure to help you draft your own.
The most common and professionally ideal format of resume is given below. A typical resume is divided in three sections.
Introduction
As the name suggests this section introduces the document to the employer. It includes only two sub sections namely header and objectives. Avoid giving a title to the document as 'resume'.
Header:
This includes name and contact details of the applicants. The document opens up with these details. Highlight your name in bold form in an eye catching way. Do not use numbering or bullets to write information like address, email id or telephone number. Refrain from writing any more information beyond the contact details such as marital status, religious beliefs or family background. Such information is not required.
Objectives:
The objective holds the ambitions and career plans of the applicant. The employer tries to figure out the candidate's potentials, his expectations from the job and how he plans to shape up his own career with this job. The objective should be so well written that it interests the employer in knowing more about your credentials.
Primary Section
This is the most important part of the resume. The employer spends maximum time reading this section and thus the contents, the look and the flow of this section has to be perfect. Adopt the reverse chronology for all the subsections. Ideally, the experience section should get more prominence and therefore should come first. Nevertheless applicants can put forth educational qualification section prior if they wish to stress on it more.
Experience:
This section includes your work history with details like your designation, where you worked, , the total work duration and the responsibilities you handled during your working period. Using bullet format and action words is a good way of emphasizing the work done by you within the responsibilities section. Elaborate this section wisely to bring out the best of your capacities.
Educational Qualifications:
This includes the qualifications gained by you. This section should also include the name of the awarding body, year of passing and the grades scored so that the employer has better understanding of your qualifications.
Certifications and Licenses:
This section includes the skills and abilities acquired by attending courses, internships, workshops or training sessions etc. Certifications help you understand your area of work better by teaching you more whereas the licenses give you the authority to perform that particular work.
Achievements:
This includes the awards and the accolades won by the applicant during his course of work or studies. Give the professional achievements a priority over the academic ones. Include a maximum of 4 achievements to avoid making it look immodest.
Secondary Section
Personal Details
These details help the employer in knowing you better beyond your professional status. It includes family background, marital status, age, hobbies etc. In reality, these details do not matter to the employer. Moreover, it is considered immoral to ask employees for their personal information. Do some market research and try to find out the recruiter's expectations and only then include these details in your resume.
References
This includes the name and contact details of people you have worked with or studied under the guidance of. However, the practice of writing references is slowly thinning down and concluded in only one sentence, 'available upon request.' The references should always come last in the resume.
This was an effort of defining the perfect resume structure for the applicants. You be the judge and draft your resume based on this structure.