Resume / CV Tips for Professionals like CA, CS, CWA

Resume / CV Tips for Professionals like CA, CS, CWA

When one enters the job market and is looking for a job, it is nothing but ‘Selling Oneself’ or ‘Marketing Oneself’. Job searching is like marketing and selling a product. The product is “YOU”.

Resume / CV are nothing but a marketing tool which helps you to represent yourself to a potential employer. Resume / CV is in a way an ‘artificial person’ which acts like a person in your physical absence. In other words, Resume / CV is your ‘representation’ to the potential employer, in your absence and before your interview.

Taking this into consideration, it is much essential that the resume should show / project one’s strengths & emphasize things of either work history or education that a potential will think valuable.

Know the purpose of your resume:

Resume / CV Writing is an Art as well as Science. Resume / CV should be written in such a way that a potential employer gets inclined to read about you, your intelligence, hard work, etc.

One should remember that a Resume / CV is not a Bio-Data.

This article aims to give you some tips, for preparing an effective resume, especially for professionals like Chartered Accountants, Company Secretaries, Cost Accountants and alike:

For Freshers:

For those of you who have just cleared your professional exams, having a good and simple resume is a must, to make a good first impression about you.

Title & Objective: A potential employer will generally have just a minute to judge your resume. Therefore, the very first thing to consider is the ‘title’ that you mention on your resume. Therefore ensure that it captures the attention of the potential employer.

Think of what type of work you would want to do in your first job and accordingly think and draft an ‘Objective’ for your resume. This ‘Objective’ at a fresher level is very important since it indicates & conveys your thinking, focus, aspiration. It should also indicate what ‘qualitative’ aspect you can give to the organisation as an employee. At an experienced level, Objective should convey your ‘professional goal’.

Academics:

Since showing work experience is not the aim of a fresher, your resume should concentrate more on one’s education details, college activities/seminars/workshops done, awards received, certificate courses completed. Do mention Merit / Rank details if any.

Do not include hobbies, sports, etc. except if there are any extraordinary ones achieved in school / college life.

Include your Institute membership number and the year of passing the professional exam stages.

Internship details:

Mention the details of the firm / company in which you have undergone the article ship training. Do mention if you have performed any task extra-ordinarily and have received appreciation / award.

Generally, the work you do in your article ship is important for an employer, since that may be the base for giving you the job, since similar tasks may be required to be done by you for that employer.

Format:

Keep the format, font type, font size very simple and normal. Avoid ‘decorating’ your resume / CV. Avoid the use fancy words, short forms.

Point wise presentation is very much appealing and readable. Use bullet points wherever necessary to list down things.

Others:

No need to mention date, signature, place, declaration of trueness of the data, etc. This is now outdated and since resumes / CVs are now sent on email and then after wards the interview / screening process begins.

Do not ‘hype’ your achievements or work, since they will be checked at the interview stage. Mention only those things which you can justify.

Ideally, a resume / CV for a fresher should end in one page.

For Experienced Professionals:

Now here, what will count and would be most important is your ‘Work Experience’. As one goes on gaining work experience, educational qualifications take the second place after work experience.

Apart from Title & Objective, Format, Academics, additional points are required in a resume / CV of an experienced professional.

Focus Area:

Mention your ‘focus area of expertise’ after the title along with the total number of years of work experience till date. This will catch the attention of the reader and screening becomes simpler.

Experience Details:

Mention your work experience, employer wise and not activity or expertise area wise. The current or latest employer details should come first and then the others should follow.

Highlight your achievements / awards received during the tenure of your job with each employer.

Qualities and Strengths should be projected effectively, through bulleting, numbering, etc.

Generally, it is better to avoid mentioning of experience details which are below six months in tenure.

Compensation Details:

Your candidature must match the salary and responsibility level that you are aiming for.

Ideally, a resume / CV for an experienced professional should be 2 / 3 pages Maximum.

Consider getting professional help

Consider getting professional experts to draft your resume, instead of aiming in the dark. Though it may be at a cost, it will be worth-while and useful.

General Tips:

Keep it concise.

Write it neatly and clearly

Be honest about your work history and your skills

Be brief

Proof read it twice

Use a good printer

Update your resume regularly

Depending on your job position, you need to attach a ‘Cover Letter’ that tells how you found out about that job position, the motives you are concerned in job, why your skills / qualifications matches the job position.

This Article has been taken from the blog of Anand Wadadekar  

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