8 tips to write an interview winning resume!

A resume is the first impression that you make on the employer - make sure you do it right! First impressions have a lasting impact - and in this case WILL decide if you get called for the interview.

• Professional highlights: Start the resume with a section on Career Highlights / Qualifications. This section may need to be customized depending on the company/job and carries a series of bulleted points that emphasize your most important career experience, your skills, your personality traits and characteristics, and some key accomplishments from your work history as they relate to the job for which you are applying.
• Use impact words: Use action words to describe what you have done. Words like "planned", "created", "implemented", "gave directions to", "contributed", "originated" deliver impact to the resume.
• Use numbers wherever possible: Here is an example: One way of communicating: worked on an application that involved lots of data Better way: Worked on the trading application that got real time feed from 25 different systems and processed 1 million lines of code every minute.
  Information on trainings/conferences attended: Include ONLY relevant trainings and conferences attended. They tell the employer that you have not just been good at what you do, But you have kept your knowledge current with the changing technology and business landscape.
• Length of the resume: Though there is no written standard on the number of pages a resume should have, I have seen some resumes that run into 8-10 pages. The ideal length resume should not be more than 2-3 pages.
• Spell check and grammar: You will likely grow tired of hearing this but correct spelling, appropriate grammar, no missing words, and no typing mistakes make your resume an employer- pleaser right out of the starting gate. Some hiring managers will not further consider your candidacy if they find even one mistake. Every mistake makes the hiring manager question your carefulness and attention to detail.
• Contact Information: In this era of instant messaging, blogs, email, and cell phones, there is absolutely no reason to make contacting you difficult for the potential employer. Yet, a lot of resumes have no contact information except a home phone number. And guess what - you’re never home during work hours, right?. Give the potential employer your cell phone number, IM info and 2 email ids. Avoid the dreaded phone tag that may make you miss out on an interview altogether.
• Blog: If you blog on your areas of expertise, do include the blog URL in your contact information. The blog will tell the employer more about your personality and your thoughts on important issues. But do make sure the landing page on the blog is not pictures of you having beer at a frat party. Remember - first impressions!

And yes, we at RadixThink will be more than happy to help out if you want us to have a quick look at your resume and provide any inputs.