Resume Success Index

How Much Time Does A Recruiter Spend On Your Resume?

Objective of your resume?

Talking About Your Work Experience On Your Resume

Cover Letters For A Hospitality Resume

Resume Do Nots

Sample Objectives for a Résumé for the Hospitality Industry and the Food and Beverage Industry

Top 10 CV mistakes

How Much Time Does A Recruiter Spend On Your Resume?

Not very much. 😞
You spend a lot of time & effort in making sure your resume is well prepared, accurate and attractive. You make sure its professional and yet not common, makes you stand out and yet not sound boastful. Some even hire specialists to help them make a resume that does all the above.
And yet, the recruiter only spends maybe 20-30 seconds the first time they encounter your resume.
Let us talk about the reasons first, and then we will talk about what to do.

Here are the reasons:
1. With the online method of application, one can apply to jobs in a simple click. This maybe good when you are applying, but it is disastrous at the other end. The sheer number of resumes that flow in for any position is large and sometimes it is a deluge.
2. Everybody applies. There seems to be no think and apply strategy here. Since it is so easy to apply (monster, for e.g. lets you apply to a number of jobs together!) some don’t even read what the requirements are.
3. The new recruiter is very excited with the number of responses, until she starts sifting through them. Junk Junk & more junk. Pretty soon, she is bored!

What do you need to do?
1. Apply only to jobs you really are interested in. Don’t send your resume to every thing that comes up on your job search.
2. Tailor your resume for the job you are applying for. We have received the same resume from candidates for the positions of Restaurant Manager, Food & Beverage Manager and General Manager.
3. Know what the recruiter is looking for. You will see this in the candidate specifications.

a. If the recruiter has specified an area of expertise, highlight that.
b. If the emphasis is on experience, bold that.
c. If the thrust is on a particular company or location, lead with that.

4. Forget attachments. Put your resume in the mail. It is cumbersome to open attachments. If you insist on attachments, make it a pdf please.
5. See how your summary looks. Most sites (Naukri, monster, timesjobs) have a summary of your resume sent to the recruiter. She may not go further than that if the summary does not talk about what the recruiter is looking for.
6. Make your resume stand out. Do something unconventional with your resume. Some caution here, do not make it a presentation, do not make it in rainbow colours.
All in all, you have to ensure you pass the screening stage. Post that, most recruiters will spend a considerable amount of time on your resume.

Objective of your resume?

The job of a resume is to get you an interview. That’s it.
A resume is not supposed to get you selected, that is what an interview is for.  The resume should be able to show the recruiter, the company, the boss that you are someone he/she would like to have in his/her team.

When does that happen?
When your resume answers the questions that the recruiter / company / boss is seeking answers to.

All of us have an objective on the resume. If you don’t, you probably missing out on the Headline of the news item that is your application!

Let us show you two examples:
1. "To contribute to a business that focuses on delivering value, quality & sustained customer satisfaction."
2."To work in an esteemed organization, which offers tremendous growth potential and wide exposure to the latest technologies, by applying the best business practices through innovative solutions and constantly updating my skills."

We don’t understand the use of such objectives? What is the intended purpose here?
What are they trying to say?

Your resume is an expensive real estate. 
It is advertising and it is expensive.
Think of every inch of paper having a value of INR 10000/- 
Now tell us, would you pay that much money to put something like that on your advertisement?
NO? we didn't think so either.

By all means, have an objective, but make it specific.
Call it an Immediate career goal or why you are applying to that company or for that position.

Here is an example of a good one:
" Seeking assignments in Sales & Marketing, Public Relation, Customer Servicing, Business Development & Credit Control with an organization of repute"
(personally, the organization of repute part is not required. If you are applying somewhere, you are not going to tell them they are not of repute!) But the rest of the stuff is great!

Here is a simple template or format for your objective:

'Applying for / Seeking <job title / type of work/ area of work/ level of work/ > positions/ opportunities with <company / industry> thereby making the most effective use of my talents, learning & experience.
Here is a simple template or format for your objective:
'Applying for / Seeking <job title / type of work/ area of work/ level of work/ > positions/ opportunities with <company / industry> thereby making the most effective use of my talents, learning & experience.

Spend some time creating 2 or 3 objectives for yourself.
Want to see more sample objectives? Click here

Talking About Your Work Experience On Your Resume

Talk about your experience.  Really talk!

Once you have your Objective (see Objective on your resume ) in place, you should start to look at the most important part of your resume.

This is the main course or the meat of it.

Think about it this way, if you could only talk about one thing on your resume what would it be? 
Exactly.  It is also the one thing recruiters go to first.

If you have any work experience, then you must talk about your work experience.
We don’t mean mention it on your resume, but really talk about it.

Most resumes have something like this:

' May 2006 - April 2007 Customer Services Agent XYZ Co'
or
' April 05 - May 07 Guest Service Associate ABC Hotel'

This tells the recruiter nothing!

Here's what you need to do:

Write at least one / two line descriptor.

What should the descriptor have?
Any or ALL of the following:

> What did you do in that job position
> Your main responsibilities
> Your level of interaction with customers
> How many people did you manage
> Did you conduct any training
> Were you responsible for a new product / service launch
> Any achievements in that position

Lets take some examples

>' May 2006 - April 2007 Customer Services Agent XYZ Co'
Responsible for all in-person queries and requests. Key tasks included, Initiating customer dockets, Actioning service requests, communication with customers and creating MIS.

> ' April 05 - May 07 Guest Service Associate ABC Hotel'
Part of the launch team for At-Your-Service concept - A one touch service provider mechanism. Responsible for all guest requests and In-room tasks, from Check In, to Dining, to House Keeping services, Billing and Check out.
Was awarded the Merit of Honor for outstanding service and nominated mentor to two new recruits.

Cover Letters For A Hospitality Resume

In the age of sending resumes by email, the covering letter needs to do some things and avoid some things. 

Things your covering letter/note should do: 

> Quick snapshot
Who are you, what are you applying for and why are you interesting. 

> Grab Attention
That’s right.  see How much time does a recruiter spend on your resume? 

>Make it easier for the recruiter

Things your covering letter/note should avoid: 

>Look like a normal printed/physical covering letter

>Confuse the recruiter

>Visually unappealing. 

Want an awesome e-cover letter? 

Do the following: 

> Make sure the subject of the email is packed with critical information
‘Applying for Executive Chef/12.00 yrs. exp/Diploma/(Hotel Management)/Bangalore/Working as Master Chef with XYZ
Immediately, in the subject itself the recruiter can get a very good snapshot of your basic credentials. 

> Use proper grammar for the note
Do not say ‘Hi’. It is easy to become informal in emails. This is business, very serious business, avoid familiarity. 
‘Greetings’ is a better way to open/start the note. 

> Mark the email to the concerned person as far as possible. 
If a generic email id is the only one mentioned, address it ‘Dear Sir or Madam:’ 

> Mention the Job Code as you see in the advertisement
If you are applying for something not advertised for, then mention that very clearly. e.g. ‘This is in response to your advert in TOI, dt 12/Dec’ or ‘I understand you are not currently recruiting. I am looking for an opportunity as ……..’ 

Resume Do Nots

> Do not write the word ‘Resume’ on top, or anything else that means just about the same thing. Bio-Data/ curriculum vitae etc.
> Do Not have any grammatical or spelling errors on your resume.
> Do not use words you do not understand
When asked what they mean by words like ‘transformational’ or ‘paradigm changing’ etc a lot of candidates have a blank look.
> Do not create an epic from your resume
A page is ideal. Two if you have loads of exp. No other excuse for verbosity.
 > Do not MASS MAIL
We understand emailing makes it easy to send your resume to multiple people all at once, but really the only thing you are doing is demonstrating how lazy you are.
Personalize your emails. Specify your interest, job details etc.
DO NOT, DO NOT mass mail.
> Do not Lie, or even Fib
Tempting as it is, it will be caught.
DO NOT LIE.
Resume integrity is paramount.
> Do not save money by printing cheap
Let the quality of the paper used and the quality of the printing show/demonstrate your value and your ability to do things well.
> Do Not use multi-coloured fonts
> Do Not use Heavy picture files
If your resume is loaded with pictures or heavy files, it make take too long to download or worse, get rejected by the server.
> Irrelevant pictures/formatting.

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 The 10 Application and CV Mistakes Hospitality Professionals Are Making

While applying for a job, you can make a difference in your application with your CV or Resume.

Below are the 10 mistakes that are keeping you from getting your dream job:

1.     Do not forward your emails from previous applications to new employers.

Why it is important

It shows that you have not made any efforts to draft a proper mail each time. Sometimes emails get forwarded with the rejected email in it, which gives a clear idea to the future employer that you have been rejected from which brands (Reason can be any) but a negative impression is made.

2. Never put up a Logo of the hotel/company or Picture, if you are not well versed with Image cropping and formatting in Word format.

Why it is important

First, it looks very ugly and cheap if the formatting is not done properly.

Second some images blur or are too big in size that your information gets missed out

Refer the Pic Below:

4. Always mention the City/College Name/ Month and Year in Education details.

This will give a clear idea of when you completed your education (degree/diploma) and from where.

6. Do not use Multiple Fonts in one CV or huge font size to highlight something.

Why it is important

Multiple fonts do not make your CV reader-friendly. Your resume must feel easy to read, only then will it get shortlisted. 

For Ex. In this Cv, the Candidate used 3 Fonts Also check the Large Cap, Small Cap Mistakes

7. Never Apply with Word format CV

Why it is Important

Always share your CV in PDF format. This ensures that your document looks the same irrespective of the software the hiring manager’s computer runs. 

8. Never share a CV which is added to your Google Drive and shared with a link

Why it is Important

Once the email is received and the Hiring manager tries to open the link, they get a message saying “Access Not Allowed” Or “Request Access”.

“Think about it like this, every time you make it a little more difficult for the hiring manager, they go to the next applicant.”

10. Keep a CV of 2-3 pages only if you have 10+ years of experience.

For freshers, a single page or max 2-page CV is enough.  Do not add space just to make your CV longer.