By Hazimah Sukri
GOMBAK, 25 March 2021: How do you make yourself stand out amidst so many other candidates to grab the attention of your potential employer within the first few seconds?
A webinar organised by Practical Training Class (COMM 4995) on Wednesday (24 March) invited Mr. Hans Toh, Malaysia’s 1st Certified Professional Resume Writer and Interview Coach, to share some tips on how to write an outstanding résumé.
Mr. Hans Toh said: “The most important thing is knowing how to present your soft skills, hard skills and your characteristics in a résumé. Give them a picture of what it is like working with you.”
The speaker outlined the fundamentals of a résumé that include the following:
1. Personal information – This includes your name, home address, phone number, a formal e-mail address and your age.
2. Career profile – Describe your enthusiasm and passion towards the job that you want to apply and an overall view of your hard skills, soft skills and what it is like to work with you.
3. Education – Write your current level of education and your previous studies, starting from SPM and above.
4. Working experiences – Write the name of the company, your position and an overview of what you did.
5. Extra curriculum and volunteering activities – Write your position, name of society or programme and explain how you contributed in that particular event/society/university. Activities during SPM, foundation and Diploma level are still acceptable.
6. Skills and strengths – List down your skills and give a brief explanation on how that skill applies to you.
7. Awards and recognition – This includes all your achievements during your study.
Mr. Hans Toh reminded students to use either UK or US English, synchronise the lines and spacing, use fonts such as Times New Roman, Garamond or Calibri size from 10 to 12 points, and avoid using bolds or caps locking in the entire paragraph.
In terms of layout, he said, it is best to use black and white or a maximum of one other colour in the résumé. Also, it must have a balance of white spaces and words to ease the reader to identify the points in the résumé.
Some companies use machines to read the résumés so you should avoid using a fancy background, adding borders and tables as the machine will not be able to read it.
There are also some do’s and don’ts that students should be aware of which are:
1. Always change and customise your résumé accordingly based on the job you want to apply.
2. Do not make up false information about yourself.
3. Always double check to make sure there is no grammatical or spelling error.
4. Always provide the full term of any acronym before using them.
5. Your résumé should not be more than two pages.
Adding a photo in your résumé depends on the position you want to apply. It is not required most of the time. If you still insist, use a circle background for your profile photo.
It is not necessary to put your references in the résumé because it is usually written in the application form.
As students they should do their best in developing themselves by joining programmes, societies, seek more knowledge and improve their skills for better opportunities in the future. ***