Basic DO’s
Always check your grammar and spelling
There are many online tools to help you with this, including ‘Grammarly’. You may get someone to review your CV if you do not know how to use the software.
Keep it short and concise
Studies have shown, HR and hiring managers do not look at your resume for more than 10 seconds before moving on. An ideal resume should never exceed 2 pages. Therefore keep it short and simple.
Use a format that is best suitable for showcasing your skills
The types of resumes are chronological (you list your work experience and education from most current to past), functional (you list your work experience based on the skills required by the employer), hybrid (you use a bit of both, but this is very rare and I suggest against it). Different samples of resumes are available through a simple Google search, so please take the time to go over those.
Use action words
Many times, people use vague terms such as “highly motivated”, “have good organization skills” etc. Anyone can say they have great communication skills, but it is always good to put an example of it. So, if we talk about organization skills what you want to say is something more like: “Organized and coordinated the delivery of a national level knowledge sharing event with 100 attendees from government ministries, INGOs, and donor agencies” This uses a very specific example to tell me what you did and does a better job of demonstrating directly your organization skills and indirectly your interpersonal communication and event planning skills. The same applies to any tangible skill you wish to talk about when applying for specific jobs.
Basic DON’T’s
Having an objective section
Instead of having an objectives section, you should use a professional summary section where you can showcase to them what you know and interest them enough to go through the rest of your resume for instance.
Mentioning High school/HSC/SSC/O-A Level/IB results
This section is for the people who are applying for international positions or abroad. The more advanced degrees you have, consider removing these.
Including personal information and photos
Unless required (which I strongly recommend against) DO NOT PUT YOUR PHOTOS OR PRIVATE INFORMATION ON YOUR RESUME/CV. This is how identity theft occurs, and people can abuse this information the more you openly share it around. Your age, date of birth, gender, parents name, NID, blood type, marital status, or any personal information is absolutely unnecessary to include in the application stage.
Using the same resume all the time
This is a basic mistake a lot of people make. Every resume and cover letter should be tailored to the job! For example, have 5 templates, and try to have different focuses in each of them, (i.e., Project management, research, business development, communications, and MEAL). Each highlights the skills in that particular sector and I use that moving forward to change and adapt for individual job applications.
In addition, a useful tool to use is Job Scan. It’s a free online tool that scans a job posting and your resume and points out how much you match that posting based on the words used in your resume as an over percentage. On the free account, you have up to 5 free scans per month. Use them wisely! Anything less than 80% will not be enough to get the interest of the hiring manager for the positions you apply for.
I hope you find these basic tips useful! Please feel free to share your thoughts and comments! All the best to you!
-By Sifat Yusuf
BSC, Hons, MPH
