This Woman On Twitter Shared Some Basic But Brilliant Insights On Fixing Your Resume. Girls, Start Taking Notes!
Fun fact : The word resume actually is derived from the French word résumé that translates into ‘summary’. And that’s the first tip for your resume. Except as Indians, and people who have always been at sea when it comes to keeping things brief including conversations or anything , we seem to want to cram everything into, well, everything. We are as far from summarizing our work experience as the police is from closing the case on SSR’s death. Okay, cheap shot, agreed. But I’d be lying if I didn’t admit to just how many of us, go about making and updating our resumes, almost mindlessly, with absolutely no regard to what it must actually feature.
Which is why, if you too are one of the many people who have been on an incessant and unforgiving job hunt during this pandemic, mailing out resumes, spamming decks of HR managers, only to wonder if your emails are going into a big black hole on the internet, then Lavanya Mohan, a slightly annoyed yet deeply insightful receiver of many resumes has some takeaways for all you.
Brace yourself girls, this woman isn’t just helping fellow women navigate viable career options but also with a few basic pointers that can get you through that preliminary screening. Forming a rather interesting and informative thread on Twitter, Lavanya goes point by point, first discussing the problems and then disseminating the needful and corrective action to fix it. Here are tips on perfecting your resume.
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https://twitter.com/lavsmohan/status/1306171026049433600
https://twitter.com/lavsmohan/status/1306221098007109632
Her series of tweets start by, “Today I went through 20+ resumes to shortlist candidates for a position we are seeking to fill. And I shortlisted exactly 1. Here’s everything that you SHOULDN’T do if you’re applying for a job: [thread]”. Beginning with addressing the length of one’s resume, Lavanya talks about how anything longer than a page becomes a snooze fest for the hiring manager, and would probably be tossed aside like loose change.
https://twitter.com/lavsmohan/status/1306171835038330880
Moving on to the next one, she touches down upon the importance of adding ‘relevant’ things to your CV, of which she says, ‘been raised by a single mother’ doesn’t cut it. With a snark reference to how it’s a job application and not a roadies audition, she suggests people to only mention what relates to your work experience and not your Netflix preferences. Noted.
https://twitter.com/lavsmohan/status/1306172232062836736
Your next resume tip is cracking the nut on the next most important thing, and that is “how” to add things that would leave a better impact, she discusses the need of sharing in your resume the results you were able to curate in your previous jobs, and not copy paste your designation. Is it just me, or has this already started making so much sense?
https://twitter.com/lavsmohan/status/1306173116180131841
Then comes the part where she discussed one of the most elementary mistakes made by applicants while submitting their resumes. And that is, not doing a thorough check on it before they send it in. Which would include basic proof reading, and most importantly making sure that the work links you’ve so proudly attached – actually work!
https://twitter.com/lavsmohan/status/1306174019046047744
Her next pointer was based on the specific difference of knowing and telling apart a task from an outcome. She says that it is always better to mention your outcomes in your CV, as opposed to just the tasks. After all, people would like to judge you on your answers, and not the question paper in an exam! This is a resume writing tip that I think is very important.
https://twitter.com/lavsmohan/status/1306176569015107586
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Summing up the crash course on resume building, Lavanya ended her insights saying, “These are hard times….for all of us. Getting hired has never been more difficult, so don’t make it harder. Your resume is the first impression you make on your potential new boss so make sure it’s a good one,” and it seemed like advice that would take us a long way. Precisely till the the interviewers panel.
