4 Myths & Truths about Resume | What is Resume?

Written by Coach Pranav Indi

*This article is for the MBA students who are preparing their resume for the campus placements or actively applying for jobs.

What is a Resume?

Resume is one document which is written, viewed, reviewed and debated the most number of times for a student who is seeking a good offer in the campus placements. It could either be summer internships, final placements or it could be finding off campus.

Since, a Resume is a document that enters the interview room before the student does, a lot depends on the quality of the resume as the interviewer does make some impression of the candidate by screening his resume. And this ‘first’ impression that is made, does matter a lot in the final selection!

This makes ‘Resume’ a very important document in the placement process, and as things start gaining importance, the fear, misconceptions, myths and theories around it start emerging. Leaving the student who is preparing his resume into a total confused state of mind.

A few words or statements that are often heard:

• “The space on your resume is like real estate, use it wisely.”
• “Do not leave any empty spaces on your resume, the companies scan the resumes using scanning software where empty spaces gives you a lower score”
• “If you don't have a lot of ‘position of responsibilities’ or ‘extra-curricular activities’ or ‘Participation in various competitions’ you wont get shortlists from FMCGs”

Not all the points mentioned above are wrong, but for a student who listens to these statements adds to the fear and confusion that is around the ‘beast’ called resume!

After doing around 100+ CV review sessions and mock interviews, I had a chance to look at CVs from almost all premier MBA institutes and have found some good insights that I would like to share. I would burst certain common myths and tell the real pointers around it

1. Myth:

The resume space is like real estate, so fill it as much as possible

Truth:

The resume space is indeed like real estate, it does not mean that it should be filled in with words. Most CVs that I have seen are so cluttered with words, that the interviewer cannot get any sense of what’s written and has to put in cognitive overload to understand the content. The white spaces in the CV are equally important, it improves the readability of the CV and helps the interviewer understand

2. Myth:

The resume format, if it is great, half the job is done

Truth:

The resume format is just an enabler for the interviewer to read the content with ease, and have all the information structured. The main thing is content in the CV.

3. Myth:

The position of responsibility / extra-curricular / competitions are the deal maker or deal breaker, thus fill in these section with as many points as possible

Truth:

Honestly speaking, no interviewer cares about these things. These things could be a conversation starter, but not a deal breaker by any means. The things that matter most are the points in work-ex and if you are a fresher, then the projects and internships. These should have the maximum area coverage in your CV

4. Myth:

The resume needs to have all the details of your job/project/internship. Thus people tend to put in irrelevant things as CV points

Truth:

The resume should only have the highlight and the impact that was created. Rest all is the content that you talk in the interview, only if the interviewer asks.

I am sure this would burst a lot of myths around and help the students get more clarity and reduce on the anxiety around ‘resume’!

*Disclaimer: In the article above, the words ‘CV’ and ‘Resume’ though technically different, have been used interchangeably.

Written by Coach Pranav Indi

Coach Pranav is a management consultant with over 3.5 years of consulting experience across Technology, Media and Telecommunications (TMT), Life Sciences and Healthcare (LSHC) and Consumer Products (CPG) industries. Guidance and advice given by him are realistic and actionable, which helps students build strong careers. If you need some career guidance, you can talk to counselor today Fill This Form