Simple Resume Format For Students, Professionals - Download

Are you the person who strives for perfection? When it comes to showcasing your skills, experience, knowledge etc. a resume is a great tool. You surely don’t want to miss anything or do poorly. A simple resume format is a perfect snapshot of your professional life, achievements and hard work etc.

Sounds very simple because you are the best storyteller of your life. Yet, it’s hard to fit your life on a piece of paper.

An effective thing about a simple resume format is that it opens a wide range of opportunities. Either you are a fresher or an experienced professional you never want to miss the chance to grab the attention of recruiters or hiring managers. In today’s competitive market, recruiters spend an average of 7.4 seconds skimming through a resume. Simple resume format with distinct parts and heading titles are characteristics of resumes that are successful in getting recruiters’ attention.

Technology role

Screening hundreds of resumes or curriculum vitae is very challenging for hiring managers. Practically, it is a tedious, time-consuming and mundane task. It is hard to focus continuously with great attention to details. Also, speed matters a lot, as companies want to close positions as soon as possible. Technology helps here and does the heavy lifting. Tech serves as a game-changer for busy, overwhelmed recruiters.

• Screening resumes using search terms related to skills, experience, employers, education, etc.
• Filtering the candidates based on the questions answered during the application process.
• Using technology, such as automated scheduling and on-demand interviews, to reduce time spent on menial administrative activities.

Simple Resume Writing Is An Art

Every position is unique, just as every applicant is. As a result, each person uses a different resume format.

However, a number of techniques are frequently employed. You should be aware of the best techniques for creating a successful format for resume.

Recruiters advice for simple resume format

• Recruiters or hiring managers want to see your personality shine through your simple resume. Not with the fancy colors and styles but actually with the context.
• Highlight what you have done in past. Your prior accomplishments.
• Mention activities you have been involved in.
• Examples of your leadership skills, where you have shown or demonstrated your leadership qualities.
• Try to limit the number of pages. One page simple resume is the best. Don’t make it easy for recruiters to get lost in your CV as they flip through pages.
• Quantify your experience. You absolutely don’t want hiring manager to do math for figure out your total and relevant experience.
• Highlight your volunteer experience (if any). What you have done and how far you have gone in that. It depends on hiring manger personality, whether they emphasize on this information. This could be a key differentiator and you may not want to miss any opportunity to get shortlisted.
• Nobody wants to struggle to search for the relevant information. Therefore, ensure all necessary information is available on the first page.
• Avoid typo or grammatical mistakes. Proof read your simple resume format and ask your friends to review it.
• It may take some time to put together a fantastic one-page simple resume format. Give yourself time instead of rushing things.

Simple Resume Format

Personal Info

Generally this is the top section of your simple resume. You should highlight your name, overall experience, contact details (email, IM, mobile number), social profile links, current location etc. A professional passport-size photograph is also advised for several resume format styles. This depends upon the country where you are looking for a job. Ideally, your curriculum vitae shouldn’t include a picture of you.

It’s imperative that you provide the recruiting manager with all relevant personal information about yourself. All of this data is conveniently available to recruiters in one location. Ideally, one or two social profile links are sufficient, such as LinkedIn, Github, MentorIF etc. In case, other social links make sense, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter etc. use them as per your professional background. You should not clutter this information. Keep it professional. This is how the example section appears.

Brief Introduction

This section is very important in your simple resume format as it helps you succinctly highlight your whole career achievements and key points. It is a synopsis of your professional life and the contributions you have made thus far. Don’t miss this opportunity to charm the hiring manager at the very first place. In case you are a fresher and have very few or nothing to mention professionally, you can still mention your personal achievements or key highlights of your college life. This will help you grab the attention of the hiring manager and persuade them to spend more time on your resume. The sample format looks like this.

Professional Background

One liner bullet points showcasing the companies you have worked for, title held and duration of employment. Recruiters can quickly comprehend everything when there is a clear and chronological career trajectory. If you are a student or recent graduate, you should include information on your educational progression, internships, training etc. because recruiters will be particularly interested in this. Keep it tidy and simple. The sample section looks like this.

Experience

By far the recruiters have enough information to be genuinely intrigued by your profile. Unless your profile is completely irrelevant to the job you have applied for, hiring managers may want to continue looking into specifics and in-depth details. Let’s provide the information the hiring manager is seeking in your simple resume format. Things you should emphasize in this section.

• What have you accomplished while working for companies?
• Impact it brought to business?
• What have you learned?
• How have you grown there?

Use S.T.A.R. Method. The S.T.A.R. Method is a common framework that is used to explain a candidate’s past experiences. STAR stands for Situation, Task, Action, and Result. When thinking through a past experience, start by explaining the situation, then move on to the task that you were assigned. Continue by explaining the actions that you took, and then wrap up by sharing the results.

You can manage the aforementioned information either company-wise or domain-wise. But, the key is to keep it brief, readable, and simple. No one is interested in reading long paragraphs. Tidy and precise bullet points are appropriate.

Company-wise is very easy, but imagine you’ve done similar work for a number of businesses in the same industry. Now, it would be redundant if you provided the same information for each organization. As a result, organize the companies by domain and emphasize above points collectively. Limit yourself to 3-5 companies, if you have several. This is how the example section appears.

Tools & Technologies

At this point shift your focus from providing brief info to keywords and phrases. In this section, you should list all the resources you may have used—tools, technologies, libraries, third parties, etc. Sort the items on this list from most to least frequently used. It should reflect what you use regularly to complete your work.

Don’t use your own short forms or jargon. Find how people search them on Google. The best option is to choose the list from the job description if you are tailoring your CV for a particular position. Use just those that you have worked with. Sort the list in the same order as above. Sample section looks like this.

Expertise

Do not be confused by the preceding section. Your knowledge is not superfluous in the age of tools and technologies.Both are totally dissimilar. For instance, one might, for instance, be an expert in digital marketing and tools could be Facebook, Instagram, Sendgrid etc. One might be an expert in keyword research and tools could be Google Keyword Planner etc. One might be an expert in web development and tools could be Java, Mysql etc. Keep your expertise separate from tools and technologies and mention them separately in this section. Use the same keyword strategy. This is how the example section appears.

Soft Skills

Anything you have done above comes under hard skills. If you have soft skills such as good communication, problem-solving, team building etc. mention in this section. You should not lie on your resume. If given a chance to talk about your soft skills, you ought to support them with a real-life example from your experience.

This is a great opportunity to outperform and win over your competitors in an interview. Soft skills become a differentiator when you and your competitor are equal. The sample section appears as follows.

Projects, Trainings, Certifications

This part is for you if you have completed any training, certifications, courses or side projects out of personal interest. This is pretty straightforward. Short bullet points. Make separate sections for each of these if you have the information.

Formats

The information above can be listed in a simple one-column format. However, the two-column style makes it more compact. It would make greater use of the available space and fewer pages. Personal information is at the top center aligned. Brief Intro, Professional background, experience in left column and tools & technologies, expertise and soft skills in the right column. Two column simple resume format looks like this.

Best Practices

• For sharing, always use the pdf format.
• Always keep your resume up to date. Delete any information that is no longer valid or relevant.
• Avoid making grammatical or spelling errors. Before sharing your CV, proofread it.
• Although you may always have a general resume, attempt to tailor it to the position you are looking for.
• Including relevant links to your resume help hiring manager.

When your resume is prepared, you can schedule a free mentorship session with one of the mentors at MentorIF to have them look it over and offer some insightful input. It’s challenging to write a resume that is perfect the first time. Mentors can assist you in enhancing your resume to the point where it raises your likelihood of being shortlisted for the position you want.

You can publicly share the link to your profile with anyone after creating your MentorIF account. It not only showcases your past, but also what you aspire to learn in the future. As of the time this blog post was written, the profiles at MentorIF looks like this.

Download the simple resume format in MS word (.docx) format from the links below.

Google Drive

Direct Download

If you have any questions about the company, interview preparation, team, culture, growth etc. you can get in touch with mentors listed at MentorIF. Additionally, you can reach out to our support team. MentorIF is a great Mentoring and Training Platform for students and professionals. With the mentors of your choice, you can arrange for a free one-on-one mentoring session. It costs nothing to chat with mentors. Don’t think twice before sending them your first message. You can also request for training to advance your knowledge and career. You can also discuss your requirements with our support team.  We will assist you by creating a training program that is specifically tailored to your needs and matching the right mentors on the training.