Resume dos and donts

Always submit a PDF copy of your resume instead of a Word file. May be a text file is also OK, but I don't apply to companies who request a Word file.

Better yet, deliver your resume as a signed PDF. Create your own digital signature in Adobe Acrobat Professional. It is tamper proof and shows that you care enough.

Adjust the properties and metadata of the PDF to look professional. It shows that you care for the finesse and know your tools.

When providing references to your publications, use specific guidelines for referencing. For example, APA, MLA, Harvard, ASA, etc. Read this, to know which one is best suited for you.

The critical parts of the resume that you want to linger in the subconscious memory of the reviewer like your name, your primary skills, and keywords around your major achievement should be towards the center of the page, instead of towards the edges.

Read each word/phrase separately and convince yourself and two friends about the importance of each word/phrase in there. If you cannot convince two friends, then do away with the words.

Create a mailto link on your mail ID. Populate as many mail fields as you can. Highlight your email in blue to indicate that it is a hyperlink.

Use only italics to highlight anything. Do not bold words or underline them to highlight. A printout of your resume should look neat and clean from more than a feet away. Of course, from nearby, it should read crisp too :)

Relative numbers, drawing contrasts, and providing percentages sound better most of the times. For example, 500% reduction in time sounds much better than "reduced effort from 2 months to 10 days".

Your residential address is not required unless you are sure the potential employer will send you snail mail. Save space, if you can.

Also, some employers can be biased knowing your commute. Avoid getting filtered out.

Use ample white space. Negative space never hurt anyone :)

For heaven's sake, please don't include your religion, your parent's name, your age, and other personal details. No employer is interested in such information and they are legally required to not differentiate based on such information.

Differentiate between your skills and your work experience. Work experience is the project-specific work you've done in the past. Skills are your learning and knowledge, resulting (may be partially) from doing that work.

Unless you are applying for a position of a one-man army (say for the post of a Superhero), do include all possible references to your work that showcase your soft skills and life skills, if you've done any such work. For example, mentoring or counseling, leading a project or a team, advising, torch bearing or pioneering, managing conflicts, volunteering, and so on.

Don't list projects and job description. Mention your contributions and achievements, the impact you had on the group, and the ROI for the organization. Being a member of any committee or a group doesn't count! What were your contributions as a member?

Instead of just using comparatives, mention the exact impact, if you can. For example, "lowered MTBF value by 10%" is better than writing "improved the process" or "lowered losses".

Unless you have many years of experience or are a genius who has created a lot of value in a short time, stick with one page resumes only. By all means wrap it up in maximum two pages.

Make sure the copyrighted, trademarked, and registered words are used with appropriate casing and branding guidelines are adhered to. It shows you care and have a good ATD. For example, JavaScript not Javascript, Microsoft not MicroSoft, LaTeX not Latex... you get the gist.

Watch out for casing, punctuation, hyphenation, and subject-verb agreements. And most importantly for the typos! "A 2013 CareerBuilder survey found that 58% of resumes have typos."

Not getting these basics right, is the most popular and sure way to get rejected. SMS language, lesser-known abbreviations, and obscure references left unexplained are a big NO. For example, engineering not 'engg', and not '&', information not 'info', and so on.

You may be under legal binding to prevent leak of company confidential information from previous employers. Don't divulge this in your resume. It could be a inside information, business secrets, or confidential market strategies. It goes to show you in bad light and any prospective employer will have trust issues.

Fake internships, dummy certificates, dubious jobs at no-name companies, etc. are surefire ways of hurting, not just your next job interview, but your long-term career as well. Just search here for CEOs fired for lying on their resume!

Easier said than done!

You don't need to go completely outside the box, like this. You can still give a fresh look to your resume for that stickiness factor. Some hints could be, a never seen before template, good use of design principles, extremely short but crisp resume, multi-layered PDF resume, and some such unconventional approach.

Heck, how about hiding an Easter Egg in your resume and ask the recruiter to find it?!

Link to your LinkedIn profile. Recruiters and hiring teams will benefit from knowing more info about you, in your own words. I'd to a step further and nudge you to not just have a few but have a few well-maintained ones. Smartly reuse content to create a few blogs entries, videos, presentations, Tweets, Pins, and what not. You don't need to invent content all the time.

It goes without saying to follow all the etiquette when communicating publicly. Don't leave a commentary on the Internet that can be used against you years later.