Resume writing

Resume is really important part of application process and getting job. Remember that you have to sell yourself, but you have to be honest. Presentation as well as wording is important part of resume. Writing good resume also reflects that you have good writing skill, which is one of core skill you need to be a good doctor in western country.  This is you chance of showing that you have good knowledge about computer and Microsoft word. I recommend that you include your professional photograph, use advance knowledge Microsoft word (use help button, ask your friend if you don't know or use professional) to formatting. Google for resumes/format of resumes, how to write good resume, as you will find lots of examples and good suggestion. I suggest resume should be edited according to job specification, so each job requires new resume, but most of the time it is just adding few things and deleting few things or editing. Make sure that you include mandatory and optional job requirement in your resume in some way.

There are few core things you need to include as a necessary and there are few optional things you can write to put more impression. This is your chance to get an interview. Most of the people do get job if they will get interview. Hospital administration doesn't want to waste your and their time for interview if they are not keen to give you job.

Core things:

• A4 size paper (if you are going to send electronically, make sure that it prints on A4 without any correction). Ideally 2 pages and maximum of 3 pages of core things.
• Personal detail: Your full name (as in your passport), your current address and contact detail including email address (this is the last thing you want that hospital was happy to call you/email you, but your phone number was wrong or you don't access your email for 1 month) date of birth (optional, but I recommend), sex, marital status (write your spouse occupation, if your spouse is doctor), nationality (optional, but definitely write if you have Australian working visa - like PR, Australian citizenship), driving licence if you have one.
• Qualifications - write medically relevant qualifications in chronological manner (latest first) and then all other qualifications - non medical. Include your AMC status and IELTS/OET status.
• Experience in chronological order - if you are out from workforce for certain reason, make sure you write that like maternal leave, non medical study, travelling, but don't leave that up to guess. In your experience, you should include your key duties (here you can add, edit or delete duties according to job advertisement). Include your voluntary experience like observership, special program attendance, Sumatran work etc.
• Continuous professional development: explain how you keep yourself up to date with current medical knowledge and what did you do so far since your medical school. Write you publications or journal articles you wrote.
• Registration status: You must write if you are register in your country, other country and whether you have any registration (including past) like temporary registration in Australia.
• Non-clinical skills: write everything which is relevant like computer knowledge, sports, memberships
• Referee: you must include current referee who were your medical supervisor or at least write that happy to provide as necessary. Make sure you have at least 3 referee ready for this. Find out three strong people (ideally local, national then last chance in your country) like department head or unit head. If you have local referee (if you did any medical course or observership) then definitely include them. 

Optional things:

Most of your prospective employers are Australia based and usually doesn't travel to get information about overseas university or hospital. It would be nice to include nice summary for your university, attached hospital and hospitals where you have work experience. You can write 3-4 pages for this, but make sure that you write nice headings, so if your prospective employer wants to read about the organisations, they can do so. Again, if they are not interested then it goes in file and you are not wasting their time.

It is not essential, but it would be nice to have copies of your qualifications, registration certificates and relevant certificates attached to resume. Again put nice big headings, so you are not wasting your prospective employers time. I would suggest scan copy (.pdf format is usually better than .jpg) of your documents and provide with electronic resumes.

After you have done, read at least 2 times and make sure you are happy with your performance. Check spellings and grammatical mistakes. Ask your friends or partner to go through your resume for proof reading. I am happy to provide proof reading and formatting service at reasonable cost if anyone would like to have that done. Please email me with your resume and detail.

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