Jobs Abroad

Preparing Your Resume

Your resume is an opportunity for you to sell yourself. It is often the first point of contact you have with a recruitment consultant or an employer and therefore should be treated as an essential sales tool for you to demonstrate who you are and what you have achieved in your career to date. It is important for you to add your own flavour, but at the same time there are some essential elements that are imperative in the creation of a successful resume:

Key Achievements: Highlight your key achievements under each position. This is often an area that is missed and yet it is the one area where you can differentiate yourself from others you are competing with. Try and make the achievements quantifiable wherever possible - using facts and figures.

Work History: Ensure you cover your entire work history complete with dates of employment in each of your roles (months and years). It is ok to have gaps as long as you qualify these gaps.

Company Details: Do not assume those reading your resume will know the organisation you have worked for. It is often wise to incorporate a brief company overview including the size of company, turnover and industry/sector the company works in.

Language: Be careful not too use too much jargon, especially industry specific words the reader may not be familiar with.

Position Perspective: It can be useful for readers if you outline reporting lines in each of your positions - both whom you report to and who is reporting to you.

Education: Include both secondary and tertiary qualifications gained including the name of the institution and the years that each qualification was completed. If your studies are incomplete, it is important you highlight this in your resume, with an overview of how many papers are complete. Many organisations including recruitment companies, will need to sight an original academic transcript to verify the completion of your degree. Having a copy of this in your resume can be helpful but you will still need to bring the original with you to an interview.

Skills and IT Software: This is another area often omitted from resumes and yet is vital information in today's marketplace. Ensure you give a list including each software package you have used throughout your career.

Interests: While not essential, it can add to the flavour of your resume and give the reader some insight into who you are as an individual.

Cover Letter: A good cover letter can add to the readers first impression of you and your background. It is important to keep it brief and 'to the point' with the objective of highlighting the link between your experience and the requirements of the role you are applying for. Often cover letters are too lengthy and attempt to cover all skills and experience which the reader can ascertain by reading your resume. It is far better to stick to one or two key achievements that demonstrate a strong connection with the position sought.