Making a good first impression in your job hunting process is a crucial key to success. What factors help the headhunters or potential employers receive important information about the candidates? It is the RESUME, based on which a candidate is considered worthy or unworthy of inviting for a personal interview. Thus, drafting a professional CV that is in full compliance with the market expectations containing all the relevant information can help the applicant a great deal to succeed in receiving the desired position.
The most frequently used forms of resumes
| The American CV | This type applies bullet points and indented style. Information is listed in chronological order, heading from the most up-to-date to the least current one. The proper length does not exceed 2 pages. This is the most commonly used form of resume, because it is easy to read and factual. |
| Conventional CV | Narrative with eloquently drafted sentences each related to the other. The structure follows a chronological pattern where the owner of the resume progresses from the past towards the present activities. By now, this has become a rather outdated style, which is usually written by special request of the headhunter or the employer. |
What are the features of a good resume?
| Straight to the point | Contains the key information, which can be extracted easily, even at the first glance. |
| Easy to read | Well-drafted, consistent in style, easy to read and possesses an appealing outlook. |
| Informative | Includes all the applied job-related information needed to be involved. |
| Up-to-date | Contains the most current achievements and tasks. |
| Taylor-made | Attuned to the conditions demanded by the given job posting and to the features of the position in question. |
Particulars must be included in a resume
| Name | List the full name as used. It is useful to bold it and paste it in the top of the front page aligned in the center. |
| Availability | Address, phone number and email ( it is advised to maintain a personalized email account for job application purposes). There are a few free of charge email accounts: www.freemail.hu, www.citromail.hu, www.hotmail.com, www.yahoo.com) The address may be of valuable information such as the distance to the future workplace, the travel costs, so it is important to list it in your resume. As for the telephone number, we recommend that you list one that is used exclusively by you with no access to it by others. |
| Career goals | A 2-3 sentence brief summary about the applicant’s future plans. |
| Education | This section must contain your schooling, either in order of credentials or chronology. In case of university or college degree, it is advised that the exact date and name of the major with the department of graduation are featured properly. Listing high school degree is important only, if the applicant holds no degree of higher learning. |
| Work experience | Work experiences are recommended to be listed in reverse chronological order featuring the exact name of the company and the position held. Furthermore, the tasks performed in each position must be included as well. |
| Language skill | Under this section, the applicant needs to list all the foreign languages he/she speaks indicating the respective level of command. Do not include false information as foreign language skills are usually tested either by the headhunter or the future employer! |
| Computer skills | This segment lists all computer-related programs, languages known and practiced by the candidate. The form and style of the resume may also be a tell-tale sigh of the candidate’s PC literacy! |
The most frequent mistakes made during writing a resume
Listing information regarding the name of the parents, siblings and their professions.
Including elementary school graduation
Hand-written resume (except it is a special request by the employer)
Use of colored or patterned paper
Too short, or too lengthy resume
Missing out important dates
Grammatical mistakes and typos
Irrelevant information
Multiplied resumes
Including non-existing knowledge
Using funny email address for sending applications
Including personal photos
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