A resume is a summary of work history, skills, and education. Normally, it is used to secure job employment and it should be just one or two pages long.
Writing a resume is both an Art & a Science. It may be challenging to create the ultimate resume, especially for fresh graduates who do not have extensive working experience.
Are you struggling with not knowing how to write a resume? Here are the top 5 important tips on how to write a resume for jobs in Malaysia.
How to Write a Resume for Jobs in Malaysia
1. Above The Fold
The top section of your resume (also known as ‘above the fold’) is extremely valuable. To quickly obtain the hiring managers’ attention and land a good impression, your resume must showcase your professional photo, resume objective and most relevant skills.
Generally, including a professional photo in your resume is highly recommended when applying for jobs in Malaysia and other countries in Asia. Be sure to use professional photos instead of selfies and group photos.
The resume objective contains two or three sentences that act as your 30-second elevator pitch. You must quickly summarise your experience and highlight your relevant skills for the role you’re applying for.
In terms of highlighting your skills, check out our guide on that!
2. Complete Contact Information
Job seekers must include their contact information in their resumes. While it helps to fill up your resume page even more, it is also crucial to ensure that the contact information is complete and accurate.
Incomplete contact information signals to the employer that you did not proofread your resume beforehand. Or worse, maybe you didn’t want them to contact you after the interview?
Either way, if you can’t provide complete and accurate contact information to begin with, you’re destroying any hopes of landing your dream job by appearing careless and unserious.
3. Use The Right Resume Format
What are the resume formats that you should know? Check out our comprehensive guide on the standard resume formats for jobs in Malaysia.
Regardless of which resume formats you use, be sure to list down your work experience and academic qualifications using the reverse-chronology method.
Start with the most recent work experience/qualifications and work your way down. However, make sure that you only include things that are relevant to the job that you’re currently applying for.
Remember, resumes are meant to be a maximum of two pages long. Always research the company and job vacancy beforehand, only include relevant keywords and phrases that your potential employer is looking for – with the resume length in mind.
4. Highlight Your Achievements
Do NOT confuse achievements with duties. In your resume, try your best to highlight achievements instead of the usual job scopes (that can be found on the internet).
Quantify your achievements and duties. Instead of just “Answer customer calls and enquiries”, try something like “Answered over 300 customer calls weekly and shortened the company’s average response time by 30%”.
Employers want to be convinced. Convince them with numbers, results and skills. With careful and skilful planning, you can turn boring job descriptions into your job-landing weapon.
5. Keep it Professional
As fresh graduates, it is actually not difficult to make your resume look professional. For a start, only use a formal email address when applying for jobs (and almost any formal applications!)
Refrain yourself from using funny or even inappropriate email addresses as it may jeopardise your professionalism. A hospital employer wouldn’t want to hire a doctor with the email address “deathisgood@gmail.com”. You get the point.
What about hobbies and interests? Usually, this section isn’t required when applying for any jobs in Malaysia. But if you had to include it, make sure that it is as relevant to the job application as possible instead of “Sleeping” and “Eating”.
You may feel that these are little things that employers should not care about, but when it comes to securing your next meals, be professional.
Start Writing Today
To kickstart your resume building process, here is our recommended website to view resume samples for different job positions and industries. There are also resume-building apps like Canva with various eye-catching resume templates available to help you out.
We encourage job seekers to prepare referral or recommendation letters from their ex-bosses to boost their chances of landing a job interview as well.
Conclusion
We hope that this article helps in answering your challenging question of “How to write a resume”.
Taking the first step is not easy, but once you’ve created the best basic resume structure, the next step is to personalise and polish your resume for each job application.
Need more help on how to write a resume for jobs in Malaysia? Head on to our Job Majestic Youtube Channel for more Fresh Graduates Interview Tips today!
