By Mohammad Saifullah
GOMBAK, 19 December 2017 – The job market now is very competitive than before and most of the candidates applying for jobs are being rejected because of their resume, according to IIUM senior career counsellor, Saiful Redza Mohamed.
Saiful Redza Mohamed was speaking in the slot ‘Resume writing’ at “I-Soul 2017: an Ibadah and Career booth Camp” last Saturday (16 December).
Organised by final year communication students in collaboration with Communication Students’ Association (COSA) and Counselling and Career Service Centre (CCSC) IIUM, the motivational camp programme was held at Forestay Melaka KMB, Ayer Keroh last weekend (15 to 17 December).
Saiful Redza said the most important thing about resume is the picture of the candidate and the companies tend to judge the candidates through their photos placed on the resume. For example, he said, we never buy a toothpaste by looking at its ingredients, but we look for the cover page, that is why candidates should put a decent picture.
He added, “Try to minimise your resume to two pages because the companies do not have time to flip the pages and they read your resume with thousands of other resumes.
On grooming, Saiful Redza stressed on the choice of colour, which according to him, some companies are very particular. “Try to put professional colour, avoid red colour because it conveys dominance, wear a blue tie, most of the leaders of the world wear blue tie and it represents to convince the people.”
“For a female, wear light colour hijab and avoid black and colourful hijab because you need to differentiate the colour of a blazer you wear.”
However, Saiful Redza said that different companies have different rules, “so study them first before sending in the resume”.
“Be careful about graphic resume, do not put more graphic than information. Try to use a single font in writing and do not repeat the information.”
He emphasised that the career objectives on resume must be clear specific and understandable and education structure should follow course, institution and CGPA. The work experiences “should be cited properly because companies prefer experienced people than freshies”. That is why, he said, students should do their internship in the last semester because the company might offer them a job after completing the internship.
Saiful Redza continued saying social media is now an important source to get a job because the companies normally check candidate’s social media profile to judge their personality. “That is why you should decorate your profile with personal achievements to show your work and leadership skills. You have to be visible and confident in yourself with social work and volunteerism.”
“The last thing is to put references, if you want to look for a job, try to put two references – academic lecturer and previous working boss. And it is good to put two working boss references,” Saiful Redza added.
More than eighty students attended the I-Soul camp, among them 38 were graduating students. The event was officiated by the secretary of Melaka Chief Minister, Mohd Nizam bin Omar, who is also the President of Gerakan Belia 4B Malaysia (4B Youth Movement). ***