When it comes to apply for an industry job, many PhD scholars think that more is better, but the fact is less is more. Adding unnecessary things to your resume will not impress a recruiter or hiring team. You must remember that all the years that you have spent in completing your PhD will come down to a few seconds when your resume is presented on the table of recruiters. They will scan through your resume in hardly five to six seconds and pick your skills that will help them analyse whether or not you are suitable for a position in industry. Here are the things that you should not include in your resume when it comes to put in for a job at industry.
Your Job Duties
Your industry resume is not like an academic resume. You should talk about your achievements instead of what you did during academia. Recruiters always try to know how you can give benefits to them. Your hiring by an industry is a cost, and recruiters will scrutinise whether you will give them return more than the cost or not. So when you prepare an industry resume you should mention your accomplishments, not how you achieved them. Don’t include keywords like job duties and responsibilities included. You should read some books that help you understand how to handle recruiters, prepare an admirable resume, industry resume templates, behavioural preparation, and of course salary negotiation ways.
Objective Statement
Don’t write an objective statement in your resume otherwise it will box you into a corner. You should emphasise on your achievements instead. Present them in an attractive way to grab recruiters attention. Use bullet points and numerical digits. You should mention your all-round achievements, industry-related skills, and summaries of successful projects. This style presentation of a resume instantly grabs attention of managers. So if you don’t want to be overlooked by a quick glance of managers, follow this strategy.
Publications
Always bear in mind that you can’t leave a mark on recruiters with your publications. Even R&D managers don’t pay attention to publications. They want to know your experience and skills over your academic performance. So avoid bragging about your publications. Emphasise on your skills instead.
Impersonal Greeting
Don’t use impersonal greetings such as Dear Sir or To Whom It May Concern on the top of your CV. you should use personal greeting instead. Most time industry jobs are given to referrals. You should try to know about the hiring manager of a company where you are applying for a job. However, this is possible only with the help of networking. Expand your network on social media platforms, attend face-to-face conferences, events, and job fairs. You will come to know about several companies, and then you can find HR managers of those companies. Try to connect with them on social media platforms like LinkedIn. Start a professional chat with them. You will be able to know more about companies and vacant positions. This will help you give personal greeting on the top of your cover letter.
Writing Your CV as an Article
As recruiters spend very short time on scanning resumes so your CV should not be brimmed with long tedious paragraphs. Instead of writing long and dense texts you should note down everything in bullet points. This will help recruiters to quickly glance at your skills. Don’t use small fonts and styles that are difficult to read by recruiters.
So bear these points in your mind while drafting an industry resume.