Make Your CV Stand Out
More may not equate to impressive when it comes to putting your CV together. You might have been involved in plenty of stuff throughout school and college but putting everything on your CV may not turn out to be a very good idea. The key here is to filter the information and retain only those achievements which show off the skills you need to handle your professional responsibilities. Therefore the first thing on the list should be to separate what is important and what is not.
If you have a clear idea about the profile you are applying for and the specific roles you will have, try to think about the things you have done so far which are similar to what you will be doing. If you are a fresher, you can think of instances where you have captained a team or represented a school to highlight your leadership and people skills. If you have work experience, you should give importance to those roles which your future employer is looking for. The relevant information should be prominent on your CV while the other details can be listed as a separate section titled “Other Activities” if not omitted altogether.
A CV that’s crisp and straightforward is sure to stand out amidst others. More information to come in subsequent posts.
A Few Useful English Writing Tips
Just came across a video on YouTube and thought of sharing it here on the blog. The video is about effective writing skills and provides six tips to make your writing better. It is about writing in the professional sphere and teaches you how to convey your message in a strong and focussed manner. I did find the tips quite nice though it might be difficult to follow all the rules at the same time. Apart from that, keeping a set of rules in mind while you sit down to write can be quite limiting and restrictive to the flow of thought. However,gradually incorporating a few of the tips in your writing through regular practice can definitely change the way you write for the better. Check out the video here.
Explore, Learn and Decide
Many of us, prior to looking for a job, have the impression that whatever we are doing in our classrooms and laboratories are exactly what we will be doing in professional life. In a way we view work as an extension of our student life. There is no denying that our education is equipping us with certain skills and theories which will be put to practice once we step into the professional sphere, but there are a lot of other things we need to know and be prepared for. As long as we were students, we never really knew what deadlines mean in the industry, how critical a project and its timely execution can be and how quickly we need to think and improvise. Often our services might be required for something apart from our projects and it will be expected from us that we adapt and deliver.
As the course comes to an end and thoughts of starting work dawn, it is important to research and get to know more about the functioning of different companies. A good idea about the structures of various organizations, big and small, will go a long way in giving aspirants an idea about what to expect. It is important, in my opinion, to look at the various profiles, develop an understanding of the core and added responsibilities, get to know the management and explore opportunities to grow and learn. Working for big companies will enable you to boast of a name and expose you to an assembly-line style of work but ascent will take time and the work can get monotonous. New and smaller companies can be a little disorganized and might want employees to figure things out on their own but offer flexibility and quick growth.
A decision has to be taken regarding what kind of exposure and work-experience would one like before taking up the first job. Once that decision is made, a lot of things become clear.
Go Straight for the Bush
Many of us might be familiar with the expression “beating about the bush”. It basically means avoiding the point. Given something to speak about or write on, we often indulge in it if we are not sure what exactly to say or don’t understand the topic. This can see you through a few situations in life but will surely go against you in professional life. When you appear in interviews or make presentations, you will be expected to stick to the topic. Digressions will not be appreciated.
For many of us, it becomes difficult initially to stop ourselves from deviating once we start speaking or writing. In academic spheres or debates between friends, one thing leads to another and before you know it, you have switched tracks. In professional life, there’s little time and you will be required to keep the pace up. Your speeches and written works need to be brief and to the point.
Practicing speaking at home or between friends is a good exercise i feel. Just choose a topic and set yourself a time limit of 5-10 minutes. Try to speak or write about it within that time. Stay focussed and suppress any urge to move away from the topic. Say or write only as much you know and do not be under the impression that you are expected to know everything. If you haven’t understood a question while facing an interview, request the interview panel to repeat the question or explain it a little so that you know exactly what is being asked. Rest assured it will be appreciated more than confusion and the consequent beating about the bush.
Think in English
Many of us are in the habit of talking to ourselves. When we are alone and don’t have anything important to do, various random thoughts drift in and out of our minds. Now if we are asked in which language we think or talk to ourselves, most of us will say that we think in our mother tongues. Even in response to a question in English, we think about the reply in our mother tongues and try to translate it into English. However, sometimes we find that we do not have/ know English equivalents for all the words in our regional languages which constitute our reply.
In professional lives, this might lead to the serious problem of being unable to express ourselves. You cannot always rehearse your speech while making presentations or explaining the nuances of a project to your clients or colleagues. You have no way of knowing what questions might be thrown at you or what new ideas you might get out of interactions. In order to be proficient in a language it is extremely important that you think in that language. So if you are learning English, make sure you also think in it. You will figure alternate ways of expressing certain concepts or words in your language for which there are no exact English equivalents. In addition to gaining confidence while communicating, this will add a lot of flexibility to your thinking.