[MUSIC] [APPLAUSE] >> One of the most important documents for job applicants and, of course, for recruiters is the resume. The ultimate goal of the resume is, of course, to get you a job. But the immediate goal of your resume is to get you to the next stage in job hunting, the interview. This is where you'll make a personal connection with the recruiter, but we'll save that for later. Right now, we need to think about this important first step, how to compose the most effective resume for you. But first, what is a resume, what should it include? There are many misconceptions about this, so let's take a closer look. We'll start with what a resume is not. A resume is not a list of your qualifications. A resume is not a list of your previous jobs. And a resume is not a list of your skills. Think of your resume as a marketing tool. Your resume is advertising you. If you want to market yourself as the ideal person for a vacancy, you need to think strategically about two things, content and design. We'll begin with content. What you include in your resume will depend not only on your skills and experience, but also on external factors such as culture. Culture plays a greater role than you might think in composing your resume. Different cultures have different expectations of how you should present yourself. Understanding these cultural variations is crucial to your success. When applying for jobs, there are some important cultural norms to take account of. Firstly, in many countries, employers are forbidden to make job offers based on personal characteristics, such as race, sex, age, marital status, etc. Your resume should include no information relating to these. So no photo, no information on your gender, no age or date of birth, no marital status, no information about whether you have children or not. In the UK and some other Commonwealth countries, the term CV, an abbreviation of curriculum vitae, Latin for course of life, is used instead of resume. Modern British CVs do not differ substantially from resumes in terms of their content, except the applicant's date of birth is traditionally included. You can see an example of the standard layout for a British CV in the supplementary materials to this module. You should remember that there are certain subtle styling and spelling differences in American and British English. Please see the supplementary materials for more detail. In the US, the term CV is used in academia. In this case, the CV is usually a much longer document, sometimes up to ten pages in length, and includes a list of publications, grants, etc. Some career advisors recommend writing an objective at the top of the resume. For example, I'm seeking a demanding sales manager role. In my opinion, objectives are totally unnecessary, as they say nothing about what you can do for the company. Instead, save your space for information that will help you. Anything else is a waste of space. First, your name, this should be at the top of the resume and clearly stand out. Next, your contact details, in the 21st century, the key contact information is your email address and your phone number. Your email address should sound professional, your name is the best option. Sweetkitty96 is not an email address that lends gravitas to a job hunter's application. And it's best not to use your work email address. It looks disrespectful to the current employer. Remember to include your international country code for your phone number, if the company is located abroad. Skype is becoming increasingly used for communication with recruiters, and also for interviews. So you can include your Skype details too. You might also want to include your postal address, but this is becoming less important, especially for international applications. If you have a professional profile, for example, on LinkedIn, or a professional web page, this is good for inclusion, or a professional web page, this is good for inclusion. But don't include a personal page or anything not relevant to your job application. Then you have a choice, either your education or your work experience. It depends what you want to emphasize most of all. For jobs which place a greater emphasis on academic qualifications, or if you don't have much work experience, you might choose to put the education section first. Otherwise, you might put the work experience section first. We'll start by looking at education. In your education section, you should give the name of the educational institution. For example, the University of wherever. Remember to also give a location, either town and country or just country. Also give the date of your qualification. Some applicants give the month and year, but in my opinion, the year alone is sufficient. Give the title of your qualification. For example, bachelor of arts in communication. Finally, give the grade, depending on the grading system of the university. For example, as a grade point average or GPA, first class, distinction, etc. If your grades were poor, you can leave this information out. There's no need to draw undesired attention to this. You can repeat this for all your qualifications, such as bachelor, master, or doctoral degrees. If you already have or are about to receive a university diploma, there is no need to write about your high school education. Also include information on professional courses that you have taken, again, assuming they are relevant to the job. Your employment section is where you should include all your relevant work experience. Unless you have no relevant work experience, it would be superfluous to include information about irrelevant or part-time jobs, such as working as a waiter in a cafe when you were a teenager. Volunteering and internships, however, providing they are relevant, are good for inclusion. If you don't have much work experience, aim to gain valuable experience through volunteering and internships at organizations in your target sphere. These will also be invaluable in terms of networking. For each company you worked in, write a heading with the name of the company, its location, your job title, and the months and years of your employment. For your current job, if you have one, you can write the month and year to present. For each job, you should include three to five bullet points with strategic vocabulary to describe your key responsibilities and achievements. We'll discuss this in detail later in the course. If you speak languages or have any other transferable skills relevant to your job application, such as computer skills and so on, they are also worthy of inclusion. This section can be retitled to reflect the content, for example, languages, if these are the only relevant skills. If you have any awards and honors relevant to your job application, for instance, a commendation, these are also important to include. The final section of your resume is references. This is for referees, [eople who can vouch for your professional capabilities. Because referees are usually contacted only after a successful interview, you can just write, references available upon request. Or you can give the names and contact details up front. In the latter case, you should give their title and name. For example, Mr. Jason Smith or Dr. Lucy Doe. Their job title, in what capacity you know them, for example, former line manager or academic supervisor. And their contact details, email address, phone number, and postal address. At least one referee should be your current or former employer. A second referee could be a former teacher, or a client, or someone who has worked with you in a professional or educational capacity. These are the sections common to most resumes. In the next lectures, we'll examine different resume formats, and look at how to design your own resume. And how to most effectively showcase your suitability for the vacancy. [MUSIC]
