Making a great Resume: Get the basics right

When you start out to create a curriculum vitae or resume, there is no single format that is guaranteed to get you the eyeballs of recruiters. However, there are a few basic rules for creating a resume that you should keep in mind. The primary feature of a CV should be that it clearly explains to the reader 'the achievements made so far in your career by you.' Wisdom jobs career edge experts suggest that your CV should  include:

*A well-presented, selling document

*A source of interesting, relevant information

*A script for talking about yourself

According to wisdom jobs review team study report the main objective of your CV is not to get you the job but to get you an interview. Remember: you are not writing a CV for yourself, you are writing it for the reader.

You can choose to create any one of the following types of CVs -

A standard two-page printed CV

*A one-page summary CV

*An online CV

Whatever be the format, your CV should include:

*Personal Details

*Skills and Career Summary

*Key Achievements

*Qualifications

*Career History

Don't forget: The ultimate goal of your CV is to see whether it meets the needs of the person making the shortlisting decision suggests wisdom jobs complaints report. When you submit a printed CV to a recruiter or a potential employer, it is an introduction to yourself that should prompt them to try and know more about you

*Use a good quality paper, and print your CV in black ink on white paper. Covering letters should use identical stationery.

*Lay your CV out neatly

*Don't make the margins too deep or too narrow

*Resist writing lengthy paragraphs - be concise

*Careful use of bold type can be effective

*Typefaces such as Times New Roman or Arial are fairly standard

*Do not use type size less than 11 pt.

*Check thoroughly for spelling or typographical errors - Don't rely on a spell checker.

5 ways to be authentic in an interview

Just as it is with personal relationships, being authentic with your colleagues at the workplace is also equally important. This effort at authenticity should begin right at the time when you interview for a job. How can you best balance your impulse to share honestly and the strong desire misrepresent yourself to get a coveted job?

Wisdom jobs gulf career edge team suggests the following 5 tips that will help you be more authentic in an interview:

Be specific: Instead of just saying that you are a good team player, showcase some accomplishments and relevant skills and characteristics with examples. It is always more impactful.

Prepare with relevant examples: It is easy to get confused during an interview. So get ready with sound examples that get the message across precisely. Examples: I helped increase sales by 10% in the last six months or I worked on 2 international projects during my tenure.

Body language: Make sure that you have an authentic body language. To appear authentic, it's essential to pay attention to non-verbal cues such as posture, facial expressions, eye contact, and handshakes.

Practice with QA's: Hiring managers usually ask questions such as tell me about yourself or where do you see yourself in 5 years? Answer these questions with sincerity rather than using some boilerplate answer. It is also important to know when to stop. You shouldn't look over-prepared and rehearsed in the interview says the wisdom jobs gulf reviews team.

Search for info: Having some background information about the company makes you appear more authentic while answering in interviews. The ability to showcase the best version of yourself the one relevant to the workplace is what will help you land your dream job suggests wisdom jobs gulf complaints team experts.

IT companies may look for MTech with code expertise in future: Study

Experts predict that jobs would be hard to find in future if you have only BTech degree and companies would prefer to hire postgraduates with specialized expertise. In coming days BTech is not enough to get a good job as one must have MTech and specialization to get survive in the competitive world. Career experts advice that all the people in colleges must do M Tech and specialize, and learn to code on your own by taking extra classes because in future most companies will hire you based on your coding knowledge.

Most of the companies are not ready to provide training to the raw BTech students for six months and pay for it. Companies will test your coding skills if you are good at coding then only they will hire you for the vacant positions. While it is must to have MTech and coding skills to be an expert to get a job in future. It was also observed that salaries of freshers not growing in the information technology industry since last two decades as the whole IT industry is not growing in a fast pace.

While the number of software engineers has grown up but demand is not there as expected. Earlier there was an estimated 3-4% global growth was expected but this year it was only 2% which is also having a great impact on jobs creation. This year IT industry is expected to hire nearly 1.5 lakh to 1.6 lakh people this year. It is also known fact that no economy in the world can create job opportunities to the millions of job seekers as even China also.

Recent reports mentioned that freshers use to get 2.25 lakh salary per annum; they have risen only to Rs 3.5 lakh now, which suggests a decrease in real wages from an inflation-adjusted perspective. IT services companies in India have decided not to increase the salary of fresher's as there was an oversupply of software engineers at the entry level.

How to respond to your interview questions?

Interview plays a major role in getting a dream job and it is very important to show personality development,professionalism, preparation and confidence before the interviewer. Your way of answering the interview questions has lot of impact on your success. Sometimes interviews may be stressful and it is quite common that people get nervous while answering the interview questions. Instead of getting nervous, prepare well and answer the questions honestly and confidently. Here are some tips to be kept in mind while answering the interview questions:

Be clear: Beating around the bush may irritate your interviewer and he/she may also lose interest to listen on what you are saying. If you speak continuously without any flow, the interviewer may get pissed off and you may lose the opportunity of getting a job. Therefore be clear and specific while answering the interview questions and convey your answers as shortly as possible so that the interview can clearly understand what you are saying.

Give examples: Telling what all you can do is very easy and everybody can do that, but what makes you apart from others is that when you give examples on each of the responsibilities you handled. If you give examples, interviewer feels that you are genuine and it will also create good impression about you in the interviewer’s mind.

Be confident while answering: Interviewer asks questions depending on the way you answer the questions. If you confidently answer the questions, interviewer will be more interested to ask you questions. Think before you speak and think of what possible questions may arise out of the answer. Therefore prepare in advance for some common interview as it will be easy for you to guess the questions.

Impress the interviewer: The best way to impress the interviewer is to ask questions. At the end of the interview, interviewer will ask you ‘do you have any questions’. This is the best time to prove yourself, so be confident and try to ask some interesting questions so that the interviewer gets impressed by your questions and feels that you are genuinely interested in the job. Preparation for interview questions may create win-win situation.

Be sincere: Honesty truly works, so be honest and straight forward while answering. If you lie, you will tend to get nervous and the interviewer can easily identify that you are lying. So, be sincere while answering the questions as it will increase your trust quotient.

All these tips will help you in making your interview successful and also in winning your dream job. Remember that it is your responsibility to turn the interview into an opportunity, so be confident and honest while answering the questions and you will surely win the job.

Here’s how internship helps to get your first job: Survey

Many job seekers struggle to find right job in the competitive market. Employers are looking for the candidates with internship experience rather than students with no experience. Completing an internship help you get an edge in the competition and standout from the crowd.

As per the latest survey conducted by Wisdomjobs.com mentioned that, students and early professionals in India cited internships a useful and an important step to increase the chances of getting a first job soon. The survey also mentioned that completing at least one internship can help you gain professional experience while still in school and give you something impressive to put on that resume. Internship gives you on the job professional experience which grabs attention of recruiters in screening process.

According to wisdom jobs reviews over 78 percent of the surveyed people mentioned that, Internship is the right platform to get first job in India. Over 65 percent of respondents felt that top attribute of a dream job are happiness at work, money and career progression. More than 55 percent students and early professionals cited internships as a useful and an important step to increase the chances of getting a first job soon. More than 38 per cent of students and early professionals with less than a year of experience said they believe it will/did take those one to three months to land their first job. Over 38 percent respondents feel that things to be done after finishing their education would be university work while 30 per cent felt “building contacts through social media” is also important.

Wisdom jobs complaints say that students and early professionals in India cited happiness at work (41 per cent), money (40 per cent) and career progression (35 per cent) as main attributes for career. Among those surveyed in India, 27 per cent opined that their dream industry to work is IT & telecom, while 13 per cent preferred Professional Services. Around 15 percent of the respondents were interested in Finance.

Top myths and facts about resume writing

Resume plays a very important role in job search process and it is an effective tool to impress the employer. It is very important to know what all should be included in the resume and what should not be included. Most of them do not have a clear idea about resume writing and there are also some myths about resume writing. Wisdom jobs career edge proposes following facts to help you in creating a successful resume with strong resume format:

Myth: My resume can have n number of pages
This is a common myth that most of the candidates have about a resume. Most of them think that creating a resume with more pages will easily attract the employer and they will easily get a job. Wisdom jobs reviews say that resume should be limited to one or two pages, students or fresher’s with no experience can limit their resume to one page and people who have lot of experience in their field have no choice but to create a lengthier resume. At this point of time use small font and try to fit the whole information in one page or two pages. If you are too concerned about the length of your resume, consider creating one or two pages resume with additional pages serving as an appendix.

Myth: I can lie on my resume
Most of the candidates lie on their resume by adding extra qualifications and experience to attract employers. Lying on a resume is the worst mistake a candidate can make. Remember that sophisticated background checks have become very common and employers can discover the deception within days or months. If they find you deceitful, they may take legal action on you and take you out from the job. Apart from this, remember that professional world is fully influenced by social media. HR managers can discuss their experiences across the world with a single click. So, having a good reputation in the company is very important.

Myth: Resume should have an objective
Wisdom jobs complaints say that including an objective which is of no use is a waste. Remember that even an inch space of your resume is important and each and every word appearing on your resume should positions you as a perfect candidate for the job. Instead of using common objectives, use some brand statements or headers.
For example: “Seeking a mutually beneficial position that will make use of my 5+ years’ experience in programming”
But remember to refrain from presenting generic arguments, whether you use an objective or branding statement.

Myth: I can use same resume to apply for multiple jobs
Most of the candidates create a standardized resume and send multiple job applications. This is not the right thing as different positions need different qualification and experience. If you are interested in applying for multiple positions or choosing alternate careers, create customized resume for each job you want to apply and then send it.

What are different types of Interview formats?

There are many types of interviews and all the interviews are done with same goal i.e. finding a right candidate. Each type of interview requires specific preparation and everyone should know different interview formats and should take some time to prepare for the interview. Each and every company follows a different interview format to reach this objective of hiring an eligible candidate. It is important that one should recognize different formats used by potential employers and try to manage their presentation according to time. Here are some of the interview formats:

• Behavioral interview:This is an interview done to predict and evaluate the behavior of an interviewee. In this the interviewer will ask some open-ended questions by giving the candidate some situations and ask them how they will react in those situations. For example: managing different tasks within a short span of time, dealing with uncooperative colleagues and better ways to perform a difficult task. Based on the answers given, interviewer will evaluate the behavior of a candidate. For this a candidate should do lot of preparation and should possess good skills to perform well in the interview. In this interviewer mainly tries to evaluate whether an interviewee’s behavior would reflect or effect the organization. Some of the examples of this behavioral interview may include: customer service, stress interview, planning, initiative, organization, problem solving, leadership, creativity, flexibility, motivation, teamwork and technical knowledge.

For these types of questions, candidates should follow a STAR (S – Describe the situation in which you were involved, T – Describe the task to be performed, A – What was your approach to the problem, R – What were the results of your actions?) technique to deliver their response to the question. This is the best way for the interviewers to compare the actual behavior of the candidate in real time situation and is also a very good opportunity for the interviewee to demonstrate their communication skills by explaining the situation and actions taken.

• Traditional Interview:This is a common type of interview and is generally a one-to-one conversation. In this the interviewer will have a series of questions to ask followed by some clarifying questions. Questions may be related to technical or non technical. Candidate should be prepared with correct responses that are focused on their identified needs and they should also see that they cover all the points in a limited time. Best way to prepare for this type of interview is to research about the company and practice prior going to the interview.
• Sequential interview:This is different from the traditional interview and is a pre-planned interview with a series of steps involving many interviewers. This is mainly done to check whether a candidate can fit within the internal supply chain of their organization.
• Peer/panel interview:This is one of the most common types of interview where candidate’s interpersonal skills will be evaluated because organizations encourage teamwork and group decision making. Only one question is focused at a time by giving chance to each member of the group engaging all of the panelists in the discussion. Sometimes more than one question may also be asked at a time, therefore the interviewee must listen to the questions very carefully and should be very keen while answering the questions from everyone at the table.
• Technical interview:Almost all the companies use this technical interview to evaluate the technical capabilities of a candidate while selecting new candidates. In this questions will be mainly related to the technology or domain in which the candidate is going to work for the company.

Other than these there are many other formats, but these are some main and common formats that most of the companies follow while evaluating a candidate.

7 Step guide to post your resume online

The increasing dependence on online hiring on the part of recruiters and hiring managers means that your only chance to reach them with your resume might be to post it online. Here are some important tips to keep in mind while creating and uploading your resume online:
1. Keep it crisp and simple: You may spend more time on preparation of your resume. But reports say that recruiters spend usually 6 seconds time on each resume. No recruiter has the time to read long paras. So tweak your resume with bullet points that make your resume a quick and easy read.
2. Optimize for online search: Nearly 80% of companies direct job seekers to upload their resume online which will go to jobseeker database for future reference. So you should have one copy of resume that may include searchable keywords. Make sure that you have a text-based e-resume, a Portable Document Format (PDF) version and a Web-based (HTML) version.
3. Insert relevant keywords: Recruiters filter out the right resumes based on the keywords that have been included in your resume. Use industry based, skill based and functionally based keywords in your resume.
4. Select the best online portals: Select the best online job portal to upload your profile to get more visibility. Customize your resume according to the instructions of each job portal. Some portals allow you to insert cover letter which may add value to your job application.
5. Double check the formatting: Double check the formatting and proofread before you submit it for a job application. Don’t center the text; align it to the left margin to make it look professional.
6. Consider fine print: Always review the privacy policy of job sites before you upload your job application online.
7. Protect your privacy: Many online job boards have features that can protect the privacy and confidentiality of job seekers. Don’t include your residential address on your resume.

Try Wisdom Jobs resume services for better career opportunities.