Entering the job market for the first time is an exciting prospect. New graduates and high school leavers will start looking for job prospects and applying for vacancies in a bid to secure employment. This is the time they will write their first resume. Getting it right is of critical importance if you wish to change your status to being employed within a short span of time. Creating the resume puts a great amount of pressure on novices at it. This is their first attempt at creating something which has to make a good impression. The impression should be good enough to generate interest and calls for interviews. Therefore, provided below are some elements to be considered when creating a resume for the first time.

How to Write the Resume

Job Requirement

The main objective of a resume is to market the applicant as the best solution for the employer’s problem.  To do this properly, the applicant should be able to show how he or she can meet the job requirements. A resume which shows that the applicant has a clear understanding of what the job entails is very attractive to the prospective employer. But this is something which most of fresh job seekers are not familiar with. Therefore, applicants should find out the key tasks within the scope of a job and then pitch the individual skills and capabilities towards meeting these requirements. Speaking to people who are already engaged in similar job categories, referring to employment specification sheets, job descriptions etc. are some ways to achieve this awareness. Once applicants have a better understanding of what the requirements of the job are, they have completed half of the resume writing process.

Preparation

Preparation is a key element to a well organized first resume. Compiling a list of all qualifications and achievements to date and organizing it in a manner which is most appealing to the prospective employer is important. Applicants should write down all their attributes and edit it to the most relevant to the job applied. They should include personal characteristics, skills in computing and other IT areas, educational qualifications, other accomplishments which will be suitable for the job applied and work history if at all employed anywhere. Once these important elements have been drafted in the resume applicants can begin the writing process.

Creating the Resume

All resumes are not the same. There are four common types of resumes. These are chronological, functional, combination and targeted. Each resume targets a specific type of job. Applicants should first and foremost, find out which resume is the most suited for the type of job they are applying for. However, there are common characteristics to all resumes. A resume has to make a good impression. It should be eye catching and interesting. It should be short and to the point, but should be informative. It should tell to the reader “I know what you want and I have got it’.  The prospective employers have no time to search for information about the applicants. They need to find the information in the correct places and this is why sticking to well established resume layout is important. If they do not, even the most well written resumes will be thrown into the rejected pile. If applicants need help with the formatting and writing of their resumes, they can go through a few sample resumes which will provide them information on how to write them.

Writing the first resume can be considered a challenging and stressful task. If applicants need assistance there are many resume writing services which will assist them with their resumes. These writing services will ensure that the resumes written by them are interesting and contain all the elements of a successful resume that will align the applicant’s capabilities with the requirements of the job at hand.

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