A resume serves as a tool to interest prospective employers in
offering you an interview. It summarizes your work history (both paid and
unpaid), relevant academic experiences, skills, and accomplishments in a concise
and readable format. It also clearly demonstrates your ability to produce
results in areas of interest to potential employers. Remember, a resume is a
personal statement and should reflect your own style. There is no single "correct"
formula for writing a resume. What is important is that your resume presents
a positive image of you to the employer.
Steps for writing your Resume
Conduct a personal inventory – Begin
by listing all of your jobs, achievements, volunteer activities, special projects, honors,
involvement in professional organizations, college education, and
experiences, etc. Include everything at this point, you can edit later. For each
work experience, emphasize your accomplishments and the skills you used.
Identify potential employers – Define your career goals
and objectives. You will need to determine the types of positions for which
you are qualified and the employers for whom you would like to work.
Categorize your information – Organize your information
into appropriate categories. Review the resume samples included in this
section for examples of possible ways to present information.
Resume Categories
Contact Information
Include your name, address, zip code,
telephone and fax numbers, and e-mail address at the top of the resume. You may list a single address
or both a permanent and current address.
Qualifications Statement
This section can be used to briefly summarize your experience within a particular industry or
career field and emphasize areas of expertise and special skills. It needs to be tailored to the
job for which you are applying and should be no longer than two or three sentences.
Job Objective (Optional)
Briefly state the position and field for which you are applying. If you do not include the
objective on your resume, it needs to be included in the first paragraph of your cover letter.
Education
Name of college attended, city, state, degree received, major, and date of degree awarded.
External Studies – list institution and semester/year.
Academic Honors/Awards (Optional) – Include single honors or create a separate category for
multiple listing
Relevant Courses (Optional) – Only list classes outside of major which are directly related
to your objective. Create a separate category if necessary.
Senior Thesis Title and Independent Studies (Optional)
Grade Point Average (Optional) – List if favorable (typically 3.5 or above)
Exclude High School Experience. Exceptions can be made for first and second year students.
Work Experience
Include full and part-time work experience, volunteer work, and internships.
List your present or most recent employment first. Include job title, employer name, location,
and dates of employment. Describe duties performed and include previous titles, when necessary,
to show growth within an organization. This section can be titled "Experience",
"Work Experience", "Employment", "Professional Experience",
"Additional Experience", etc. Use action verbs and skill
words to describe your accomplishments and work responsibilities.
Activities
List the organizations, positions held, dates involved, and a description of your responsibilities
(if these relate to the objective). Emphasize leadership and teamwork skills when possible.
Honors/Awards
Include academic honors or awards.
Publications
List any publications that communicate your knowledge, interest, or expertise in an area related
to the position.
Presentations
List the dates and names of the programs/speeches and the organizations to which you presented.
Professional Affiliations/Memberships
List your roles held in organizations or memberships that demonstrate your leadership abilities.
Special Skills
Computer – list software programs and hardware
Language – include level of fluency
Technical equipment – list for some lab and science positions
Interests (Optional)
This can include travel, personal interests, and activities that
can often serve as "icebreakers" in an interview.
References
References are generally listed on a separate page. Obtain
permission from your references before you submit their names. Typically you should
have 3-4 individuals (work supervisors or professors) who can address your ability to
do well in a work or academic setting.
Resume Format
This guide provides samples of different resume formats. Choose
the style which most effectively presents your work experiences, education,
skills, and accomplishments in relation to the type of position you are
seeking.
Chronological
This is the most common format used by college students and
recent graduates. It is an historical presentation of your experience, in reverse
chronological order with the most recent jobs/internships listed first. This format
allows you to emphasize job titles and places of employment and to elaborate
upon accomplishments, duties, and responsibilities of each position.
Skills/Functional
This format is useful if your prior experience is unrelated to
your current career objective. It emphasizes your skills and accomplishments rather than dates,
job titles, and responsibilities. This format is typically used by professionals
who have been in the workforce for several years.
Combination
This format combines both the chronological and skills/functional
layout. It lists your experiences in reverse chronological order within several skill
sections.
Guidelines
Your resume should be no longer than one page. Exceptions can be
made when your experience is directly related to the job for which you are
applying. In this case, the maximum length is two pages.
Make verb tense consistent with experience (use present tense for current experience; past tense for
previous experiences).
Avoid personal pronouns (I, me).
Avoid abbreviations.
Do not begin phrases with "Responsibilities include…"
Use a single font style for the entire resume. Use a font size no smaller than 10 point.
Choose action words and phrases that effectively illustrate
your involvement and accomplishments.
Carefully proofread your resume and correct all grammar, punctuation, spelling, and formatting
errors. Ask someone you respect to proofread it as well.
Use quality bond paper and matching envelopes for your resumes and cover letters.
Print your resume and cover letter on a laser printer. High quality photocopies will also work.
Use light colored, smooth textured, standard size (8-1/2 x 11) paper.
When mailing your information, do not staple it.
Creating a Scannable Resume
Increasing numbers of organizations are moving toward automated
(paperless) resume processing and applicant tracking systems. Using special
software, organizations scan, sift through, and cross-reference a huge number of electronic
resumes to identify appropriate candidates to match their job openings.
Recruiters and others involved in the hiring process can query
the database using criteria or "keywords." Keywords are found in job descriptions, job
titles, degrees, special skills of training, specific job responsibilities, and professional
associations.
The job seeker who writes and designs a scannable resume and
cover letter enjoys an edge over the applicant whose resume and cover letter cannot be added
to a database. Additionally, job seekers who include more "keywords"
on their resume and cover letter increase the chances that their resume will be selected.
To make your resume computer-friends and scannable, follow the tips listed below.
Use a standard, single column resume style with headings.
Use boldface or all capital letters for section headings, making sure letters do not touch
each other.
Avoid italics, underlining, horizontal and vertical lines, boxes, and graphics.
Make sure your name is at the top of every page on its own line.
Use simple typefaces such as Arial, Helvetica, Futura, Optima, Times Roman, Palatino,
New Century, Schoolbook, or Courier. Font size should be between 10 and 14 points.
Use a standard address format, with each line appearing below your name.
If including two phone numbers, list each on a separate line.
E-mailing Your Resume
Apply only to positions for which you are qualified.
Don’t send attachments unless employer requests them. Instead, paste information into e-mail
program.
Format well.
Use Keywords
Consider publishing your resume on a personal web page and then directing employers to the link.
Use ASCII text.
Always include a cover letter with your resume.
Make the letter just a few screens – an e-mail screen is smaller than your screen.
Use ASCII text.
Compose your letter in a word processing program and paste into e-mail message.
Proofread. Some e-mail programs don’t have spell-check features.
Since graphics cannot be used, enhance readability by using lower-case letter o’s, plus signs,
dashes, and asterisks in your layout.
Send resume and cover letter in single e-mail message, not separately.
Store your cover letter in an e-mail program so you will not have to begin anew each time.
Resume Guide