Resume Writing 101 - PDF

RESUME WRITING 101  Advertisement selling a product….YOU!  Specifically your skills, experiences, and attributes.  First meeting between you and the employer Overall it’s your FIRST STEP towards employment. How long do you think an employer looks at each resume? The average employ...

RESUME WRITING 101  Advertisement selling a product….YOU!  Specifically your skills, experiences, and attributes.  First meeting between you and the employer Overall it’s your FIRST STEP towards employment. How long do you think an employer looks at each resume? The average employer looks at a resume between 10-15 seconds. This is the time they decide to either KEEP IT or TOSS IT. OBJECTIVE  To provide the skills and tools for creating and preparing your own resume Step 1 in your packet  Step 1: Write a list of the biggest academic honors you’ve earned, starting with ninth grade. These include things like honor-roll recognition, essay-writing awards, freshman awards, science competitions, and the like. Step 2 in your packet  Step 2: List your extracurricular activities. This category includes clubs you've belonged to, class offices you've held, sports, band, yearbook, and all the other nonacademic activities you've done. Don't forget non-school-related items such as volunteering at a nursing home and jobs you've worked. Include special interests like photography, hiking, writing, and so forth. If you speak more than one language, mention it. Detail your uniqueness. You're trying to paint a portrait of yourself; create an action inventory. Why do you need a resume? ❑ A marketing tool ❑ To obtain an interview, not a job ❑ Requirement of many organizations DOES YOUR RESUME PASS THE TEST? Resume- hidden messages ❑ Neat ❑ Neat ❑ Well-organized ❑ Well-organized ❑ Error free ❑ Attention to detail ❑ Professional appearance ❑ Careful & Competent Resume You Sections of a Resume The Header ❑ What should be included? ❑Name ❑Permanent and present address ❑E-mail address ❑Telephone number ❑ Where should contact information go? ❑Top of the page Objective Statement ❑ Purpose ❑Communicate the type of position you are interested in ❑ Examples ❑Management trainee position with a specialty retailer. ❑Technical sales with an energy related industry in the Southwest. Long range goals of regional sales management. ❑To obtain a position as field service representative with XYZ Software Corporation. Education ❑ Date or expected date of graduation ❑ Graduation Date: May 2014 ❑ Expected Graduation Date: May 2015 ❑ GPA ❑ Major or overall at least 3.0 ❑ Round down to the nearest tenth ❑ 3.0 not 3.062 ❑ GPA: 4.0, Summa Cum Laude ❑ If under a 2.5 do not add Activities  Everything you’re involved in -- clubs, sports, programs, activities like band, art, drama, journalism in school and out of school. You can put them in order of significance or most recent.  Underneath each activity, write at least one brief description tells what you did. Start with a strong action verb and follow it with specifics.  Volunteer (Community) Experience  Include events you have participated either in or out of school. Describe what you did. Start with strong verbs. Be as specific as you can.  Experience ✓ Use the term "experience" ✓ What is considered experience? ✓ Full and part-time jobs ✓ Self-employment ✓ Volunteer work ✓ Practicum, field, and cooperative education ✓ Information to include ✓ Job Title ✓ Dates of employment ✓ Company name ✓ City & State Work Experience: Don't forget non-traditional work, such as babysitting or helping out with the family business. For each item, include the job title, name of organization, location, dates, and description of responsibilities. Listing Responsibilities ❑ Use bullet points ❑ Start of each line with an action verb ❑Present tense if currently employed ❑Past tense if no longer employed ❑Vary your choice of verbs ❑ Tailor skills and experiences to the position for which you are applying ❑ Be concise while providing enough detail Achievements & Awards  Don’t limit yourself here.  This can be a laundry list or a detailed description.  Order by date  Reverse chronological  Rank order by importance to the career objective  Do not say Member of …  Emphasize your leadership roles  Spell out the organization’s name:  Do not use abbreviations or acronyms Resume Dos ❑ Use action verbs ❑ Use short, concise sentences ❑ Use #, %, $ amounts ❑ Keep resume easy to read ❑ Keep resume about one page Resume Don’ts ❑ Do not use the pronouns such as I, me, my, etc. ❑ Do not include references ❑ Do not clutter your resume with nonessential information ❑ Do not make any misrepresentations ❑ Do not include personal information ❑ SSN, age, sex, height, weight, marital status, photograph, etc.