Writing an impressive resume is the first step in making a good mark on your probable future employers. If you want to bag the job of your dreams, you need to know the art of conveying your skills and experience in an effective and concise way. Unfortunately, not many are aware of the small mistakes, which when avoided, can shape their resume/CV into something that the market is looking for.

Follow these simple steps to have the refined resume you have always wanted.

1. Don’t use display picture. It is not required at all in a professional resume.
2. Use professional language. This includes introducing a professional email address, without any funny and unprofessional terms, and don’t use a font larger than 10. However, your name should be the title of the document, so it should be in a much larger font to make it visible, e.g. font size 18.
3. No grammatical/format mistakes. There must not be any grammatical mistakes, and try to use the document writing features of MS Word. Your document should have uniform font pattern, sequential alignments and all headings should be in the same font and size.
4. Avoid useless details. Try to summarize the content in simple English, no flowery language required, and the length of your resume should be 1-2 pages only.
5. Hierarchy of Experience. If you are experienced, no matter how short your experience is, then the practical experience should always come before the educational details, with your most recent experience on the top and your first experience in the end.
6. Font. Use a professional font, preferably Arial or Times New Roman.
7. No personal details required such as marital status, ID card number and father name etc.
8. Apply Bullets. Try to add your professional experience details in bullets. Avoid lengthy paragraphs, no one reads them.
9. Sequence. Ideal sequence should be: Title (including name and contact information), Objective (single sentence), Professional Achievements (if there are any genuine), Professional Experience details, Education details, Any certifications or Trainings, References
10. ALWAYS: trim your resume according to the requirements mentioned in the job that is advertised. Never send the same copy to every job blindly.
11. Don’t bother the recruiter with reminder emails every now and then. He already has your resume. If it has his required material, he will contact you himself. Give him some space.
12. Never de-value yourself by sending your resume to EVERY advertised job on the internet or print media. Choose relevant ads only.

Do you have any more tip to add to this list? Share with us in the comment section below. Don’t forget to share this post if you find it useful. Thanks!