What is a Resume?
A resume (also spelled résumé) is a formal document that shows a person’s career background and skills. In most cases, it’s created to help a candidate land a new job. A traditional resume basically consists of a professional summary, work history, and education sections. It further works like your job hunt marketing document.
Resume, meaning summary, comes from the French people (though the French themselves call this document a CV).
Purpose of a Resume
Firstly, the resume introduces you professionally to the potential employer, presents your qualifications, and earns an interview with the employer.
Now that you know what it is, here’s a guide on How to Build a Resume.
Moreover, a resume is a binding document without which you cannot be invited to a job interview.
Resume itself is an essential document. It is usually sent to the employer with a cover letter.
Cover letter: Furthermore, a cover letter, as the name suggests, shows your skills and accomplishments in the letter form and gets into details of the career moments.
What not to include in a resume?
Essential elements of a Resume
Below are some essential elements that a good resume should contain:
- Personal information
- Objective
- Education
- Work and related experience
- Awards and Honors
- Curricular activities
- Activities and hobbies
- Skills
- References
Curricular activities to add
Curricular activities are tangible proof of job-related skills and maturity, and they can be a huge help when you lack job experience.
Include these activities in your resume correctly and watch them give you a fighting chance even against more experienced candidates!
Below we have mentioned some curricular activities which will make your resume look attractive and impressive:
Foreign Language
Knowledge of a foreign language can sometimes be the single thing that sets you apart from other candidates. If, for example, German is an absolute requirement for a given job, you can bet your sombrero that recruiters will check your resume language skills.
Also, jobs that require such a hard skill as foreign language knowledge are always on the rise and usually pay better!
Foreign language knowledge demonstrates:
- Communication skills
- Hard work
- Cultural awareness
- Interest in self-development
Student Council
It takes time, effort, aspiration and hard work to be a part of the student body in high school, college or university.
The wide variety of responsibilities that student body members have is an invaluable resource of experience that can be added to your resume to show that you have the necessary skills for the job.
Involvement in the Student Council can prove:
- Leadership skills
- Teamwork
- Collaboration
- Organisational skills
- Problem-solving
- Event planning
- Fundraising experience
- Critical thinking skills
- Decision making
- Time management
- Creative thinking skills
- Hard work
- Business skills
- Active listening skills
It is a rich source which will make you stand out from the rest of the crowd.
How to pursue a diploma in France?
Sports
This is not just boasting about being the quarterback on the school football team or how many slams dunks you made last basketball season.
Most sports rely heavily on teamwork and continually improving yourself as well as a lot of dedication. Most employers would love to see that same dedication applied at work.
Active participation in sports can prove:
- Teamwork
- Dedication
- Time management
- Work ethic
- Self-improvement
- Communication
- Leadership (if you were team captain, for example)
Clubs/ Organizations/ Forums
This could be nearly anything ranging from your school debate team or drama club to being an admin on a virtual community forum. Sororities and fraternities also count.
You can also add some or any of the grand events you have hosted or taken part in.
Being a part of a more significant community not only lets, you share your expertise and skills but is also an excellent opportunity to learn from others and widen your knowledge.
Being a part of a club, organisation, or society usually shows:
- Teamwork
- Time management
- Communication
- Specific hard or soft skills in any particular field
Volunteer Work
Many people think volunteer work is not like a job because you do not get paid.
It’s almost exactly like a job, except for the fact that you don’t get paid for it.
Not only do you show enough passion for a cause to devote your free time to it, but you also have specific responsibilities and deadlines to meet otherwise things go downhill for a lot of people. It also contributes to your personal development.
Recruiters will be very interested to know you drove things forward in the Salvation Army or Habitats for Humanity, for example.
Volunteering demonstrates the following skills:
- Motivation
- Self-starter attitude
- Teamwork
- Organisational skills
- Work ethic
Peer Tutoring
This is a specific way of investing your time in others.
Whether part of a formal school tutoring program or not, peer tutoring shows recruiters not only that you are knowledgeable in a given area, but are willing and able to share that knowledge and help others grow in a very effective way.
This can be a relatively hard trait to find in the workplace, and hiring managers will value it a lot.
Peer tutoring shows:
- Communication
- Specific expertise
- Teamwork
- Creative thinking skills
- Flexibility
Abroad studies
Studying abroad is a great high school or college experience and more so if it is a part of some work-study program.
Meeting new people and cultures and finding your way around a new, unfamiliar, and slightly scary situation can show hiring managers that you can quickly adapt to come out as a winner.
Studying abroad can prove:
- Cultural awareness
- Foreign language knowledge
- Adaptability
- Soft skills
- Independence
- Stress resistance
- Interpersonal skills
Relevant hobbies
Don’t just consider them as your hobbies and don’t be quick to judge them. Your hobbies say a lot about you as a person.
A passion for drawing fantasy maps can help you land that job as a creative writer since drawing a plan requires good world-building knowledge.
Your time spent tending your garden can prove you have a real interest in landscape designing.
Depending on the hobby, they can prove a whole host of things such as the transferable abilities listed above or something new!
Remember, though: don’t include every activity you’ve ever heard of—it doesn’t make you more impressive, it just makes more of a mess on your resume. If you were not an active person in it, leave it out.
These were some curricular skills you can put on your resume and make it more impressive for your potential employer.
Although we have mentioned many activities, you have to put them on your resume very wisely.
We hope we of some help to you!
Good luck!
Explore further: Resume writing – All You Need to Know!