Tips on Resume Writing and Interview Techniques Part I

My first session with the interns was the go through their resumes. I thought I would take the opportunity to summarise some of the advice I had for them in writing resumes as well as interview techniques...

I will start first with the resume writing stuff...

#1 Be different
The most fundamental role of resumes and interviews is to stand out.... and yes, stand out in the right way. You must walk out of the interview room leaving an impression of just how unique and special you are. The bad news is that this something really tough to do, the good news is that most Singaporeans generally suck at this.... so you don't have to do too well to stand out. It's tough, because for the last twelve years, you should be very worried if you put down an answer that is very different from every body else in your exams. When it comes to interviews/resumes, you should be very worried if you are NOT different from everybody else walking through that door.

So when it comes to the resume, I want to read about how different you really are. I am not so interested by the number of As you have, because everybody seems to have the same number of them. Mention it by all means, but don't waste time on it. I am particularly interested in what is your project title for your project work, because this is something you and your team mates presumably chose, and its something different that I can talk to you/ find out and learn more about.

This was something I shared with the interns "You don't really know who you are until you are different from everyone else." What's really behind this statement? Honestly, if we are just doing whatever else is doing, how do we know that this is really what we want to do, or we are just folloing everyone else?

#2 Explain things in your resume.
please do not assume that I know all about your platinium award that you have received in your school. don't just give one liner explanations about what you doing, but explain it out. Resumes are predominantly written in point form, however, in appropriate junctures you may wish to switch to prose to explain things which are not particularly clear to the people who are interviewing you. For instance in my resumes I use when I am overseas, I will have a short paragraph that explains what the administrative service is.

#3 Add in numbers.
Numbers are what make resume professional and solid. Examples...
Bad: Awarded platinium award for social service
Good: Awarded platinium award (Top 50 out of 1600 students) for social service

Bad: organised programmes for elderly, in charge of budget...
Good organised programmes on a monthly basis reaching out to 80 elderly over 100 hours.

The numbers don't have to be high, and some numbers are always be better than no numbers.

#4 Be prepared to talk about anything on your resume
Your resume is pretty much your script so you must be prepared to rattle off a positive spiel about every single thing you are going to put down. If you put down that you were say section leader in the choir, you must be prepared to tell a pretty good story when asked about this experience.
This is one way to figure out what to put in your resume: figure out what you want to talk about, or what you think your interviewer might be curious to find out about you and put it into your resume. You must know what are the interesting titbits in YOUR life, it musn't be the case, where the interviewer has to snoop high and low just to uncover something really interesting about yourself.