As the comments say, the real objective is to land a good job where the candidate has a good relationship with the company. The interview is the stepping stone to the job, and the CV is the stepping stone to the interview and induction process.

I’ve always liked resumes with a bit of sunshine – an individuality of content (and sometimes design, where applicable) yet an accepted format. I.e. the required info must be left out, important things first, clear-cut language, short resumes are the requirements. Within that, the candidate has great room to shine. I sent a colored resume & a yellow cover letter for a media job, that I landed successfully. But I won’t dare do the same for a bank.

As Qazi says, the most tedious thing is to see resumes that look like other resumes – a typical problem with graduate resumes. Differentiation is the key to catching attention.

2. One professional asks another do you know some one with these skill he replies yes i do i will send you his CV or ask him to send you his CV. this case you get an interview with some boost

3. Last but most important one. this is the one our graduates confuse with sifarish. your cousin uncle calls his friend who owns a software house to set up an interview. here is the conversation that goes on between the Owner and the HR or The lead hiring him (This is based on some true stories )
Manager to HR or Team Lead “Do we have a requirement of a fresh graduate”
HR : “No we don’t at the moment”
Manager “hmm, acha I have a very close friend whose nephew is graduated from xyz university, call him for an interview see if he is technically good. If he is keep his CV for future hiring, if he is not make sure in the interview he leaves feeling he is not upto mark for our company but do call him for an interview ”
another variation
A friend calls another in a company and says. yaar i hae a freinds younger brother graduating from universities. he is a very close friend i am sending you his CV. can you make sure he gets called atleast for the interview.

this person when arrives for the interview has a negative placing even before the interview starts

so let me re-iterate all private companies are performance based they can’t used slackness so a fair interview is your only choice to start respectably. if you enter through a reference you have extra load of negative expectations that you have to shed. also if you get in through reference and not performing you will be left out. not to mention the fact that the people getting in through references are not a hidden fact and gain the dis-respect of all other peers making his life more difficult.

E.g. “Yes I decided to leave the CS field and tried gardening for 6 months but now coming back to CS” is not a good reason.

As long as you could describe clearly how that 3-4 month experience in between helped you grow as a professional and get more mature about your field, you will be able to convert the bad thing (gap) into a positive point about yourself.