How to Utilize the Lockdown Time and Create a Resume Every Recruiter Wants!

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the world is on complete lockdown leaving several active job seekers with another challenge of finding a job in these uncertain times. However, this situation should not pull you down in preparing for a better career. It is imperative to keep your job search active even during the COVID-19 lockdown so that you do not miss any opportunity that comes your way now or later. So, all you need to do is keep searching and applying to relevant jobs.

The first important step towards a successful job search is creating a professional resume that lands you to a job interview. However, with the changing times, your resume needs to be polished to match the recruiters’ requirements. So, before you start writing a resume, you should know what employers now focus on at the time of shortlisting CVs and therefore, what you should highlight in your resume:

#1: Are you a suitable candidate for the job role?

While educational qualification is the first thing that an employer looks for while shortlisting a candidate for a specific job, whether you have recently completed any course to upskill and match the rising competition is what makes your resume attractive to an employer.

Therefore, add value to your resume by pursuing a certification course and add it in your resume to maximize your chances of being short-listed for the interview. A good way is to check various job descriptions from top companies and see what skills and courses employers usually prefer in their potential candidates. This will quickly help you to plan and pick up relevant online courses to upskill for better job opportunities.

#2: Is your career graph progressive?

With a slowdown in hiring activity for the next few months, recruiters will be quiet selective in shortlisting the candidates. So, how this is going to change? Well, employers will give more emphasis on a candidate’s career graph, work experience, job role and positions you have held up for the past several years. So if there have been several short job stints in your CV, you should prepare a good reason to justify it in your job interview. Prepare a resume that clearly shows a progressive career graph to attract the eyeballs.

#3: Is your resume customized for the job search?

Sending the same CV for all jobs certainly blows your possibility of getting shortlisted for a job interview. A well-presented and customized resume increases your suitability for the company and this is what every employer looks out for in a candidate. Take some time to go through the job description and shortlist important keywords that can be a part of your resume. Make sure there are no typo or grammatical errors.

#4: Are you result-oriented?

You can easily highlight this section on your resume. Add your achievements and recognition from your past and present organizations. Focus on quality and not quantity. Therefore, adding generic keywords like diligent, result-oriented is not enough. Add a one-line story to highlight how you have achieved a certain target in your organization. Surely, this can be elaborated when you get a chance at the time of personal interview.

#5: Are you a multi-tasker?

Of course, recruiters select you for a particular job role but they also prefer candidates who are ready to take up new responsibilities as in when required. Are you passionate about learning and developing new skills at work, coordinate with a larger team, and possess leadership skills is equally important. Take a chance to mention this on your resume in 2-3 pointers, explaining what new skills you developed in your previous job, initiatives taken and mention voluntary projects to gain an edge over other candidates.

A perfectly written resume can do wonders for your job search and help you land the desired job. You can take professional help for writing a winning resume by using Firstnaukri’s resume maker tool, which is quick and free to use.

All the best!