Fancy Resume Appearance Unnecessary

Chen Qiaoyan is a senior student majoring in English. She already prepared her resume a long time ago for the coming job hunting season. For her, a well designed, high quality copy of her resume is very important.

"For instance, color printing the cover, using good quality paper, the design and style of the resume can all be designed particularly, according to different positions I am applying for. That's why a resume has different templates. I used to spend 50 yuan on the design. 70 to 80 percent of my classmates think having professionals design the resume is necessary."

For Zhao Jingjing, another senior student, working experience should be the highlight of a resume rather than the design and the appearance.

"I think the most important part should be my intern experience. I always think about what the employers want to see when they are reading my resume. I am an undergraduate student. Academic research is not something I have experience in so my intern experience and the certificates I have so far are the core of my resume."

Huang Qingrong has been working as HR manager in a PR company for five years. She says her company receives several hundred resumes from college graduates every year. She and her staff have very limited time to read the resumes.

She thinks spending too much time and money on the appearance of the resume is not necessary. She also gives some suggestions on how to write a resume.

"A good ID picture is necessary. But other designs like color printing are kind of a waste. An application letter is good. You should state your understanding of the company, like its latest developments and why you are suitable for the job. Plus, many students pile up the information on a resume when they should elaborate more on the content they want to present to the company and skip the rest."

Lu Zhiming, HR general supervisor of another company says he usually spends no more than 30 seconds on reading a resume. His standards for a well written resume include clarity, simplicity and any working experience directly related to the job vacancy. In addition to encouraging college students to acquire related work experience, he offers some valuable suggestions.

"If there is a job vacancy in a company, the company prefers finding a new employee via its own staff's introduction. Knowing this rule, students may think about using the resource of their schoolmates who have already graduated. These connections may provide them with more opportunities."

For China Drive, I am Li Dong.