| Tips on Resume Writing |
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:: Preparing a resume :: |
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A resume is a one or two page summary
of your skills, accomplishments, experiences, and education designed
to capture a prospective employer's interest. Thermoses of a resume
are to secure an interview. It is the primary tool of your job search
and may take several drafts to prepare effectively. This article
is designed to assist you by offering suggestions and guidelines
for you to use as you construct, write and print your resume. |
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:: Building An Effective Resume :: |
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Self-Assessment: |
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Before you can write an effective
resume, you must first be able to identify your skills and abilities
as well as your special needs relating to the work environment,
salary, geographic location, and people environment. This step will
help you to develop a career objective. The following exercises
will help you identify some things about yourself, which you may
want to express in your resume. |
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Self-Assessment
Exercise: |
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List at least 10 skills which
you have developed in each of the following areas: Education/Work/Internships
or Volunteer/Extracurricular. Use action words to develop one-liner
summaries. |
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Circle each of the skills noted in part A that you would like
to use in your employment. Are there other talents you possess that
you would like to use on the job? If so, add them to the list of
circled skills. Now rank these skills in order of those you most
want to use. |
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Make a list of what you consider to be 5 great accomplishments
in your life. What personal qualities helped you reach each goal? |
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Career Exploration: |
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Collecting information regarding
the required skills and qualifications of occupations, which interest
you, is an extremely important step. This information will help
you decide if and how these requirements relate to your own skills
and needs. Using the books available at your institution's career
center or making an appointment with a counselor can be helpful
in identifying and exploring careers and can also help you in developing
a career objective. |
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:: Writing The
Resume :: |
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As you organize your resume, keep
in mind the needs of the employer who will be reading it. Consider
what s/he is looking for in a candidate and make it easy for the
reader to pick out those skills by selecting appropriate categories,
using underlining, boldfacing or capitalizing and presenting relevant
experience and skill areas higher on the page. Competencies Sought
by Employers illustrates common transferable skills and qualities. |
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Keep in mind the following suggestions
as you begin developing your resume: |
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Sell yourself. Create a good first impression by highlighting
skills and abilities appropriate to the position. |
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Use active language. Check out our on-line list of action words
to spice up your resume. Articulate marketable skills acquired through
your positions. |
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Examples: |
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Be consistent. Choose a pattern of spacing, an order of information
presentation or a format of highlighting and be consistent throughout. |
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Present information in reverse chronological order within categories.
List education and work experiences starting with the most recent
first. |
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Check for grammar. Misspellings and poorly constructed sentences
communicate negative impressions about a candidate. |
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Ensure that your resume is neat and visually appealing. Choose
high quality paper in white, off-white or other conservative colors.
Have the final version professionally reproduced |
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:: Building An Effective Resume :: |
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Feel free to develop your own categories to highlight your special relevant experiences and skills. It is frequently useful to separate your related or professional experiences from your other work experience by creating separate categories for these content areas. In this way, you can call more attention to your relevant skills by putting them in categories closer to the top of the resume so they are read first. |
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Examples: |
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Related Experience |
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Related Courses |
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Community Volunteer Work |
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Workshops & Conferences Attended |
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Technical Skills |
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Special Skills |
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Computer Skills |
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Certificates |
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Travel |
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Leadership |
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Accomplishments |
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Professional Memberships |
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Language Proficiencies |
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Additional Information |
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In place of Related Experience you might wish to indicate your field of experience in the category heading. |
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Business Experience, Engineering Experience, Human Services Experience, Sales Experience, etc. |
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