Tips to Building a Fresh Graduate Resume.

For quite some time, I have been opportune to assist several job seekers in reviewing their resumes(at no cost). And even though not all the job seekers got the job they applied for, they all got past either the first stage of interview or the second stage after the resume profiling. Some even got to several stages with different companies. So we were able to establish that as a result of the resume reviews, they were able to get the attention of the HR professionals within these organisations and secure a test and an interview.

Does that make me qualified enough to review resumes? Probably not, but with little experience in HR and professional qualifications in several arms of HR including recruitment & selection, I have acceptable understanding of what's expected in resumes and what HR professionals look out for in job seekers.

I’m hoping to share some tips on how to build resumes that would at least get job seekers past the gate of any organization. The HR dept is considered the gate of any organisation and this could range from the HR assistant that would receive the hard copy of your resume to the HR Email Sorting Officer that’d receive your resume by mail. I have shared some basic tips below on how to build a standard resume.

Here it goes…

Objective Statements – Objective statements should reveal what a graduate can offer and what he/she is seeking in exchange. Seeking here does not mean financial/compensation gain but more of career opportunity and role of interest. And as an unwritten rule, only fresh graduates are permitted to have objective statements. The more experienced graduates should work with profile summary. (This would be discussed extensively in my next post)

Sample Objective Statement 1- “Seeking a challenging career with a progressive organization that provides unique opportunity to capitalize my marketing skills & sales abilities in the fields of Sales and Public Relations”.

Sample Objective Statement 2 – “Seeking a position as a Sales Associate for an organization that can take advantage of my fresh ideas and acquired marketing knowledge through education and real life experiences.”

From the above sample objectives, the two key parts that an objective statement should have-what the graduate wants and what he/she is willing to offer has been successfully included. Also, objective statements for fresh graduates should not exceed 2 sentences. Anything more than this may have the HR officer pass along your resume, into the mail trash.

Typos- Simply put, typos are a no-no and HR professionals find it annoying as it screams out one quality a job seeker must not have-“lack of attention to details”. Note that for each vacancy that a company sends out, they receive more than 1000 resumes both from the qualified and not so qualified. And to provide an equal competitive stance for each applicant, an HR officer would take the pains to go through all the resumes sent. But you should understand that because of the volume of resumes received, they are looking out for the smallest mistake to narrow down the search. Unfair? No, it’s called life and in life, there would always be selection processes to sieve out the best. So to ensure you make it past that first stage where you can get to be called for an interview and win them over with your speech, it is important you proof read your resume a thousand times. And if you have a friend or relative in the HR field, let them go through your resume until you/they are certain it is devoid of typos. Typos are not acceptable on any resume –fresh or experienced.

Soft Skills – Soft Skills are so sweet and adorable and doesn't the word remind you of a new born baby’s cheeks and toes? Exactly! Companies are not desperately looking for soft skills for challenging roles that matter, at least not from the onset nor the first key reason the vacancy was rolled out in the first place. Only Customer Service employees are allowed to boast immensely about the soft skills they possess. And usually, companies would only give your soft skills slight attention after being convinced you possess all other essential skills to succeed in the vacant role. Simply put, soft skills are not the main meal of the day but the dessert. They are also considered innate qualities that you are expected to possess as a graduate. It is a waste of time and space on a fresh graduate’s resume to waste 10 bullet points listing your soft skills.

Soft Skill Sample 1- Excellent written & verbal communication skills? Really? For your sake, we hope so because how else were you able to complete your project in school?

Soft Skill Sample 2- Ability to multi-task? Is that a skill? It’s like saying you can take water from a tap into a cup and lift to your lips. It is an expected locomotive movement and same can be said for your revering multitasking skills. *yawns*

Soft Skill Sample 3- Can work in a fast-paced environment? The only thing that won’t be fast paced in any organization in 2014 is the amount of time it takes for a hand dryer to dry your hands- and that gets done within minutes.

All the above soft skills are too generic, unnecessary and overused and you can be rest assured that HR professionals glaze over this area without seeing it. Instead, focus on skills and abilities unique to you.

Sample unique ability 1 - "Strong competency in designing mock marketing campaigns".
Sample unique ability 2 - "Advanced skills in researching markets and identifying target markets based on marketing positioning models".

Any HR expert can see that the above skills is unique to an individual except you lie about this. And on no account should you lie on your resume, no matter how tempting. Any organization worth working for will find out in due time and nothing would hurt your professional experience than to be terminated on account of integrity issues. The labor market is a strong networking team and news travel fast. You definitely don’t want to begin your career journey with lies.

Note however that specificity in such unique skills should only be mentioned in the organization that is looking to recruit into a position that requires that specific skills. If it is however a general vacancy for graduate development program or management program, skills such as “excellent project management skills” & “practical ability to gather and use data effectively” may come handy. The key is to customize your resume to suit that position you are applying for.

Ditch the Outdated Personal Details: I am referring to gender, religion, marital status, state of origin, local government, date of birth and house address many job seekers are still surprisingly including in their resumes. Except an organization specifically requests for this information, it is unnecessary to include this as it may make your resume too cloggy and divert attention from your key sub topics- Objective, qualifications, strengths & achievements. Your resume header should include only your full name, email address and phone number. A reputable challenging organization does not require any of this private information to hire you. 

In my next post, I’d be sharing tips on writing a good resume for employed job seekers or applicants with some years of experience.

Disclaimer - The above article reflects solely the opinion of the author and is not in any way the opinion of HR professionals in the HR industry.

A Fluent Communicator or the Rambling Orator/Writer?

Communication is only effective when the other party understands the information you are trying to pass along. It is only effective when the person does not wonder in a perplex manner "what is he/she trying to say?"

This does not mean you are communicating with complex words. It could simply mean that your tenses and intended message was not the information you passed along or that your listener perceived. And in a technology era where people have learnt how to communicate with 160 characters on Twitter and less than 500 characters on Linkedin, it is important you pass your information along clearly and in a concise manner.

The questions below would give you an idea on your level of communication.

1) Do you communicate in an impressive manner that propels listeners into taking action or are you a rambling orator that simply jumbles big words together while people take a quick nap with their eyes open because you won't be done anytime soon? 

2) Do you give public speeches and people continue to discuss openly until you get off the podium or do you climb the podium to speak and the audience is deeply riveted until you drop the mic and climb off the stage? 

3) Does your webpage content inspire readers/visitors to take action, or is it nothing but words on a page occupying unnecessary space? 

4) Do your employees/colleagues read your mails and understand the intended concise information or do they simply mark as read and save in archive making it the 75th long mail you had sent that same day? 

5) Do people keep quiet when you communicate smoothly or do they try to ensure you get nothing out because you’d simply throw grammar jargons together but fail to communicate?

6) As an entrepreneur, do you want to turn your web visitors into loyal customers by telling and showing them why they need your product? Do you want to persuade them that your company is better than the competition?

Now, you need to stop boring your employees, employers, customers and web visitors with over-flogged marketing stories that are never true and start giving them what they want. A professional business writing would provide compelling write-ups, speeches, letters and convincing marketing content for you. No matter what your strategic goals are, you need a professional business writer on your side to transform your thoughts and goals into powerful words that would turn your visitors into customers.

Business writing is very important to all sizes of companies and independent professionals. It helps you sell products and services. It turns your business goals into cash. People are moved by what they hear and see. Impress your customers with your professional writing and communication skills. It helps you develop and earn exposure for your brand. And it is a foregone conclusion that the quality of your business writing can have a direct impact on your perceived professionalism.

The Writing Niche would share weekly business writing tips, customer service tips and effective communication tips. There’d also be weekly quizzes and the lucky participants would be given access to relevant e-books on effective business communication, resume building and customer service tips.