A Campus Interview or Job Interview is the first step for fresher CAs wishing to get a good employment in Big four. So it is necessary to prepare well in advance for job any interview. The first step to prepare for a campus or job interview is to prepare a resume. A resume is also needed for applying for any new job. Here you will get some very useful tips for preparing a professional resume.
The resume should be simple and attractive. It should give a clear idea of what you are, your knowledge and experience. A resume should not be of more than 2 pages. The resume must be accompanied by a cover letter addressing the company or firm in which you are applying for a job. Only relevant details should be included in a professional resume. Irrelevant details should be avoided. Here is a checklist for what to include and what is not to include in a good resume:
Items to be included and not to be included in a resume:
1. Your name, address and all the contact information like address, mobile number and email address.
2. Your educational and professional qualification in detail. It looks more professional if you provide the details of your educational and professional qualification in a paragraph format than in table format. Use bullet points to describe your qualification. Do not write lengthy paragraphs. Write the most important qualification first.
3. Practical knowledge you obtained in articleship and what kind of work you had done in articleship. If you have done articleship under more than 1 employer, the details should be given period wise, but do not include the reason for taking transfer of articleship.
4. All other personal details should be avoided like age, gender, family details, about your nature etc.
5. Interest and hobbies should be included only if it is relevant for the job you are applying. For example, hobby of playing cricket is not related to a job for a post of Finance Manager.
6. Details of any reward or achievement should be provided if it is relevant to the job being applied for.
7. Objective should be included. It should be in 2 or 3 lines. Following is an example of objective paragraph in a resume:
"Obtain a position of_______ at ________ where I can effectively utilize my expertise and maximize my skills, knowledge and experience."
8. A photo should not be included in a resume unless specifically demanded by the company.
9. Use of excessive underlining and highlighting items should be avoided.
10. Your salary expectation must not be included in a resume.
11. Any negative word or sentence should not be included.
12. A resume should be dated. Date should be included in the cover letter.
13. You should describe what you are. Any paragraph or sentence should not be written just with the objective of attracting the reader. For example you must not write in a resume that “I will give 200% to this position."
14. Use same format throughout your resume. For Example if you write date of resume in DD/MM/YYYY format, then use the same format for writing all the dates in the resume.
15. Use same fonts throughout your resume.
16. A resume should be modified according to the job being applied for.
17. Do not include any false information or statement in your resume.
Other important points to be considered while preparing a resume:
1. The resume must be printed on a laser printer using good quality A4 size paper.
2. The resume should not be folded.
3. Check the cover letter and resume for spelling and grammatical errors using MS Word Spelling and Grammar Tools or such other tools.
4. Ask a friend or a person having good knowledge of spelling and grammar to check your resume for spelling and grammar errors. This is necessary because even tools on PC for detecting spelling and grammar error may not detect all the errors.
5. Before starting writing a resume, one should go through various formats of professional resume available on various websites.
Regards.
Kishor Kathrani.
CAclubindia
