WRITING A RESUME

WRITING A RESUME

What is resume?

A resume is a short, concise document that states relevant information regarding your education, skills, experiences, accomplishments, and job-related interests.

It is a quick advertisement of who you are.

What are the Purposes of a Resume?

• is to attract the attention of the employer and impress them so much that they want to have either a face-to-face or telephone interview.

• is to provide a summary of your skills, abilities, and accomplishments.

• is a marketing piece that presents you in the best possible light.

Resume Essentials

Before you write, take time to do a selfassessment on paper. Outline your skills and abilities as well as your work experience and extracurricular activities. This will make it easier to prepare a thorough resume.

What Information Should Be In A Resume?

 Identify Yourself

 Education

 Continuing Education

 Work or Professional Experience  Volunteer Experience

 Activities

 Computer Skills

 Professional Associations

 Optional Sections Objective Special Skills and Abilities Reference Statement

Characteristics Of A Successful Resume

Focuses on skills. Uses action words to define the responsibilities of your job-related experience.

• Easy to read and understand.

• Visually powerful and free of gimmicks.

• One page, or at most 2 pages long.

• Language is grammatically correct.

• Spelling has been checked.

• Formal Style

• Must always be 100% true.

Summary of sections

Name

• Address, telephone number, e-mail address

• Objective

• Education

• Experience

• Achievements and awards

• Skills

• Professional affiliations

• Publications or projects (Optional)

Parts of a Resume

I. Identifying Information - This first section of your resume should tell who you are and help prospective employers reach you quickly. Darren Espanto Steeb Hall, Box 356 70 West 11th Avenue Columbus, OH 43210 [phone] [e-mail] Darren Espanto CAMPUS ADDRESS PERMANENT ADDRESS Steeb Hall, Box 356 1500 Cool Street 70 West 11th Avenue Anytown, Ohio 43210 Columbus, Ohio 43210 [phone] [phone] [e-mail]

I. Identifying Information - This first section of your resume should tell who you are and help prospective employers reach you quickly.

II. Job Objective -This section summarizes the type of work you want to do, and the career field in which you are interested. 

Multiple Choice

Which of the following , do you think is the best objective?

• An exciting position within any state government agency doing interesting things.

• To obtain a sales management position with a highly visible, multi-billion dollar, international, food distribution company located in the northeastern part of the United States, preferably New England

• Entry-level human services position where I can be promoted to a supervisory position.

• To obtain a social work assistant position within a state government agency.

III. Education - For most graduates, the most important qualification they have to offer employers is their education. Therefore this section should be listed on your resume directly below your objective statement. 

New graduates without a lot of work experience should list their educational information first. Alumni can list it after the work experience section.

Your most recent educational information is listed first.

 Include your degree (A.S., B.S., B.A., etc.), major, institution attended, minor/concentration.

 Add your grade point average (GPA) if it is higher than 3.0.

 Mention academic honors. 

IV. Experience

Briefly give the employer an overview of work that has taught you skills. Use action words to describe your job duties. Include your work experience in reverse chronological order—that is, put your last job first and work backward to your first, relevant job. Include:

• Title of position, • Name of organization • Location of work (town, state) • Dates of employment • Describe your work responsibilities with emphasis on specific skills and achievements.

Additional Skills -Summarize your academic skills, along with any related work skills in a “Skills” section on your resume. This will quickly show an employer a qualitative summary of the skills and experience you have to offer.

Achievements and awards

 Dean’s list

 Scholarships

 Grants

 Prizes

 Nominations

 Professional societies

 Significant accomplishments

 Committees and leadership roles

References

 References are individuals who can attest to your qualifications for a particular position, people who can discuss your skills and attributes.  Create a separate page to use for listing your references.

 You should select 3 to 5 people to serve as your references and list them in the order you want them to be contacted.

Presentation: Create an effective layout 

Try to interest your reader visually • A clean, professional format with a little style • Extra white space makes it easy to read – set margins Limit font to two choices For text: a serif font like Times For headings: Arial or Helvetica are good choices to add visual interest Don’t choose non-standard fonts like COMIC SANS or LUCIDA HANDWRITING

Font size should be 11 or 12 point