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Death of the Bio-Data
Anil Mahajan
Since the time I left my job and started a placement consultancy, a
lot of water has flown under the various Yamuna bridges.
I never felt the need for
a resume and, at best, I used to give my bio-data ( “Resume ? what’s
that?” ) to companies and consultants.
So what’s the difference?
A Bio-data is just like
historical data with maybe, or maybe not, a passport size photograph
and absolutely nothing else.
What was most important
yesterday? The man who is going to interview you (how well you knew
him or his Chachiji’s behnoi for instance), and how much he thought
you were from a decent family (bhadralok - I suppose!).
The biodata was also
normally carried along for the interview.
The biodata contains information in a set parameter — your name,
father’s name, nationality, father’s occupation, date of birth,
followed by details of your education in a set tabular form. This
table is followed by proofs of your lineage from a decent family
elaborating on what your mother is doing and what your brothers,
sisters and their spouses are doing or have done, if they have studied
in or teaching in Welhams School or St. Stephens College, blah blah...
well, that was important yesterday.
Today, Competition has
set-in in the job market and the biodata is passe’. Today, a resume
has become a necessity for getting the job.
A resume is a marketing
document intended to sell you in the job market, and is designed
specifically to highlight your skill-sets for a particular job /
career.
It is sad that candidates still spin out a bio-data and send it to
companies or consultants under the new title of resume. It is all the
stinking old bio-data minus emphasis on family lineage. All the rest
is the same... the same tables, the same historical data. Nobody reads
it and it is simply thrown into the dustbin.
Just put yourself in the position of a HRD head of a company that
releases an ad for the position of, let’s say, Manager-Accounts.
You (as HRD head) get as
many as 20,000 applications from candidates all over India. You
conduct a first scan and around 95% resumes find the graveyard of the
dustbin. And mind you, they are all Bio-datas under the garb of
resume.
The applicant blames God. Or, if he is less God fearing, the theory of
probability, when, all along, the fault is his own.
Should you write your own resume?
Well that is a million dollar question.
You admire Amitabh Bachhan for his dialogues in Sholay; you still
remember Shah Rukh Khan for his great dialogues in Baazigar. But they
never wrote their dialogues. Though they are great actors, everything
is outsourced to professional scriptwriters or dialogue writers like
Salim-Javed etc. Do you go for a haircut with scissors in your hand
and cut your own hair? How silly! But isn’t that what you actually do
as far as your resume is concerned?
If you care a damn for a
good resume and your dream job, your dream job cares a damn for you (I
think it’s Newton’s Third law — For every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction). In today’s environment, it is very much a good
investment to get a professional resume writer to plan out your
resume.
Of course, in case you do not come across any sound professional
resume writer, here are a few tips for writing a great winning
resume:
1. Determine your job
search objective prior to writing the resume. Once you have determined
your objective, you can structure the content of your resume around
that objective. Think of your objective as the bull’s-eye to focus
your resume on. If you write your resume without having a clear
objective in mind, it will likely come across as unfocussed to those
who read it (and the dust bin is always within easy reach). Take the
time to form a clear objective.
2. Think of your resume as a marketing tool. Think of yourself as a
product, potential employers as your customers, and your resume as a
brochure about you. Market yourself through your resume. What are your
features and benefits? What makes you unique? Make sure to convey this
information in your resume.
3. Use your resume to obtain an interview, not a job. You don’t need
to go into detail about every accomplishment. Strive to be clear and
concise. The purpose of your resume is to generate enough interest in
you to have an employer contact you for an interview. Use the
interview to provide a more detailed explanation of your
accomplishments and to land a job offer.
4. Use bulleted sentences. In the body of your resume, use bullets
with short sentences rather than lengthy paragraphs. Resumes are read
quickly. This bulleted sentence format makes it easier for someone to
quickly scan your resume and still absorb it.
5. Use action words. Action words cause your resume to pop. To add
life to your resume, use bulleted sentences that begin with action
words like prepared, developed, monitored, and presented.
6. Use #’s, Rs. and %’s. Numbers, Rs, and percentages stand out in the
body of a resume. Use them. Here are two examples:
* Managed a department of 10 with a budget of Rs.1,000,000.
* Increased sales by 25% in a 15-state territory.
7. Lead with your strengths. Since resumes are typically reviewed in
30 seconds, take the time to determine which bullets most strongly
support your job search objective. Put those strong points first where
they are more apt to be read.
8. Play Match Game. Review want ads for positions that interest you.
Use the key words listed in these ads to match them to bullets in your
resume. If you have missed any key words, add them to your resume.
9. Use buzzwords. If there are terms that show your competence in a
particular field, use them in your resume. For marketing people, use
“competitive analysis.” For accounting types, use “reconciled
accounts.”
10. Accent the positive. Leave off negatives and irrelevant points. If
you feel your date of graduation will subject you to age
discrimination, leave the date off your resume. If you do some duties
in your current job that don’t support your job search objective,
leave them off your resume. Focus on the duties that do support your
objective. Leave off irrelevant personal information like your height
and weight.
11. Show what you know. Rather than going into depth in one area, use
your resume to highlight your breadth of knowledge. Use an interview
to provide more detail.
12. Show who you know. If you have reported to someone important such
as a vice president or department manager, say so in your resume.
Having reported to someone important causes the reader to infer that
you are important.
13. Construct your resume to read easily. Leave white space. Use a
font size no smaller than 10 point. Limit the length of your resume to
1-2 pages. Remember, resumes are reviewed quickly. Help the reader to
scan your resume efficiently and effectively.
14. Have someone else review your resume. Since you are so close to
your situation, it can be difficult for you to hit all your high
points and clearly convey all your accomplishments. Have someone
review your job search objective, your resume, and listings of
positions that interest you. Encourage them to ask questions. Their
questions can help you to discover items you inadvertently left off
your resume. Revise your resume to include these items. Their
questions can also point to items on your resume that are confusing to
the reader. Clarify your resume based on this input.
15. Submit your resume to potential employers. Have the courage to
submit your resume. Think of it as a game where your odds of winning
increase with every resume you submit. You really do increase your
odds with every resume you submit. Use a three-tiered approach. Apply
for some jobs that appear to be beneath you. Perhaps they will turn
out to be more than they appeared to be once you interview for them.
Or perhaps once you have your foot in the door you can learn of other
opportunities. Apply for jobs that seem to be just at your level. You
will get interviews for some of those jobs. See how each job stacks
up. Try for some jobs that seem like a stretch.
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