How To Prepare a Winning Resume
Typically, a resume may be considered as a coin of two faces: for the job applicant is “a
key to open a door” to a new career path; for the HR professionals is a “screen out”
tool to identify the degree of fit between the job and the applicant. Actually, the role of
a resume is to assist the job applicant to stand out of hundreds of other applicants by
providing easily and clearly an indication to the reader that he/she acquires the
knowledge, skills, abilities and any other specifications needed to meet the job
requirements. In other words, a resume is a marketing tool to sell applicants to the
potential recruiters as the best buy.
What is a resume?
Today, HR Managers use interchangeably the terms of Curriculum Vitae and Resume.
Typically, however, there is a difference. A Curriculum Vitae (also called CV) is used
commonly for applying for academic, research or scientific positions and provides a
detailed summary (on two or more pages) of the applicant’s educational background,
skills, experience, publications, research areas etc. A Resume is used to business sector
and aims at presenting the career objective of an applicant and a summary of his/her
job experience and education that sufficiently support this objective.
Numerous surveys have shown that experienced recruiters spend, on average, 30
seconds to screen a resume and decide whether the job applicant will be called in the
next step of the selection process or not. Thus, the resume should not appear to the
reader either too extensive or difficult to scan through, in order to minimize the risk of
being sorted out. Thus, the length of a resume should not be more than on page for
people who are below 30 and maximum two pages for people above 30. Moreover, its
layout should be user friendly without grammatical and spelling errors.
Typical Sections
The most common sections of a resume are the following:
Full Name
The full name of the job applicant is usually placed as a heading. Practically, there is no
significance to use “Resume” as a heading on a resume simply because all potential
recruiters are quite familiarized with these documents and know exactly what they are.
Example:
NIKOLAOS PAPADOPOULOS
Personal Details
Personal details of the job applicant such as home address, telephone numbers, and
electronic address are placed at the top of the sheet just below the full name. It is quite
important that personal details are correct and updated so as the recruiter can contact
the job applicant easily.
Optionally, this is a section that may include additional personal data such as age,
nationality, marital status, military status (for males only) etc
Example:
Home address:
Tel.:
E-mail:
Athinas Ave. & 2A Areos st., 166 71 Vouliagmeni Greece
+30 210 89.64.531 (home) / +30 6972 45.46.47 (mobile)
nikolaspapas@alba.edu.gr
Date of Birth:
Marital Status:
Military Service:
13/02/1980
Single
Incompleted
Career Objective
Career objective is a statement which aims at assisting the reader quickly to get an idea
of whether the applicant is not only capable to do the job but also he/she is strongly
motivated to do it or else, whether he /she could fit to the job.
Career objectives should be simple and provide comprehensive information about which
is the career path that the applicant pursues based on the special skills or talents
he/she has and the field (s) of his/her interest.
The statement above is a real example and gives the impression of a positive and highmotivated person:
Example
Pursue a career in the area of Sales and Marketing in a dynamic business environment
where I will have the opportunity to channel my potential creatively, be continually
challenged and maximize the deployment of my communication and interpersonal skills.
Education
This is a section that includes the academic background of a job applicant like the
degrees obtained from graduate and/or postgraduate studies. Here it is important to
write the dates of attendance, the name of each educational institution, the title of the
degree and the academic honors (such as distinctions and awards) have been acquired.
In case, applicants have a minimal job experience (like undergraduates), here should
be also, listed courses, achievements (prizes or scholarships) that appear related to the
job/career they pursue. Also, there could be included details about further training
acquired through seminars and non-academic courses.
Example:
9/2005 - 09/2006
ALBA Graduate Business School
MBA
Elective Courses: International Marketing, Product Development, Sales Management,
Marketing Research, Strategic Marketing
Full Scholarship from ADEL/SAATCHI & SAATCHI ADVERTISING
09/1999 - 06/2004
NATIONAL & KAPODISTRIAN UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
B.Sc. in Business Administration
Major: Marketing Management
Academic Performance Scholarship from I.K.Y.
Academic Performance: Highest Honours
06/1997
1st Lyceum of Vouliagmeni
Job Experience
Here the job applicant should sell what the potential employers are looking for in the
resume: the skills and knowledge related to the job that he/she currently applies for.
For each employer should be listed the dates of attendance, the company name, the
positions and short descriptions (e.g. in bulleted points) of the responsibilities each
position included. Please, keep in mind that the most common skills that recruiters are
seeking for are the following: communications skills, teamwork, planning and organizing,
flexibility and adaptability, problem solving, analytical thinking, achievement/results
orientation, leadership, creativity.
In case that the applicants have no work experience (like students), this section may
include internships, summer jobs or any volunteer activities during studies.
Example 1:
09/2005 – 08/2006
UNILEVER HELLAS S.A.
Assistant Brand Manager
Responsibilities
‚ Fully exposed to the preparation and monitoring of brands' financial plans and
media plans
‚ Responsible for the implementation of several below-the-line activities (BTL).
‚ Analysis of market trends (market shares, seasonality and promotion
effectiveness).
‚ Contact with the advertising agencies (briefs, communication development).
Other skills & activities
This section includes language skills, computer literacy or other extracurricular activities
and hobbies.
As far as language proficiency concerned, the job applicant should list all the languages
he/she knows and how well he/she knows them on the scale of: elementary,
intermediate, fluent, native.
Example:
Language skills
English
German
Italian
Fluent
Intermediate
Elementary
Computer literacy has also become very significant in the industrial sector today and it
is a prerequisite in order to get the job. So, here the job applicant should list the
computers skills have gained in specific software programs or any certification has
gained.
Example:
Computer Literacy
Word processors (MS Word), Spreadsheets (MS Excel), MS PowerPoint, Internet application,
Statgraphics, Mathematica, Statistica,
Extracurricular activities/hobbies may be important to be included when a job applicant
has no or very little job experience as they may provide some critical evidence about
applicant’s personality. Moreover, recruiters would prefer job applicants that are wellrounded persons with an interesting life outside their work.
Example:
Extracurricular Activities
Elected by the student body in a one year sabbatical post, to represent students in University
Court (BoD) and Campus services committees. Preside over and manage the Sports Union staff,
executive, clubs and club captains.
Hobbies
Travelling, Mountain Climbing, Playing music as DJ
So, following all the above steps, the winning Resume is ready!
NIKOLAOS PAPADOPOULOS
Home address: Athinas Ave. & 2A Areos st., 166 71 Vouliagmeni Greece
Tel.: +30 210 89.64.531 (home) / +30 6972 45.46.47 (mobile)
E-mail: nikolaspapas@alba.edu.gr
Date of Birth:
Marital Status:
Military Service:
13/02/1980
Single
Incompleted
Career Objective
Pursue a career in the area of Sales and Marketing in a dynamic business environment where I
will have the opportunity to channel my potential creatively, be continually challenged and
maximize the deployment of my communication and interpersonal skills.
Education
9/2005 - 09/2006
ALBA Graduate Business School
MBA
Elective Courses: International Marketing, Product Development, Sales Management,
Marketing Research, Strategic Marketing
Full Scholarship from ADEL/SAATCHI & SAATCHI ADVERTISING
09/1999 - 06/2004
NATIONAL & KAPODISTRIAN UNIVERSITY OF ATHENS
B.Sc. in Business Administration
Major: Marketing Management
Academic Performance Scholarship from I.K.Y.
Academic Performance: Highest Honours
06/1997
1st Lyceum of Vouliagmeni
Work Experience
09/2005 – 08/2006
UNILEVER HELLAS S.A.
Assistant Brand Manager of Skin Cleansing & Care (SCC) Category
Responsibilities
‚ Fully exposed to the preparation and monitoring of brands' financial plans and
media plans
‚ Responsible for the implementation of several below-the-line activities (BTL).
‚ Analysis of market trends (market shares, seasonality and promotion
effectiveness).
‚ Contact with the advertising agencies (briefs, communication development).
Other Skills & Activities
Language skills
English
Fluent
German
Intermediate
Italian
Elementary
Computer Literacy
Word processors (MS Word), Spreadsheets (MS Excel), MS PowerPoint, Internet application,
Statgraphics, Mathematica, Statistica, FORTRAN
Extracurricular Activities
Elected by the student body in to represent students in University Court (BoD) and Campus
services committees. Preside over and manage the Sports Union staff, executive, clubs and club
captains.
Hobbies
Travelling, Mountain Climbing, Playing music as DJ