How to apply for a job: CV & all that

IT is an established fact that `basic rules of business are universal`. It means there might be hundreds of thousands of techniques of doing a business but basic principles of a business is the same all over the world: whether it is a shop in BhaiPheru or a huge supermarket in New York.

Graduates cannot neglect or circumvent the current universally changing rules of making an application for an employment: writing a CV or a covering letter just because they are frustrated or lost hope in our social system for getting an employment and shortage of jobs creating a hitch in their success.

An ideal resume/CV and cover letter should be on one page each separately with the cover letter having not more than four paragraphs. In case of outstanding applicants with multiple degrees and several employment experiences, the resume/CV could go to maximum two pages.

My huge administrative and managements national and international, experience tells me that the majority of our university graduates and postgraduates adopt obsolete method of writing a resume/CV when they take a start with matriculation and go to the highest degree whereas the modern method internationally is in the descending order: highest degree (MA/MSc) first on top or to begin with. And don`t write Intermediate and matric education.

Why would the selector/interviewer be interested in knowing when you did your matriculation if the required education is postgraduation? Why would the selector be interested in your personal life: married, unmarried children, father`s name and domicile/PRC (if not applying for a government job)?

Subsequently, write your most recent/current employment first and then go in descending order. In the same manner, the interviewer might not be interested in knowing what were you doing in the years 1990 or 1995. He must be interested in knowing what are you today.

The company/organisation hiring you is interested in the following things:

1. What are you doing at present: your most recent assignment and organisation you are working for?

2. What is your educational qualification?

3. What could you deliver to the company? How could the company benefit from your education and experience?

The company is not interested in your personal life and obsolete stuff.

One last important point, many candidates are disqualified because of overqualifications. It happens when you are MSc, MA or BE and are applying for a smaller job. The interviewer/selector knows that in future whenever you get an employment of your choice, you will quit their job and so they don`t give you an opportunity where you are overqualified.

Here is a tip/trick to be smart. If you are so desperate, make two/three resumes: one for perfect opportunities that suit your education and experience, and the other showing only a graduate degree (BA/BSc) with one job experience, in case you have multiple academic qualifications and experience and a third resume/CV showing an Intermediate grade, even if you are applying for an entry level opportunity in utter frustration.

Do not ever use cyclostyled resumes available with photocopiers or other professionals on the street where top address place is lined blank to fill by a pen and rest contents go all in one.

This gives the first impression to the selector that you don`t have your own capability of writing and are used to dropping resumes in bulk everywhere without putting an effort and seriousness in it.