Crafting a Resume

• A resume is the first document a hiring employer reviews in an application.
• Resumes and application letters establish academic and career background.
• Writing a resume is a skill that can be acquired through research.
• Acquiring job summary, skills, and experience writing skills can open doors to future opportunities.
• Resume is derived from the French word "resumer," meaning "sum up."
• A resume contains a written summary of an applicant's education, work experience, accomplishments, and needed job skills.
• An applicant submits a resume with a cover letter as part of the application process.
• The resume should be accurate, updated, and developed with effort and time.
• Choose a resume format that highlights your education, skills, and experience.
• Employers spend less time on applicant resumes, so impressive content is crucial.
• Senior High School requires crafting a powerful resume to support chosen exit points, such as employment, entrepreneurship, higher education, or skills development.

Three Types of Resumes

• Chronological, functional, and hybrid are the three main resume types.

Chronological Resume

• A chronological resume is the most commonly used format.
• It lists work experience in reverse time order, with the most recent experiences first.
• The chronological resume emphasizes responsibilities and accomplishments.
• Provides clear information in job titles, responsibility areas, periods of study, and employment.
• The chronological format highlights job history from the most recent job backward, with the greatest emphasis on the most recent.
• Its best for career history that shows growth and development.
• Headings to include are: personal details, career objective, and employment.
• Other common headings are: history, education, professional associations, and references.
• Use when your career objective is similar to work experience, your previous employer was prestigious, or you're applying for a highly traditional field or organization.

Functional Resume

• The functional resume emphasizes the job seeker's qualifications and skills, with less emphasis on specific employers and dates.
• Some functional resumes don't include a work history, but including it is advisable.
• Its useful if you are a new graduate with little experience, your career objective is very different from your experience, or your work history is spotty and patchy.
• It's also good to use after you have been absent from the job market for any length of time.
• Headings to include are: personal details, career objective, and selected achievements or accomplishments.
• Other common headings are: business, experience, professional assciations, educationd and references.

Hybrid Resume

• A hybrid resumes mixes chronological and functional formats into one resume.
• It's the most popular form of creating a resume.
• Used to modernize chronological resumes and tailor skills to the job.
• Tailored to give the employer a snapshot of relevant skills and show a work history.
• Use when you have limited work experience in the field you are applying for, but work experience in other fields.
• also ideal when in a highly traditional field or the employer requested a chronological format but you have a patchy or limited work history.
• use if you are a mature-age student with extensive work history but are looking to move into a new industry.
• You want to show you have a work history but also highlight relevant skills.
• Headings to include are: personal details, career objective, education, and employment.
• Other common headings are: history, skills, references, and extracurriculuar activities.

Essential Resume Sections

• Resume sections heavily depend on the chosen format.

Heading

• The resume heading contains the applicant's complete name, current address, and contact details.

Objectives

• Resume objectives (or career objectives) reflect the applicant's career goals and intentions for the job application.
• It must be specific so the employer understand what to expect from them.

Professional Summary

• The professional summary (or career summary/profile) showcases recent job experience, including soft skills.

Expertise and Achievement

• Expertise and achievement (or "professional skills"/"qualification") include personal and technical skills, certifications, and recognition received.

Work Experience

• Work experience (or "employment history"/"relevant experience"/"work history") includes all previous employment related to the job the applicant is applying for.
• Applicants with no work experience should first write their educational background, plus training and seminar attendance.

Educational Background

• The educational background section contains the applicant's degree, major, minor, field of concentration, school, and year attended.

References

• The reference section provides contact and background information on professional references.
• Including two to three references at the bottom of the resume enables employeers to learn about you and your work.

Tips for Effective Resume Writing

• Consistent spacing and evenly sized margins are important.
• Use traditional formatting: white page, black text, and a readable font.
• Choose a non-decorative font like Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, Helvetica, or Georgia.
• Ideal font size is between 10.5 and 12.
• One-inch margins are standard and helpful for job applicants without much experience.
• Use action verbs to describe your experience.
• Briefly discuss responsibilities and include statistics to help the employer.
• Only include significant accomplishments.
• Do not exaggerate the importance of your achievements.
• Omit personal information such as age, marital status, height, weight, gender, and religious affiliation.
• Minimize jargon and abbreviations and be concise.
• Always submit or mail a cover letter with your resume.

Writing Application Letters

• Possessing the skills needed on responding to written communications is a requirement for new career as a high school graduate.
• Writing a letter will increase your chances of landing your dream job or gain acceptane into a university.
• A College Admission Letter (or "letter of intent") is required for college or university admission.
• College letters consists of a usually one-page and concise discussion of your plans for attenting the college program.
• An Employment Application Letter (or "job application letter"/"cover letter") is attached to the resume when applying for jobs.
• Its purpose is to highlight the applicant's experiences and personal qualities that will allow them to be considered for an interview.
• The letter should be positively and professionally written, and free from any errors.

Parts of a Professional Letter

• Heading: The sender address is included in the header.
• Date: Indicates the date the letter was written.
• Inside Address: The receiver's address is included.
• Salutation: Begins with "Dear..." and ends with a colon (:).
• Body: The main part of the letter, including interests, reasons for choosing the university, academic interests, a request to consider the application, and contact information
• Complimentary Close: An appropriate closing remark.
• Signature: Includes your name and title; sign above the name.

Letter Formats

• Formats used include: full block, modified block, and semi-block format.
• The content in a cover letter will vary depending on the format or placement of a part.

Full Block Format

• Full Block Format is the most commonly used layout.
• In this format of writing, all parts are justified to the left.

Modified Block Format

• Modified block shifts the applicant's address, complimentary close, signature, and sender's identification to the right side.
• The first sentence in the body or in each paragraph is not indented.

Semi-Block Format

• Semi-block is the least used format.
• It is almost the same as the modified block format; however, the difference is that the first sentence in each paragraph is indented

Forms of Office Correspondence

• Letters play an essential role in the world of education, business, and communication and allows one to communicating details about courses, admissions, etc..

Business Letter

• Business Letter offers is used to externally communicate information from one company to another .
• Business letters can be formatted in full block, modified block, and semi-block.
• Different types of letters are sales letter, order letter, complaint letter, inquiry letter, adjustment letter, acknowledgement letter, follow-up letter, acknowledgement letter, cover letter, letter of recommendation and letter of resignation.

Business Memorandum

• A Business Memorandum (or Memo) is a written communication strictly between a company's offices or for used in internal correspondence.
• Business memos have a title line and series number and follows the Parts of a Memorandum.

Business Email

• A Business E-mail is an office correspondence that can either be internal or external.
• There is no required format in writing an e-mail correspondence, but it is expected that the writer maintains a professional tone.