In the current fast-paced economy of Nigeria, the need to stand out of the crowd to get a job is much needed. If you are applying for a job frequently and are unable to receive any call for an interview, then just consider the issue with your resume. 

What is Resume?

The resume is the tool that communicates with the recruiting or hiring manager. The resume is different from Curriculum Vitae. In Curriculum Vitae the course of life is described in detail. The educational background, skills, expertise and the learnt experiences from the companies you have worked with are written in detail in the curriculum vitae. 

How Long Should a  CV be ?

The curriculum vitae is usually two or more two pages. The curriculum vitae is in general the whole series of events that happened in your life from graduation to your last job. Whereas the resume is a summary of your life altered according to the requirements of the job. The resume is composed of one page. The resume is the French word for the summary. 

Formatting for Resume in Nigeria

In the resume, the skills and experiences are described in a summary. The choice of words, the format of the resume and the presentation of the resume is the only thing that makes you stand out from the crowd. Following is the latest and successful reverse chronological resume format for the people applying for jobs in Nigeria.

 In this type of resume, things are written in reverse chronological order. On the topmost of the resume your work experience is mentioned then comes the skills, then the courses, diplomas or pieces of training conducted to enhance the expertise are mentioned, and the education comes at the end and parallel to that your interests are mentioned, extra curricular activities and hobbies are mentioned at the end. 

The plus point of using a reverse chronological order resume is that it provides the whole path view for the recruiter to assess the capability of the candidate for the job. This type of resume can be automatically assessed easily by Automated Tracking Systems. 

Do not mention the word Resume at the top of the document. Do not use words like team leader or leadership skills etc. Do not write anything unreal or not true in your resume, just write things that the candidate can defend. Avoid using slang or funky language in your resume.

Personal Information About The Candidate 

The candidate's contact information includes location, phone number, email address, and LinkedIn or Skype accounts. Always use sensible language for email. Do not use funky emails for professional purposes. All this information should be precisely written to the left of the resume. A two-column template should be used to build this resume format. The left column will be compact as compared to the right column. On the left column, the personal information about the candidate will be written in 5 to 6 steps under the picture of the candidate.

Name and Objective

On the top of the right column write in the following order:

The full name of the candidate, The Professional title a candidate is applying for will be written under the name. After this, write a summary of the candidate's professional work experience. It should be precise and compact. At the end write briefly two to three lines about the motive of applying for this job specifically. 

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Work Experience 

In this section, the work experience of the candidate is mentioned. The professional title candidate had at the job and details of the responsibilities and achievements the employee had at this job under this designation will be written in work experience. The above details of working with every company will be written in reverse chronological order. The company where the candidate worked lately or is working currently will be mentioned on top in work experience.

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Academic Background 

Below work experience in the right column, the detailed educational background will be written in reverse chronological order. Just mention the education from college to onwards. There is no need to mention schooling or other non-schooling education like any religious courses etc. 

Skills and Expertise

On the left column parallel to work experience, the skills and expertise will be mentioned in bullet format precisely. The mentioned skills and expertise should be relevant to the job the candidate is applying for.

Major Projects

Write a few bullets related to the final year project completed at the end of the last professional degree if any. The efforts you put into the completion of the project and the things learnt will be mentioned in this section.

Reference

The reference section is not a must, just write ' the reference will be provided if asked'. Usually, the reference is a recommendation letter from your last job, and a contact number is provided to verify the credibility of the candidate.