How to Build an Impressive Resume for Freshers

 

 

 

Creating a fresher’s resume may be intimidating, as you may not have extensive experience to report. But with a beautifully written resume, your skills, education, and potential can bring you to the notice of your employer. Here is a step-by-step guide for freshers on how to build an effective resume.

1. choose the Right Format

Choose a resume format that best brings out your strengths:

Chronological: Lists the experience in reverse chronological order. Good fit if you have relevant experience.
Functional: It emphasizes skills and qualifications rather than work history. Very effective for freshers with little experience.
Combination: Combines both chronological and functional formats. Use if you have experience to show, but still want to emphasize skills.

2. Draft a nice objective statement
A purpose statement should include the career objectives and what you will bring to the company. This section differs for every job application.

Example:
Highly motivated marketing graduate keen on digital media and great academic background; looking for an entry-level opportunity where I can add experience in content creation, social media management.

3. Highlight Your Skills
As a fresher, your education stands on the top of all other assets.

Degree(s) Completed: State the degree, major, and any minor(s).

Institution: List the college or university you attended.
Graduation Date: If you have not graduated yet, indicate when you expect to graduate.
Relevant Coursework: List courses that are related to the job you are applying for.
GPA: If it’s above 3.0 or if the employer requires it, include it.

4. Exhibit Relevant Skills
First, the employers look for specific skills that match the job description. Create a skills section where, both your hard and soft skills are evident.

Hard Skills: Technical abilities relevant to the job (e.g., programming languages, software proficiency).

Soft Skills: Interpersonal Skills in communication, teamwork problem-solving etc.
Exemplary Skills Section:

Has experience with Microsoft Office Suite
Good writing and speaking skills
Basic understanding of HTML and CSS.
Good time management

5. provide Internships and Projects:
Even if you have no direct work experience, internships, volunteer work, and even academic projects can speak to your skills and commitment.

Internships: With your name, the organization, and some key responsibilities or achievements.
Projects: Describe any relevant school or personal projects, with regards to what contributions you made and the skills you used.
Example:
Internship in Marketing Department
XYZ Company, April 2024 – July 2024

Contributed to social media campaigns that helped the company boost 25% in engagement.
Did market research to establish client needs.

6. Add Certifications and Workshops
If you’ve completed any relevant certifications or attended workshops, include these to further showcase your commitment to your field:

Name of Certification

Institution/Provider

Date of Completion

7. Tailor Your Resume to Each Job Application Customize your resume for each position by emphasizing the most relevant skills and experiences.
Use keywords from the job description to align your resume with the role.

8. Keep It Brief and Businesslike Length: Should be kept up to a page length for the fresher.
Font and Style: The font needs to be clear professional like Arial, Calibri and consistently formatted.

Avoid spelling and grammatical errors by checking multiple times .

building a great resume for a fresher can be considered to be one of the most important steps in getting the first job. Focus on education, skills, and related experience to build a good impression among the recruiters.

 

Add Your Heading Text Here

How to choose Right Career?

.

Now a days there are lots of options available in career field and Choosing a right career can indeed be a confusing and challenging process.

Here are some steps you can take to help clear the confusion:

Self-reflection: Take the time to understand your interests, values, strengths, and skills. Reflect on what truly excites and motivates you. Consider your personal and professional goals, as well as the lifestyle you envision for yourself.

Research: Explore different career options that align with your interests and skills. Look into the job market trends, growth opportunities, salary expectations, and required qualifications for various professions. Seek information from reliable sources such as career websites, professional networks, and industry reports.

Seek advice: Talk to professionals already working in fields you are interested in. Reach out to mentors, career counselors, or professionals in your network who can provide valuable insights and guidance. They can share their experiences, provide advice

Gain experience: Consider internships, part-time jobs in areas that interest you. This first experience can help you better understand the practical aspects of different careers and determine if they are a good fit for you.

Experiment: If you’re uncertain about a particular career, consider taking courses, attending workshops, or participating in projects related to that field.

Evaluate the pros and cons: Make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of each career path you are considering. Consider factors such as job satisfaction, work-life balance, income potential, job security, and required education or training. Assess how each option aligns with your personal and professional priorities.

Set goals: Once you have narrowed down your options, set short-term and long-term goals for your career. Break these goals down into actionable steps to create a clear roadmap for your future.

Remember, it’s normal to feel some level of uncertainty, and career paths can evolve over time. Trust your instincts and take the time to make an informed decision that aligns with your passions and aspirations.

HR Consultancy and Placement Is all about professionalism

How many of you think that HR placement agencies or consultants are just there to make money? This is misconception in most cases. One who has focused approach on the HR consultancy services will ultimately help the business even keeping away from money making techniques.

If you are a human resource professional you give priority to the services and keep business as secondary option. Real consultancy services closely work with their client understand their need, what they foresee, what are the core expectation. Mapping these requirement with candidates who in true sense match the requirement is the next step. Being a HR consultant you need to be fair in determining if the candidate projected is exactly matching requirement or not. The intension is not to line up number of candidates to showcase that you have a huge pool of resources available. It is all about lining up quality candidates who will qualify and get selected in all probability.

Being a HR professional the first step is to know the mindset of a jobseeker, what kind of roles and responsibilities they look for and what they are capable of. As by now you have already understood the requirement from the client, you just need to act as a bridge between the jobseeker and the company. A successful placement send a strong message to the company and you win repeat business.

2014-08-22_0027

Getting repeat business and word of mouth are two vital elements that can make a big impact on your business. With no false promises, keeping up with the deadlines, lining up quality candidates, eliminating the risk of bad hire, helps building your brand image in the market.

As said HR consultancy and placement is all about professionalism, if you want to grow, you need to be honest with your services. Always remember that hiring staff is a time consuming and an expensive option for most companies and hence they look for a HR placement agency or partner; being a partner you need to act like one.

GS Job point, HR consultancy services based out in Delhi, Bangalore & Mumbai is proud to be associated with clients who refers us to other industry leaders and this simply possible as we never thought of money making option. We feel happy when a successfully placed candidates come back to us with a bright smile, we feel good when our clients boost up saying I know you can do it. Successful services offering has been the protocol for GS Job point and we continue to follow the same footsteps.

Stay tuned for our next blog and keep posting your comments. You valuable suggestions can help us grow.

Secrets of Interview Revealed!

Congratulations! You have been invited for the interview.

It gives wings to the hopes on hearing the you have been shortlisted but, at the same time it also brings an expression of concern “Now What?”.

An interview is all about research, confidence and creating a good rapport. The hiring manager needs to know that you are capable of performing the tasks of the job and also that you will be a good addition to the team. The interview is your time to shine. Don’t be intimidated because you don’t think you have all the skills that are wanted in the job specification.

Most job experiences will teach you as you go, so though you may not have the necessary skill, doesn’t mean that you can’t get the job. All you need is to work twice as hard in your interview to portray that you are perfectly capable for the job.  When it comes to hiring the right person, it is about the overall package – skills, personality, confidence and also the passion you show in your interview.

Preparing for the interview

The more complicated and powerful the job, the more rudimentary the preparation for it.”

Therefore, the first step after you get an interview call is to research about the company. Once you know all about the company you’ll be ready to prepare for the interview. Learn about improving your interview skills and think carefully about what you’ll be wearing to the interview.

There is no perfect set of rules to define how to research about the company but getting prepared as best as you can, will enhance your chances. You can easily search about the company on google.

A true story…

I know of this person who was called for an Interview at a renowned IT firm. Out of about 50 candidates, 10 were selected and when asked about what they know about the company, 9 of them narrated the same as they saw in the company’s website. But this person, he did his homework and read about the company’s new policies in the newspaper and analysed that the company is bound to grow in future. He was hired instantly because he was able to impress the interviewed with his inquisitive and different knowledge.

He was hired not because he was the smartest candidate, but because he showed curiosity and dedication by going a little further in interview preparation.

A careful research on the company would give better insight on typically,

  •  The history of the business
  • The types of services the business offers
  • Career progression
  • The business culture
  • CompetitorsBenefits
  • Latest news and policies

Check out the Competitors websites as well – they are also a good source of information for your job preparation.

Interview Questions

Ice Breaking Questions:

These are the general question asked to make you comfortable. However, at the same time, the questions are equally important. These questions may not seem to be getting job with the answers you provide for these questions, but you may surely lose the job with your answer. For example, questions like,

  • Introduce yourself or tell me about yourself,
  • Did you have any difficulties finding our office today?
  • Would you like some coffee or a glass of water?
  • Why have you applied to the job? ( perhaps the most tricky one)

How you answer these questions forms the first impression of the interviewer about you and giving a wrong impression might severely affect the outcome.

Tips:

  • Keep the answers related and brief. Be polite. There is no need to describe your whole life story.
  • Use proper English and do not use slangs or lazy English. Avoid words like  wanna, gonna etc’. Using these words crate unprofessional or even careless impression

Types of questions you can expect to get in an interview:

General Questions

These are usually questions for which there is no Yes or No answer. You have to elaborate the answer and describe it. These are the questions for which the interviewer is looking for specific piece of information and thus these require a careful thought.

For example questions like:

  • Tell me about yourself
  • Why did you decide to leave your previous job?
  • Where else have you applied?
  • What is your biggest strength or weakness?
  • Why have you applied for this job?

Note: always try to answer directly in brief, but complete sentences- and never just one word answers.

Behavioural Questions

“Past behaviour is a better predictor of future behaviour”

These type of questions are asked to analyze how you acted in certain circumstances in your previous job. It is an indicator of how you will act in the new job. There can be literally thousands of behavioral questions but you can prepare for these type of questions by researching the culture of the organization to get into an understanding of the behavioral traits that are essential to working at that organization. Behavioral questions focus more on experiences, behaviours, knowledge, skills and abilities.

Examples:

  • Tell me about any recent challenge and situation in which you found yourself and what you did?

Situational Questions

These are usually Hypothetical questions designed to find out how you would approach certain problems if they would rise. These types of questions are to judge the individual’s ability to be pro-active and keep calm under difficult situations and finding smart solution to the problem.

Examples of Situational questions:

  • If you found out an employee was stealing from the business how would you approach this employee?
  • What would you do if your supervisor asked you to do something that you felt was unethical?
  • Imagine you have a  deadline  and you are running out of time. What would you do?
  • How would you handle an employee that is disrupting the work environment?

Asking the interviewer Questions

At some point, the interviewer will turn to you and ask “Do you have any questions which you would like to ask me?”

If you  are uncertain about certain aspects of the role or need greater clarification, than this is the time to ask those questions. Don’t be shy or intimidated. Also, asking clever questions will not just help you in deciding if this job is right for you but will impress the interviewer and leave a positive image as someone who comprehensive and professional.

Some questions that you can ask:

  • How will my leadership responsibilities and performance be measured?
  • Do you provide any sort of professional development or training?
  •  How do you measure performance and how often is it reviewed?
  • Who was in this job before and why did they leave?

What Not to Ask!

  • About Salary and benefits
  • Questions that are clearly stated on the website
  • Generic / Obvious questions
  • Questions that are irrelevant to the job or organization

How to Dress for the Interview?

Don’t Dress for the job you have, dress for the job you want to have”

When you walk into the interview room, the very first thing that the interviewer does is look at you. Do not allow you dress to damage your chances of being hired. Dressing properly will not guarantee the job, but dressing inappropriately definitely will ruin your chances. Once you decide what to wear, you should also decide of what color the dress you should wear. Colors also get noticed and make a huge difference.Different colours evoke different emotions and it is imperative when you’re interviewing that you evoke the right emotions from the interviewer.

For example:

Blue: describes: trust, loyalty, wisdom, peaceful.

Red: Red is a strong colour, very emotional, an extreme colour. Red is fiery (think love and passion), and can be an intimidating colour for the interviewer.

Grey: Grey gives the look of sophistication and authority. In a corporate environment, grey is professional and portrays an individual as being confident without being intimidating.

Black: Be careful when wearing just black to an interview. Black is seen as a power colour and can be viewed as threatening. Wearing black outfits can portray an individual as being powerful or even arrogant.

Mistakes to avoid

  • Arriving Late
  • Lack of    Preparation
  • Dressing Inappropriately
  • Avoid Badmouthing
  • Poor body language
  • Mumbling
  • Using constant slang
  • Crossing your arms
  • Rigid
  • Slouching
  • Nervous gestures e.g. playing with your hair
  • Using your hands too much when talking
  • Poor Communication Skills
  • Talking Too Much
  • Not answering the question
  • Forgetting to Follow Up

What career is perfect for me?

What career is best for me?” is a question that make most of us sweat and often takes our mind into hyper drive. Most of the time, our careers are preset by our parents and most of us walk the path to become what their parents have planned for them. But there are also who cannot decide which career is best for them. They bang their heads on walls trying to find out the answer, or try experimenting with different professions to find what they are best at. The result is that they either end up being frustrated or stuck in a profession that they would otherwise not even think of, had they had a choice.

  • Which is the best profession?
  • Which is the highest paying job?
  • What shall I do after my graduation or MBA? etc.

These questions are all linked. There is no such thing as a best profession or a perfect job or a highest job. It all depends on the individual and his inclinations towards the profession. And as for the question of highest paid job is concerned, it only depends upon the individual’s choice of what he wants in life. The answer to the question of best career depends on the individual’s choices.

Do what you love

In the words of a great scholar Confucius ,“Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”. Loving what you do is the key to happiness and harmony at your work or doing what you love to do and converting it into a choice of a career will make your professional journey all a playground. You will never get bored or suffer job related stress because you won’t have to be compelled by someone else to do the work. You’ll work because you love to do it. I know of this individual who was passionate about dancing. Dance was the love of his life. Today he runs his dance classes teaching dance to kids. He chose what he loved to do, and followed it as the choice of his profession.

So, give some time to yourself. Think what you love to do or are good at. Are you good are drawing cartoons? Do you write exceptionally well? Are you a good speaker? Maybe you have a good eye for details and are a good observer? Do you like talking to people? Can you communicate with people easily? There are infinite opportunities available for individuals today. There are skills that you possess and can be applied to a variety of professions. For example, if you are a good sketch artist, you can probably work for a publishing house, or a new agency or a comics publisher and choose being a sketch artist as a profession. If you like talking to people or like being in front of an audience, you can become a public speaker or join a PR agency. Having a job focused on your skills makes your job fun since it match your skills and what you love to do.

 What is valuable to you?

How would you define “success”? What is more important to you? Is it having a lot of money? Expensive cars, big house? Or Travelling and meeting new people? Having lots of fun at work? Being with the family? These things impact the choice of your career. For example, if you want to travel around the world and at the same time want to stay with your family, they you’d probably have to chose among the two. If you are obsessed with expensive cars and big house, then you’d have to choose a career that lets you earn the amount of money that is needed to maintain these luxuries.

Confucius said “Success depends upon previous preparation, and without such preparation there is sure to be failure.”

The expression “nothing is free, everything has a cost”, is true. If you are an investment banker or CEO of a multinational and are getting paid the big bucks, there is a great probability that you would not have any free time for yourself. If you are a wildlife photographer or an airline pilot, you’re probably spending a lot of time away from your home. If you are working into sales or advertising, then the idea or humility and patience will not be new to you as both these jobs requires an individual to have a lot of patience and creativity to convert the customers or clients. How much can you give in to the stress and humility of all these profiles and others? It really helps to analyze and know how much of it can you take. You need to sit and clearly think over what you really need from a job and what you are willing to sacrifice in the way of achieving your goal. These decisions are the tough ones to make.

When you have found the answer to these questions, there are other steps to make a decision what profession will suit you best based on what you love and what you are willing to sacrifice.

Write Down Your Skills

Starting a new career will be easier of you identify and focus on skills that you possess. Take some time and carefully introspect and write down your skills. Identify which set of skills you’d like you career path to proceed. There may be many professions that will match your set of skills, so select from those the most favorable one.

Do Your Research 

Learn about which skills or education you will need to switch to your desired career. Search for what kinds of jobs are available to you that match your skills. Analyze the salaries paid in those profiles and the kind of work done, analyze the amount of stress and pressure in those jobs and whether you will be able to handle that pressure or not. In short think carefully by analyzing the opportunities and sacrifices you’ll have to make in the profession of your choice and whether you are willing to make such a sacrifice.

Explore and Expand your Network

In the current market scenario, knowing the right person is the master key for professional doors. Those who know are the first ones to be your advocates when it comes to referring you to someone for work. Try to find out from your friends, relatives etc for references or possible job opportunities that match your skills. Try to expand your network by contacting and developing trusting professional relationship with people already in the profession.

Consider the following quote by Joseph Campbell:

When you follow your bliss… doors will open where you would not have thought there would be doors, and where there wouldn’t be a door for anyone else.”

There is no right or wrong career rather it is your choices, your preferences, your skills that make the difference. There are many professionals who are not happy or regret the career choices they have made. They wish if they get a chance, they would go back in time and change their careers. But there are somethings that once lost cannot come back and ‘lost opportunity and lost time’, are among them. Discovering who you truly are and what do you want to do in your life, is the first step to making a choice of a bright career.

The will to win, the desire to succeed, the urge to reach your full potential… these are the keys that will unlock the door to personal excellence.
                                                                                                          – Confucius

What makes leaders different from others?

There has always been the question “Are leaders born or made?” The answer to this question is a rather paradoxical one. While we have the examples of famous personalities who had been leaders from adolescence, there have also been many who rose above all as true leader by sheer force of their determination. But, I am not discussing here whether a person become leader by birth or makes himself one. I am discussing the qualities that leaders posses which makes them different.

We all have certain behaviors and capabilities that differentiate from others, but a true leader has something extra. Ability to motivate and directing others and helping people grow in the own abilities is one of those skills a leader possess. Being a leader does not always mean that you are the leader at your workplace. Skills of a leader can be put to every area of life as a parent, spouse, a charity board member etc.

We certainly may have grown over time and learned many effective skills by experience but to identify the leaders in us; all that is required is an open mind.

Traits Every Successful Leader Must Have

Desire to lead.

If you do not want to lead other, you’ll always be uncomfortable in the role of a leader if you somehow manage to get yourself into one. Without a desire to lead, you may face difficulties out of your ‘comfort zone’ and you may resist this change and won’t put efforts to acquire the skills required to become a leader. You will struggle with daily work and your team will sense it and ultimately, you might lose their respect as their leader and the situation might become chaotic.

Commitment to the mission and vision of the organization

It is the mission and vision of the organization that keeps it going forward. You are expected to believe in the organization’s mission and vision because without believing it yourself, you cannot effectively lead others to assist on accomplishing company’s goals. Imagine trying to make others believing in what you don’t believe yourself. If you can do that, then either you are a exceptionally gifted actor or a really good illusionist.  . But for most of you, it would be quite impossible.

Integrity

Be true to your word, be what you want to see everyone as”. Simply said, always do what you say or fulfill your commitments, be authentic in your actions and speech and demonstrate the behavior that you would like your team to show. Your team is looking up at you as an example and your behavior influences theirs.

Integrity in this sense has a simple meaning; doing what you say you will do and behaving the way that you expect your team to behave. At first glance, that may sound simple enough. But if you can truly master integrity, you will find that it changes whole teams and even whole organizations for the better.

Not coming through on promises made, gossiping, taking credit for others’ work, or treating them disrespectfully etc, can be traced to a lack of integrity.

These are some of the few traits that every leader or to be leader must focus.

Leading vs. Managing

Management and Leadership are two different skills needed for the growth of an organization, but there is often confusion between the two. Managers may fail to lead and wonder why they have difficulties in getting people to work at their best capabilities. On the other hand, leaders might fail at managing and getting tasks completed on time and on budget. There might be situations when both skills are needed, so you will need to focus on both or adapt according to circumstances.

Differences between Management Skills and Leadership Skills

Management skills -the skills required to manage resources in order to deliver a task, product, or service.

Leadership skills – the skills required to engage with, motivate, and persuade people to buy-In to a vision, objective, or goal.

Table: Managers vs. Leaders

A manager..

A leader..

Thinks short termThinks long term
Thinks tacticsThinks strategy
Plans how and whenAsks what and why
Looks at the bottom lineLooks to the horizon
Knows the day-to-day businessKnows the customer
Focuses on improving existing products and processesFocuses on new products and breakthrough processes
Builds success through qualityBuilds success through employees
SupervisesInfluences
Gains authority from his/her positionGains authority by his/her mindset and behavior

 

 Who would you choose to be depends upon you? Chances are that you will have to make your choices based on two things; job titles and whether or not the person supervises other people.

Try to identify leaders in your organization. You may end up picking the same people you’d chose for managers because it is a stereotype we believe that the people at the top levels are the leaders. But the truth is, a leader can be anyone in the organization. It’s important to remember that leaders don’t always hold a job title or wear a suit and tie.

  • A leader can be the ordinary driver who drives safely and influences other drivers to perform their jobs carefully and efficiently.
  • A leader can be the customer service executive who might have developed a new strategy to serve customers and others follow his example at work.
  • They can be the co-worker who sets the example for the rest of the team by always being on time, doing their best work, and keeping a positive attitude. Or they can be the person who takes the initiative to organize the group’s help when a coworker’s family has experienced a tragedy.

Leaders come in all different types. It is important to know that leaders do not always hold a job title or wear a suit and tie. Anyone can be a leader and can become a leader; all he/she needs is the desire to be one and the mettle to become one.

How to even the odds in a slow job market?

There has been continuous decline in the job market because of the slowdown. Organizations at this time are hiring only selective individuals or professionals who are skilled and exceptional. Below are some of the things a professional should take care of while searching for a job or a job change.

Create you resume professionally

Create your resume based on the job description as given in the advertisement. Create the resume well and look at the resume with the perspective of a potential employer. Try to keep the resume short but effective, because at the end of the day, it is not the length of the content, but the depth of it, that will make the difference. If needed, you may take the help of some professional resume creator service or a placement consultant which provides such a service.

Research and Analyze

Analyze the job ads and identify the skills that are hot in the market. If the technical skills that are listed are the skills you posses, then your chances for getting shortlisted are increased. Search for the job openings that match the skills you have so you can better represent yourself in interviews confidently. It is always best to stay updated with the current technology.

Groom your Soft Skills

You are not the only one who would be shortlisted for an interview. There would be others too, and a few would probably be more experienced and skilled too. Having superior and impressive soft skills might be the one thing that can make the difference. Individuals who are more confident, articulate and team players hold better chances of getting selected. Work on your communication skills and other soft skills to make an impression.

Be ‘Visible’

Try to be an opportunist. Never give away any opportunity that might put you in front of the decision makers in your company. Socialize with them at forums, seminars, alumni events or even just at the office cafeteria but, this doesn’t mean stalk them at any opportunity you get. Don’t be too obvious, make it a coincidence.

Update your LinkedIn Profile

For last few years, LinkedIn has become a search destination for headhunters. So, keep your LinkedIn profile optimized and updated. You never know, who is looking at your profile at a given moment.

Build your online image

Publishing impressive articles at various sites, writing blogs and engaging in discussions at various discussion boards or forums could really build your online image. A lot of successful professionals are running their own personal blogs which are among the best traffic attracting blogs. This builds your ‘Brand’ in the online community and adds to your credibility as a professional.
These all are but a few suggestions that can transform you from being an ‘eligible’ candidate to being the ‘perfect’ candidate. And considering, the current market status, it can land you the ‘dream’ job.

 

Important Tips for Job Seekers and Proffessionals

Many times it happens Interviews seems to be very good, people get positive but they do not receive call from company, what went wrong?

The Reason of Rejections may be:-

1) Not presentable

2) Salary issues

3) Lack of confidence

4) Lacking clearness .

This is a small tips which may help you:-

1)      Be Presentable- I agree, that people should be judged by their skills not by their dresses. But many times it happens that people represent the company.  And that is why, hiring managers wants  to hire a presentable person so it is always advised to dress in a proper formal way.

2) Express your ideas clearly- Always try to answer in a simple and straight forward way. Be what you are and answer every question politely.

3)      ‘What salary are you looking for?’-This is one of the most tricky and frequent question that you will come across. To answer this question, you can generally say  that:-

a) You’re flexible, or

b) It depends on the responsibilities of the job.

Avoid putting a number infront of interviewer as that might prove to be a bottleneck at the time of negotiation.

4) Don’t Lie about Your Salary- Don’t lie about your salary. Never Ever.  Never try to trick the company as no matter what the case might be company can eventually find  your salary out.

If you’re unemployed, the first and foremost thing is to take action: take classes, meet people, go to industry meetings, start a blog, read a book a week. Just don’t sit idle.  Remember, if you are passionate about getting a job, no matter how hard the condition is you will surely find your dream job.

All the best.