How to make a fresher resume?

Making your first resume can be fun!

Now that you have some idea of resumes, the next natural step is to make one. It is easy to make a resume. There are a ton of free resources, like our own 1minresume.com where you can just search by your degree and the kind of job you want, download the resume and edit relevant sections like your name, degree name, etc.

If you are a fresh college graduate or about to graduate, it is time for you to get ready to go through one of the most important transitions in your personal life – it is time when you prioritize putting to use what you have been learning all these semesters in the college over anything else. Let us get you career ready.

Idea in Brief

A resume is a simple career summary that showcases to the world your wonderful skillsets, straits, qualities and qualifications. Whether you want to work for JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Amazon or a home-grown budding start up in Bengaluru, you will need a resume. Keep that simple resume ready well before you need; since you don’t know when you would need it, prepare it as soon as you think you are going to start looking for a job.

First step in making your first resume – know that you will need many resumes

One of the most common misconceptions among fresh graduates and some experienced job hunters is using the same resume for all jobs one applies to. It does not mean that you have to keep a dozen resumes ready at once; all it means is that as you apply to a new job, you start the application process from editing the most recent resume. If you are a fresh college graduate, chances are that you are just about to start creating your first resume. As you start the resume building process, ask yourself what kind of job and job titles you want this resume to be used for.

Once you identified the job title and job function you are going to apply to, find out what the job descriptions of these jobs usually contain as key skillsets, minim requirements and qualifications. A simple web search can easily get you a few job descriptions to read so you can develop a good understanding of those critical skills and qualifications you need to show on your resume.

The next step is to add these skills to your resume, that is if you have them. If not, consider taking training or short-term courses – especially if you are certain that the job function you came across is the one you want to start your career with.

Online resume makers

There are a lot of resume makers and templates out there on the web. You cannot be wrong with any of them – depending on how much you want to spend, there are free versions like 1minresume.com and there are some very expensive versions. The key here is not how expensive or free a template is, but rather speed. Focus on speed and get the first resume done as quickly as you can. You will have ample number of opportunities to tweak it up and refine it as you go through the job searching process.

Whichever template you choose, you are going to edit some of the most important sections, unless you find a template on 1minresume.com where we write custom career objective statements for different degree types and job functions. Even if you find a resume with a decent career objective statement that resonates well with you, make sure to edit it to eliminate anything that doesn’t portray who you really are as a candidate.

The next step is to edit the skills and experiences section. Before we take the experiences question head-on, let’s address the skills section. Quite simply, include up to 5 skills that are readily connectable to the job and the job description. Start with top most relevant skill and work your way down to include secondary and tertiary skills.

If you are a fresh graduate, you can still add some work experiences

It is not being manipulative. When it comes to job searches, sometimes we have a tendency to undervalue all the non-mainstream experiences we gain. From our experiences of training fresh graduates, we see the fresh graduates tend to completely overlook their small experiences they gain from hosting college level events.

For example, if you helped host an industry speaker event in your college, that shows very important organizational, planning and leadership skills. Do mention this experience under leadership experiences. No questions about internship experiences.

If you have internship experience, even if it is only for a couple of weeks, do include that. If you come from a college that does not offer internship support etc., add any experience being part of real businesses, including helping your family business, friends’ family business, etc.

Most important – be authentic

A mistake sometimes fresh graduates make in their resume is not paying enough attention to be as authentic as possible. This includes talking about your genuine passions. If your passion is collecting pictures of various dog breeds, don’t be shy about mentioning that under additional information, which is usually the last section in the resume. If you read only 1 book in the last two years, don’t mention reading books as a hobby because you don’t want to be embarrassed when the interviewer asks how many books you read in the last two months and what they were. Some hobbies we tend to overlook include gardening, embroidery, learning music, bathroom singing (really) and instagramming. Good luck with your job search!