How to Structure & Organize a Resume


How to Structure a Resume

Possessing the right set of skills and qualifications for the role you're applying for all boils down to how you key them into your resume. An unstructured resume would definitely put you off as this is the first document employers asked for before screening further documents that come after.

Resume Structuring is a system of organizing your personal details, executive summary, skills, work experience etc into the right section.

As we move further in this article, we will look at the steps involved in resume structuring.

1. Profile Picture

Personalize your resume with an official photo. It is highly recommended that you upload a photo of you in your resume. Your profile picture must match with the one on your social profiles. It shows the employer that you're real and not just another random CV.

2. Personal Details

The personal details is the first section after your profile picture, it includes your full name, email, phone number and location (city/Nationality). Your personal details should be about you, that's why it's called personal, it shouldn't carry too much grammar.

3. Website & Social Profile

In this section, if you have any website, you can add it in. Your social profile is very important, as it lets employers learn more about you and what you have to offer. A social profile of you on LinkedIn is required, you can add additional profiles such as Instagram or Facebook.

Do you know that many times people got hired, their social profile made it easier for them and the employer. This is so because, nowadays, employers want to know who they are hiring to join the company. That saying "Action speaks louder than words" in this case means that who you are on social media is exactly who you are in reality, so you wouldn't want to taint your image with posts that don't speak well about your personality.

4. Skills Highlight

In this section, you are to highlight the skills you possess for the given role you're applying for. Make sure your skill set matches the job on the advert. It is crucial as ATS scanners automatically screen and remove any resume that does not match the keywords the employers may be looking for in the Job role. For example, a skill highlight for a virtual assistant would look like this; Microsoft Office, Data Entry, Written Communication, Windows OS, Interpersonal Skills, Telephone Skills, Proofreading. Endeavor to list your skills in a vertical order.

5. Executive Summary

The executive summary aka professional summary is directly opposite your personal details . It is short and briefly describes who you are and what you can offer if you're hired to work in the given role. It's more like a short motivation of your work history.

For example, a professional summary for a virtual assistant would look like this; "Dedicated Virtual Assistant with over 5 years of experience in Administrative roles and extensive experience in the coordination, planning, and support of daily operational and administrative functions"

A lot of persons often asked what should be written in the professional summary since they haven't worked before, it's okay if this is going to be your first job working with XYZ company, In this case, you can talk about what makes you a great fit for this role, your skills and internship if any. Keep it brief.

6. Work Experience

This section comes after the executive summary. Your work experience must demonstrate the previous companies you worked with and the description of responsibilities you handled in the past. So, if you have worked with 2-3 companies in the past, you can list them in order from the previous to your current job. Also include the year you got hired and the year your contract ended.

7. Trainings & Certification

This section talks about the training you've acquired in the past related to the job role. In this section you're to mention the type of training you've undergone and include the certificate or links to the certificate for confirmation.

8. Education

This section covers your Educational history mainly on tertiary institutions attended with the date and the degree awarded. You can only Include this section if your discipline matches with the Job ad if not, it's not advisable to include it if you're applying for a different role entirely. For a role not related to your degree, your industry experience in the job field is what matters.

9. Languages

The Language section is just for you to display the various languages you're conversant with. Of course, you know that English is very important, as many organizations make use of the English language for communication purposes. So in this section, you can list and grade the level of languages you can speak. For example; English_A1,French_C2 etc.

Conclusion

A well structured resume is in line with a Job title, this means that you cannot use a digital marketing resume for a copywriter job ad. You may be wondering why you can't use a digital marketing resume for a copywriter or social media manager job ad, this is because every job title comes with a specific requirement although the responsibility and skills are similar but in order not to get rejected, you must address each resume to the targeted job title.

If you're aiming to take on more job opportunities, you can prepare different resumes for each role.

You can follow the steps on this article to create a better structure for your resume. If you still find it difficult to add and place your details in the right field, you can request us HERE to do it for you.

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