With the economy growing at a robust pace, employment opportunities are multiplying, particularly in the rural sector, with companies focusing on the untapped potential there. Mint presents a fortnightly column on job prospects in the sector.

I have worked for more than three years in the Gulf in a reputed agribusiness company that is primarily into breeding of plants. I carry a postgraduation qualification in breeding and have produced excellent results. My role has been recently shifted as “sales coordinator”. What will this change mean to my career?

As much as possible, one should try to be in the mainstream of an organization. For example, for a person working in a bank, it is important for career growth that he/she learns and excels in banking. Similarly, the mainstay of your organization is plant breeding and in the long run, the organization is expected to make some efforts to retain the breeders and business development officers. Compensation is also related to scarcity or abundance of skills sets. Hence, employees who possess specialized skills receive premium compared with a generalist profile. The sales support function may be good as an exposure if it is expected to last for a short period. However, a stint longer than six months to a year may not be desirable in the event a choice is available to you.

What would be the key tips to write a good resume?

Your resume is typically read by someone who has to see hundreds of resumes before shortlisting for personal or telephonic interview. Hence, the time devoted to each resume lasts between a few seconds and a minute. The decision to proceed, therefore, depends on the relevant bullet points observed during the browsing. Hence, in the beginning of the resume, you could mention key points, such as education, years of experience, industry, functional area, designation, current location, current company, age, etc. In most cases, the employer hunts for this information during the screening process. The details can follow later. Please try not to insert any information that is not relevant to the decision-making process, information such as father’s name, last line confirming that information is true, irrelevant information (such as research papers published while applying for a marketing job), or mentioning a job objective that could be contradictory to the job applied for. In a nutshell, you need to make sure that each word mentioned in the resume displays your suitability for the applied job. Lastly, the resume length should be ideally restricted to a maximum of two pages.

Ajay Gupta is CEO of ruralnaukri.com. Comments and feedback are welcome at askmint@livemint.com