WRITING YOUR RESUME

What is a resume?

The word resume is taken from the French language and means “summary.” Your resume is a summary that provides the reader with a clear and concise presentation of your experience, background, and skills and highlights those aspects of you that are particularly relevant to the position you are seeking.

Your resume serves as a marketing brochure which will promote and sell your abilities and talents. In most cases, it provides the initial contact with a prospective employer. Since first impressions are critical in the job search, your resume must create a positive first impression of you. Be sure that the style, format, and appearance you use present you in the best light. Keep in mind that employers spend, on the average, between 15 and 30 seconds scanning each resume submitted. Remember, a poorly organized and written resume may eliminate you from consideration as a candidate for employment regardless of your qualifications. Although resumes do not get jobs, they do open doors to the interviews you want. Your resume will ideally create a desire on the reader’s part to meet you and it may serve as a springboard for conversation in the interview. The time and effort you devote to preparing your resume is a worthwhile investment in your future.

Resume writing is an art, not an exact science. There are literally hundreds of resources (stop by The Career Center for samples) detailing the do’s and don’ts of resume writing. Since resumes are individual, there are no “right” or “wrong” ways to approach developing your summary. A resume can only be effective or ineffective. Ask yourself, is it possible to determine the type of work you are seeking simply by looking at your resume? Does the resume convey skills, abilities, and educational experiences pertinent to the position? The following information will guide you through the process of writing your resume. In addition, sample resumes are included to illustrate various resume styles and formats.

Where do I begin?

When writing your resume, it is important to have a specific goal or focus. Mass mailing of resumes is now obsolete. Instead, each resume should be written specifically for the position for which you are applying. You may find that you will need to develop several different resumes for the variety of jobs you might seek. If you have the advertisement for a position, you should use it as a guide for the types of information and experiences you should include on your resume. What skills are they seeking? How many years of experience are required? Are there any special requirements? If you are not applying for a specific job, you should seek out classified ads for the careers that interest you the most to determine your resume’s focus.

Next you need to assess yourself. Make a list of all jobs you have held. Be sure to include internships and volunteer experiences. As you make your list, consider the skills you have developed. What skills are required in your chosen occupation? Review your education, memberships, special training, and special skills. Be mindful of your audience. What are the needs of the particular job for which you are applying? What knowledge or abilities do you possess that can meet those needs? And finally, think about what sets you apart from other candidates.

What Information Do I Include?

Contact Information

You should always include the following contact information:

• Your name, which should be bold and stand out on the page
• Your address, school and permanent
• Your telephone number
• Your e-mail address (do this only if you check your e-mail on a regular basis)

Job Objective

Job objectives help add focus to a resume, but they are an option some people choose not to use. Your job objective can work against you if it is not specific to the position you are seeking. A job objective should include the following:

• the level of position you wish to obtain (entry-level, assistant, trainee, etc.)
• job title
• skills you hope to utilize
• the field or industry in which you wish to work

Education

List schools you have attended beginning with the most recent. Include dates attended and degrees received. This is also a good place to showcase special training, honors, and study abroad experiences. Relevant coursework may be listed under education, as long as it strengthens the focus of your resume. If you choose, you may instead include a separate heading for relevant courses. Some students choose to include their G.P.A. This is optional, of course, but if your G.P.A. is less than a 3.0, you should consider not listing it.

Related Experience/Work History

Begin with your most recent experiences and go backward in time. Describe any experiences you have had that demonstrate competence in your area of interest. Include paid positions, internships, volunteer work, or special projects. When listing your experiences, you should include the following information:

• title
• employer
• city and state
• dates worked

Use action verbs to describe your experiences. The description of what you have done or skills used on the job may be written in short statements or in a narrative style. Keep it concise and begin each item with an action verb. Always try to develop statements which will relate the skills developed or used on a job with the skills or interests that you have in your objective. Focus on the skills necessary in the field you are pursuing. You are encouraged to use past tense verbs and to write in the third person. Avoid using “I” statements. And most importantly, be truthful.

Activities and Interests

Activities and interests are not to be included merely as a space filler. You should try to make them relate to your objective. Employers are interested in your involvement in campus activities which give an indication of your interests, leadership experiences, and other aspects of your personality. Activities show that you are a well-rounded individual and emphasize skills you have obtained through your co-curricular experiences. They also help fill in gaps in employment. Remember to note leadership positions you have held.

Interests are not the same as activities, and they are optional. They serve as ice breakers and reflect activities you pursue on your own time, such as hobbies or recreational sports. Be aware that interests as well as activities may initiate strong reactions in some recruiters, and not always positive ones. Political and religious activities should be listed with caution.

Special Skills

You should highlight knowledge or proficiency in certain areas such as languages, computers and technology, travel, and other special skills.

Honors

If you have received any awards or academic honors, this is a good place to highlight them.

References

In order for you to maintain control of what is being said about you and to limit contact of your references to serious offers only, references are usually stated as being available upon request. There are, however, some exceptions to this rule. Education students are encouraged to include their references with their resume and application.

Styles of Resumes

In general, there are three basic types of resumes: Chronological, Functional, and Combination. Each is defined by the way it organizes your experiences. The type you choose is determined by the nature of the position for which you are applying, as well as the nature and extent of your past experiences.

Chronological

This style is structured by the dates of your work experience, which are listed in reverse chronological order (most recent experiences first). This format highlights job titles and demonstrates growth within particular fields. This is the most commonly used style and is best for those who can demonstrate a steady history of experience in their field of interest. Unfortunately, it does highlight gaps in your work history, if they exist.

Functional

This format emphasizes skills and knowledge more than work experiences and work history. It does not include dates. It is used by people who have worked intermittently or who have gained work experience through volunteering. This format also supports the listing of relevant coursework or training. This style is useful for those entering or reentering the job market. Since dates are not used, it emphasizes skills and downplays gaps in employment. However, this is the least used of the three resume styles and employers may be less familiar with this format.

Combination

This style combines the best of the chronological format with the best of the functional format. The style emphasizes skills, but also shows chronological work experience. It is especially helpful for those with limited experience or individuals who are changing careers. The combination resume is often a good choice for individuals who have not had positions that relate directly to the desired job, but have acquired pertinent skills through other means.

Preparing Resumes for the Electronic Age

Resumes may be formatted for e-mailing, posting to Internet sites, or scanning. These digital resumes include the same information other resumes do, and they come in the same varieties—chronological, functional, or combination. But digital resumes use simpler, technologically friendly formatting, and they emphasize keywords. This section describes two types of digital resumes: plain text resumes that can be e-mailed to employers or posted to databases and scannable paper resumes that can be read by computer optics.

Plain Text Resumes

Resumes that are e-mailed or posted to Internet databases are designed for computer use. These resumes must be written using the American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCII), also known as plain text. Plain text contains no special formatting codes, so every computer can understand it.

To create a plain text resume, open your existing resume document with a word processing program, and save it as a text or ASCII file. This will eliminate formatting codes. You can use the computer’s built-in text editor application, such as Notepad for Windows or Simpletext for Macintosh, to edit the resume.

The success of your resume depends, in part, on the number of keywords it contains—the number of times its words match the words requested by a manager. You can add keywords to your resume by scrutinizing job announcements and, where appropriate, copying their exact words when describing your skills. Fill your resume with important nouns the computer will recognize, such as professional organizations and industry jargon. Each abbreviation you use should be followed by the phrase it stands for, with the exception of B.S. and B.A. for Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts.

List every keyword that applies to you; do not expect the computer to infer. For example, don’t simply write “word processing: Microsoft Office.” Instead, write “word processing: Microsoft Office, WordPerfect, Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.” Rules about resume length are relaxed for digital resumes. Some career counselors even suggest adding a keyword paragraph to the top of your resume, but others do not believe such paragraphs are useful.

Writers of plain text resumes should not use any characters or formatting not found on a standard keyboard. Boldface, italics, and underlining are unavailable, as are tabs, bullets, and multiple font sizes. But alternative attention-getting devices are still useful; asterisks and plus signs can replace bullets, rows of dashes can separate sections, and all capital letters can emphasize headings.

The word wrap function is also disabled when writing in ASCII. Words will not automatically move from one line to the next. Instead, you must hit the enter key at the end of every line. A line should hold only 65 characters, or it may not fit on the reviewer’s screen. To be certain your line lengths are correct, count characters and use a standard-width typeface, such as Courier. Times New Roman is not a standard-width typeface, so 65 of its characters will not always translate to 65 of the reviewer’s characters.

Before e-mailing your resume to an employer, e-mail it to yourself and a friend to see how it transmits. That way, you may be able to uncover some formatting errors. When an employer asks for an e-mailed resume, never attach a word-processed document unless specifically requested to do so. Employers may not be able to open a word-processed document. Even if they can, they may not want to risk receiving a computer virus. Always send your cover letter and resume as text in a single message. If you are responding to an advertisement or job posting, use that posting as the subject line of your message.

You can also post your plain text resume to Internet databases and apply instantly to thousands of companies. When you do this, the posted resume becomes public information. Take precautions, such as omitting your home address and the address of your current employer. The Internet can be part of a complete job search effort, but it should not be your sole job searching technique. Most companies still do not use Internet recruiting.

Scannable Resumes

Many large companies, and a growing number of small ones, use computers to sort the hundreds of resumes they receive. These companies scan paper resumes into a computer database. When managers need to fill a position, they program the computer with keywords that describe the qualifications they want in a candidate. The computer then searches its database for resumes that include those keywords. The resumes with the most matches are forwarded to the managers.

This new technology is good news for jobseekers. Now when these companies put your resume on file, your qualifications are ready and waiting to be electronically retrieved, not languishing in a desk drawer. Before you submit your resume to a company, call the company to find out if it scans. If it does, you will need to make sure your resume’s design is computer friendly.

Stylistic touches that are easy on a human’s eyes may not be so easy on a computer scanner. Resumes that will be scanned should be devoid of any graphics or formatting that a computer might misinterpret. The following steps will increase a scanner’s ability to read your resume:

• Use nontextured white or off-white paper with black letters.
• Choose a well-known font such as Helvetica, Arial, or Courier.
• Pick a font size of 10 to 14 points, and do not condense spacing between letters.
• Do not underline or italicize text, and do not use asterisks or parentheses. Modern systems can understand bold, but older systems might not. You can still distinguish headings by using capital letters.
• Avoid boxes, graphics, columns, and horizontal or vertical lines.
• Put your name on its own line at the top of each page. Also, give telephone numbers their own lines.
• Do not staple or fold your resume.

* section on electronic and scannable resumes adapted from: Crosby, O. (1999). Resumes, applications, and cover letters. Occupational Outlook Quarterly, 43(2), p. 2-14.

Action Verbs

You should always use a variety of action verbs when writing your resume. A list of action verbs, arranged by broad career fields, follows:

Business

Financial Management

Social Sciences

Education

Communication

The Arts

Sciences

Information Sciences

Clerical

Quantitative

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