What Is a Resume?
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. There are three main types of resumes you need to consider during resume building, namely chronological, functional and combination.
A chronological resume is a traditional format that everyone is familiar with. It emphasises recent work history, listing job positions with the most recent positions on top and the earliest ones at the bottom (reverse chronology).
A functional resume focuses on the relevance of job experience to the position that job applicants are applying for. Applicants will showcase a professional summary, their skills and work experience closely the positions related to the job application.
A combination resume combines both formats. This type of resume is useful to showcase professional summary, work experience and skills using the reverse chronology method. It is the most commonly used by fresh graduates in Malaysia.
Effective Resume Building Tips for Fresh Graduates in Malaysia
1. Make Sure It’s Eye-catching
Hiring managers scan through hundreds of resumes every day. First impressions matter because resumes are filtered in a matter of seconds. On average, resumes have only 15 – 30 seconds to shine.
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 summary and most relevant skills inside the top half section of your resume.
The professional summary is an eye-catching section that keeps hiring managers stay on your profile. Many hiring managers and recruiters expect to see a simple and concise paragraph to introduce yourself.
The paragraph 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.
2. Showcase Your Achievements and Impact
Over 70% of your resume mentions your past work experiences. It is important that you take a results-driven approach to showcase your accomplishments in a project or at work.
Here are a few tips. Starting with using action verbs to show how good you are at what you do. Your job experiences should be written using power words such as “achieved,” “earned,” “completed” or “accomplished.” These words not only make your resume look impressive, but they are also effective at capturing the hiring managers’ attention.
Next, provide simple but specific job descriptions, along with proven statistics to show your impact on the organisation. For example a 20% increase in sales revenue, 25% reduction in costs, better employee turnover and so on. These are measurable achievements that show the superior value that you can bring.
Simple example – “Achieved a 20% increase in product X’s sales revenue in just 3 months through an effective retargeting campaign.”
3. Include Relevant Keywords
Hiring managers scan resumes for the relevant keywords used in their job postings. For example, a digital marketing position requires keywords like “SEO” and “Social Media”. Only resumes that contain these keywords pass the initial filtering process.
More and more companies are also using a screening algorithm or an ATS (Applicant Tracking System) to filter suitable candidates based on relevant keywords in their resumes.
Ensure you use the right keywords found from the job posting to pass the screening algorithm. With that said, you should customise your resume for every job application, especially if you are applying for different positions.
Before writing or editing your resume, carefully read the job postings that you are applying for. Different jobs have different job description keywords that show what the employer is looking for in an ideal candidate. Include those keywords in your resume where relevant to prove that you are the right person for the job.
4. Ensure Good Readability
When employers have minimal time to go through resumes, readability is important. Resumes should be simple and easy to read so keep them short and brief.
Your content should be straightforward, especially in the professional summary section. Include only important and relevant information to ensure that employers can understand your profile easily.
For the work experience section, try to limit the use of paragraph-style writing. Instead, use bullet points that are easy to read and highly effective. Remember to use power words and keep your descriptions short and clear.
Use a professional, clean font. Basic fonts like Times New Roman and Arial are classic fonts and they are widely accepted. Font size should be kept between 10 and 12 points. Your resume will appear more professional when you choose a clear, readable font.
5. Proofreading is Important!
You have done a great job at resume building. Do not waste your efforts by making careless mistakes. As hiring managers go through dozens of resumes, the last thing you’d want to do is include a simple error in your resume and ruin your chances.
It is important to proofread your resume. Check for spelling and grammatical errors, look for things that do not make sense. It is okay to ask your friend or family members to proofread your resume as well.
We may have triple-checked our resume but others may discover serious errors that you have unintentionally missed, perhaps even giving useful suggestions to improve readability or consistency.
Get Started on Resume Building
To kickstart your resume building process, here is our recommended website to view resume samples for different job positions and industries.
Most resumes will have a similar structure, such as the one below from Top Resume.
During a resume building session, it is important that you utilise the most suitable resume structure according to the job positions that you are applying for.
Final Advice on Resume Building
We have presented 5 important resume building tips for Malaysian fresh graduates and we hope you are now equipped with the right knowledge to create your highly effective resume and ace your job application.
However, we would like to offer a final piece of advice for your resume building. Remember that your resume reflects who you are and what you do. Make sure that you are genuine when writing your resume, and only include facts and achievements that are proven and true. Honesty is always the best policy, so be sincere and you’ll be on the right track.
Want more resume building tips? Here’s an article on the Top 5 Tips To Improve Your Resume. Read the Chinese version here: 5个有效的简历制作 (Resume Building) 技巧
