CV Resume Writing

Writing an effective Resume or CV

A resume or a curriculum vitae is one of the most vital documents that stands as a bridge between you and your dream job. It is a document that lists all the details about your work experience, education, skills, and achievements. A resumeacts as the representation of your personality as a whole and helps the EA panel to weigh up whether you will be a valuable asset to the pool of engineers in Australia or not. It is a way to effectively market yourself to the EA. Your CV is the first impression the panel has of you and with a favorable impression, they are more likely to select your application to live a better life in Australia.

Elements of a resume

Personal Details: Personal details are one of the most crucial aspects of a CV or resume. Full name and contact information (email and phone number) are the foremost things to be mentioned in the document. Double-check the information provided in this section and ensure that everything is correct and up-to-date. Your application won't go far if the panel can't get in touch with you because you misspelled your email. 

Summary or Career Objective: A summary is a short statement that helps you to pitch yourself through your resume. If you do not have much professional experience, consider adding an objective to your CV to outline yourambition and skills for the EA panel to assess. However, if you carry some professional experience, it is advised to include a short summary of your career that briefly describes your past experiences and where you aim to reach next. The first impression is certainly the last impression, therefore, it is important to accomplish a successful resume by writing an attractive objective or summary.

Education Qualifications: You should start by listing your latest education qualification first and work in the reverse chronological order. This section includes details about the courses or degrees you've completed in your life be it at the high school, undergraduate, graduate, or postgraduate level. Highlight the special areas of study, awards, and other relevant achievements.

Work Experience: Work experience is the most important part of your resume. This is where you actually sell yourself to the EA panel. It is important to add your most recent job experience first, working backward. It is advised to give a brief overview of each of the work assignment added in your resume. It should include details about your responsibilities, achievements, and the crucial details of the practical engineering skills applied in that particular assignment. You can also mention the relevant internships and training in this section but make sure you clearly separate the work experience from the internships and training. The work experience section should include the following details about each job mentioned

• Position Title
• Company name, location, and description.
• Responsibilities and achievements.
• The timeframe of employment.

Make sure that you tailor your resume according to the preference of the EA panel so that it stands out from the competition.

Skills, Strengths, or Interest: Create different headings for each of these topics and list information that'll benefit your visa application.

The skills section is a must-have fragment in your CV or resume. This part highlights all the technical know-how that makes you a perfect fit for the applied job in Australia. There are two types of skills that you can mention in your resume, i.e. the hard skills and the soft skills. Hard skills are measurable abilities whereas the soft skills include all the personal skills of an individual. A good resume should include both. Align these skills with your engineering discipline in order to impress the EA panel.

Interests add some spice to your resume. It is this section that helps you to effectively characterize what you are as an individual to the EA panel.

References: Many times the EA panel requires references of the people you know from your professional background to vouch for your skills and capabilities. Include the contact information and company details of a former employer, manager or advisor to support your provided details.

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Other Sections

Languages: It is beneficial to mention if you're bi-lingual or multi-lingual in your resume. It comes handy as the panel can understand whether you'll be able to grasp and communicate the messages effectively at the job or not. Assign an appropriate level to the language you mention in your CV. It can be native, fluent, proficient, intermediate, or basic.

Publications: If you have any published work, a research paper related to the invention of a new use of some engineering skills, in your portfolio, it is this section that will help you to show it off. Remember to include a URL of the published work in your resume so the EA panel knows where to check your contributions to the community.

Certification and Awards: It is beneficial to add the details of all the awards and certifications you've received from the industry experts in your area of study. These awards and certificates will help you to stand out from the crowd.

Projects: If you've ever worked on a side project related to your engineering discipline that can represent your passion for the field, do mention it in your curriculum vitae. These projects can be a part of your university module or part-time entrepreneurial activity. These projects help you to stand better at landing an approved visa for immigration.

Declaration: It is important to add a declaration at the end of your resume or CV to provide verification of all the information you've presented to the panel. It states that you're providing authentic information to the EA panel as per your best knowledge.

Choose an appropriate format: There are no standard rules for formatting a CV or resume. However, there are three formatting options to choose from while writing your resume i.e. reverse chronological order. functional order, or a combination.

Chronological order is the most common format followed by almost every other resume made by an individual. This format is flexible and suitable for a candidate with any level of work experience. It is considered to be the traditional format for writing a CV.

Functional order, on the other hand, is suitable for a skill-based resume. It heavily emphasizes on the qualifications of a candidate.

A combination resume merges the bits and pieces from both of the other orders and thus, showcases the expert knowledge of the candidate.

Adding effective margins: One-inch margin should be added to a resume or CV so that it improves its appearance and reduces the overcrowdedness.

Once you're through with adding all the information in your resume, go through it again to double-check some pointers to perfect your resume

• Make sure that your contact section includes all the important information.
• Check the professionality of the email id added in the CV.
• Make sure that your resume follows the right and same format throughout.
• Your resume should be 1-2 pages long.
• Include all the above-mentioned elements in your CV and check for the grammatical and spelling errors.
• List the most relevant work experience along with the achievements acquired in each of them.
• Tailor your resume according to the needs and preferences of the EA panel. It should reflect the reasons for you being a quality addition to the pool of engineers in Australia.
• Cross-check the educational details mentioned in your resume.
• Get a fresh set of eyes to proofread your resume. It will highlight the mistakes more easily.

A candidate should prepare his resume with utmost care while keeping the career objectives and goals in mind. There are certain things you should have in mind while creating your resume

• It should provide all the details of your education and professional background. The education details can begin preferably from an undergraduate program and continue until the master's program. You can add all the work experiences, even the smallest ones, to enlighten the panel about your employment details.
• Be honest while compiling your resume. A member from the EA panel will definitely verify each and every event mentioned in your resume or CV.
• The CV must be prepared in either Australian or British English. In case you're a non-native English citizen, a letter of recommendation from the employer and its copy in English is required by the EA panel.
• Keep your resume short and to the point, so that the employer can grasp information at just a quick glance.
• The design and layout should be neat to avoid the chaos in your resume. Split up the text in paragraphs and bullet points for better understanding of the information.
• Leave out personal details like the religion, age, or marital status from your curriculum vitae.
• Do not include the salary expectations or previous salaries received in the resume.
• Read the job description carefully and add appropriate keywords in your CV or resume from the job description.
• A resume should always be written in active language.
• Make strategic use of italics, bold, and caps to call attention at relevant places of your CV.

A weak resume will never attract the consideration of the EA panel and will thus cost your opportunity to live a better life in a new country.