Preparing Your Resume:

A resume is a brief summary of your abilities, education, experience, and skills. Its main task is to convince prospective employers to contact you. A resume has one purpose: to get you a job interview.

Resumes must do their work quickly. Employers or personnel officers may look through hundreds of applications and may spend only a few seconds reviewing your resume. To get someone to look at it longer, your resume must quickly convey that you are capable and competent enough to be worth interviewing. The more thoroughly you prepare your resume now, the more likely someone is to read it later.

OVERVIEW: How to prepare your resume

1. Gather and check all necessary information
2. Match your experience and skills with an employer's needs
3. Highlight details that demonstrate your capabilities
4. Organize the resume effectively
5. Consider word choice carefully
6. Ask other people to comment on your resume
7. Make the final product presentable
8. Evaluate your resume

1. GATHER AND CHECK ALL NECESSARY INFORMATION:

Write down headings such as EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, HONORS, SKILLS, ACTIVITIES. Beneath each heading, jot down the following information:

EDUCATION usually means post-secondary and can include special seminars, summer school, or night school as well as college and university. If you are just starting college, you can include high school as well. List degrees and month/year obtained or expected; names and locations of schools; major and minor, if any; grade point average. A brief summary of important courses you've taken might also be helpful.

EXPERIENCE includes full-time paid jobs, academic research projects, internships or co-op positions, part-time jobs, or volunteer work. List the month/years you worked, position, name and location of employer or place, and responsibilities you had. As you describe your experiences, ask yourself questions like these:

Even if you're new to a field, you aren't necessarily starting from scratch.

HONORS. List any academic awards (scholarships, fellowships, honors list), professional awards or recognition, or community awards (i.e. for athletic skills).

SKILLS. List computer languages and software, research, laboratory, teaching or tutoring, communication, leadership, or athletic, among others.

ACTIVITIES. List academic, professional, or community organizations in which you hold office or are currently a member; list professional and community activities, including volunteer work. Listing extra-curricular activities or hobbies is optional.

After you have all this information down, check it for accuracy. You'll need full names, in some cases full addresses, correct and consistent dates, and correct spellings.

2. MATCH YOUR SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE WITH AN EMPLOYER'S NEEDS

POSITION: What kind of position do you want for this job-search? Make notes. Now match your wishes up with positions that are actually available. You can get this information through postings, ads, personal contacts, or your own research.

EMPLOYER: For a certain position, what aspects of your education, experience, or skills will be most attractive to that employer? List SPECIFIC knowledge, areas of specialty, specific skills, or coursework that you think would interest the employer.

3. HIGHLIGHT DETAILS THAT DEMONSTRATE YOUR CAPABILITIES

Look over what you've written and try to select details of your education, experience, honors, skills, and activities that match an employer's needs in a few important areas.

4. ORGANIZE THE RESUME EFFECTIVELY

PERSONAL INFORMATION: Top center of first page. Name (no title); addresses; phone numbers; e-mail and/or fax addresses (optional); citizenship if applicable.

NOTE: A potential employer has no legal right to request information
about age, sex, race, religion, marital status, health, physical
appearance, or personal habits. Don't include such information
on your resume.

EDUCATION: Often comes first, especially if it is a strong asset.

EXPERIENCE: Here, you can use one of two formats:

Functional. To emphasize skills and talents, cluster your experience under headings that highlight these skills: for ex.: leadership, research, computers, etc. This format can be helpful if you have little relevant job experience.

Chronological. To emphasize work experience, list jobs beginning with the most recent. Some hints:

AWARDS/HONORS: Use reverse chronological order; include titles, places, dates.

ACTIVITIES: Generally, list hobbies, travel, or languages only if they relate to your job interests. In some cases, you may wish to emphasize your willingness to travel or relocate.

REFERENCES: You need not put these on your resume. Instead, you can prepare a separate list of references, with complete name, title, company name, address, and telephone numbers for each individual. Usually, you give this list to prospective employers after your interview.

CREATING YOUR DRAFT:

5. CONSIDER WORD CHOICE CAREFULLY:

In a resume, you need to sound positive and confident: neither too aggressive, nor overly modest. The following words and phrases are intended as suggestions for thinking about your experience and abilities. Whatever your final word choices are, they should accurately describe you--your skills, talents, and experience.

Choose ACTIVE VERBS that describe your skills, abilities, and accomplishments. Examples--I can contribute, enjoy creating, have experience in organizing. . . While at X Company, I administered, coordinated, directed, participated in. . .

NOTE: You can change the forms of any of these verbs to stress different aspects of your abilities and experience: organize--> organized, organizing, organization. . .

Choose ADJECTIVES and NOUNS that describe yourself positively and accurately:

6. ASK OTHER PEOPLE TO COMMENT ON YOUR RESUME:

WE STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you have someone in your field critique your resume. 

NOTE: People may offer many different opinions. Use your own judgment and be open-minded about constructive criticism.

7. MAKE THE FINAL PRODUCT PRESENTABLE:

Use a computer and high-quality (preferably laser) printer. 

8. EVALUATE YOUR RESUME:

Hold your resume at arm's length and see how it looks. Is the page too busy with different type styles, sizes, lines, or boxes? Is the information spaced well, not crowded on the page? Is there too much "white space"? Is important information quick and easy to find?

CONTENT

ORGANIZATION

FORMAT/DESIGN

Now you're done! Just one more suggestion: If you are sending your resume to a prospective employer, you'll probably also have to include a separate cover letter. This is usually less than one page long.  The letter indicates your interest in a particular company or position, summarizes the most important aspects of your education and experience, and lets the employer know where and when you can be contacted for an interview. 

Our suggestion, when it comes to cover letters, KEEP IT SHORT.