In this day and age, asking your friend to email you their chio resume template and then simply cutting and pasting your own career details doesn’t quite cut it.
What you want is your professional persona to showcase how you fit the job and industry you’re gunning for. Thanks to various free online resume creation tools available, it’s not that hard to create a winning resume!
Zarina Abu Bakar, a certified Career Practitioner with 13 years of experience with Workforce Singapore (WSG), believes these resume builders can be of great help if you’re looking to build your resume. “These sites simplify your resume writing process with ready resume templates. All you need to do is fill in your professional information.”
For some background, Zarina specialises in helping professionals through career exploration and coaching on resumes, job interviews and professional branding, and has helped over 3,000 professionals, managers, executives and technicians (PMETs) to move into careers that align with their interests, strengths and values!
Customising your resume still matters
However, this doesn’t just mean you only use the standard templates found on such sites without edits or tweaks.
Zarina shared: “While these resume templates are indeed useful, jobseekers also need to ask themselves: will this resume format help to sell their skills and experiences, and catch an employers’ attention?”
Format also matters, of course. “For example, employers will always prefer to see a career summary at the top of the resume, summarising your overall work experiences”, she added.
Are adding extra academic activities from school or personal hobbies on your resume really relevant?
In a Singapore context, one thing local jobseekers might wonder is whether adding those extra-academic activities taken during your schooling days, or simply personal passions that you enjoy, really helpful in getting a potential employer’s attention on a resume?
Zarina believes so, revealing: “For fresh graduates, showcasing extra-curricular activities can help, especially when the activities demonstrate skills and qualities desired by employers.
“For example, this can include leadership skills, communication skills, project management, or events organization.”
Raring to get going on your resume? Here’s a quick list of some online tools and starter packs that you might want to consider!
Cvmaker.com
What this site promises: “Often, it is important to be able to tailor your resume based on the job you wish to apply for. With CVmaker, you can create and manage several different resumes in an organised way through your own personal account hub.”
Resume.io
What this site promises: “Use professional field-tested resume templates that follow the exact ‘resume rules’ employers look for. Easy to use and done within minutes – try now for free!”
Canva.com
What this site promises: “Land your dream job with captivating CVs you can professionally customize, to reflect your true potential with Canva’s free resume templates and easy-to-use design editor.”
Workforce Singapore’s resume starter pack
What Zarina promises: “Designed for Singaporean jobseekers, it’s good to make the process of resume writing and interview coaching for you as simplified as possible.
“This starter pack summarises the key points in a concise way, so local jobseekers can use it as a guide when crafting their own resume or preparing for interviews.”
