Resumé Writing

What is a Resumé?
The French word resumé means "a summing up." It is a concise, written summary of your work
experience, education, accomplishments, and personal background—the essentials an employer needs
to evaluate your qualifications. A resumé is a personal, written communication that clearly demonstrates
to prospective employers your ability to produce valuable results in their area of concern or need. It
should motivate them to be interested in your qualifications and desire to meet you.

The Purpose of Resumé

A resumé can be used for specific purposes:
1. It can help you see yourself as you wish to be perceived by a prospective employer.
2. It can create interest in you as a potential employee and can be an essential first step in
obtaining an interview for the job you want.
3. It can help employers remember you after you have been interviewed.

A resumé is a professional advertisement about yourself that translates what you have done in the past
into what you intend to do in the future. It should speak clearly and convincingly about your
qualifications and set you apart from your competitors. Everything in it must answer the question "why
should the employer hire you?" If it does not, then you have only given your potential employer a good
reason to drop you from consideration.

A resumé is like a coming attraction for a movie; after reviewing it, a prospective employer decides
whether he wants to see more. It is nothing more than a simple marketing tool—a printed,
personal advertisement of yourself.

Many people mistakenly believe that the resumé is the most important part of the job search. They
believe the resumé's function is to "sell" the job seeker to the prospective employer. In fact, the best
and most effective selling tool the job seeker has is him or herself. A resumé is basically a screening
device that employers use to determine whom they will or will not interview.

Your resumé is both a vehicle of communication and a demonstration of how you communicate. Both
what you say and how you say it are important. It is up to you as a responsible communicator to make
sure the reader gets the right message. The resumé and its cover letter should be examples of your
best writing.

Employers use resumés to identify candidates they would like to interview; they do not have time or
patience for autobiographies, philosophical tracts, or mystery stories. Because just thirty (30) seconds
are typically allotted to skimming a resumé, certain significant facts should be presented briefly and in a
format that is readable and visually pleasing.

Think about how an advertisement works:

1. Tells potential buyers (employers) enough about a product (you) to intrigue them and want to
see the product in person (interview).
2. Includes truthful information, but it does not stress potentially negative information.
3. Takes audience into account.

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Self-Evaluation is the 1st Step!
You should complete the following three-step process before beginning to write your resumé:
1. Know your skills, strengths, qualifications, and accomplishments and how they relate to the kind
of job you seek.
2. Learn as much as possible about the qualifications sought by the industry in which you want to
work.
3. Rank your skills, strengths, qualifications, and accomplishments according to their ability to
support your interest in and qualifications for the job(s) you are seeking.

These steps will generate the raw material needed to begin organizing and writing your resumé.

To prepare a successful resumé, you should have a clear understanding of yourself. This means
identifying your values, interests, abilities, and skills. Preparing a resumé is, in part, a process of self-
analysis.

Resumé Formats
While resumés are uniquely tailored to specific individuals, there are two standard approaches to
resumé organization:

1. Chronological
2. Functional

Chronological Format: Presents work experience and education in reverse time sequence and lists
achievements and responsibilities under each category.
♦ Is most widely used and accepted; professional interviewers are most familiar with it
♦ Emphasizes recent job(s) as most important
♦ Demonstrates progression of experience and growth
♦ Must avoid simply writing a fact sheet without highlighting significant features
♦ May raise questions if you have changed employment frequently

Functional Format: Organizes experiences under major skill headings, while degrees, job titles,
employers, and dates are listed separately.
♦ Minimizes focus on dates
♦ Draws attention to what you have done
♦ Stresses selected areas of accomplishment and experience which might be most marketable in
job target
♦ Can be useful for those changing careers or re-entering the job market after a time period
without formal employment
♦ Does not emphasize professional growth pattern
♦ Is difficult to stress corporate or organization affiliations
♦ Many employers are slightly suspicious of it
♦ Is harder for an interviewer to follow

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Content Sections
Identification
♦ Name, address, email, and phone number(s) (present and permanent)

Objective
♦ A clear statement of your career, internship, or job objective gives employers an opportunity to
verify the compatibility of your aspirations with the organization's needs.
♦ A vague, catch-all objective usually reflects a feeling of uncertainty about what you want and
may weaken an otherwise strong resume.
♦ May choose to include in cover letter instead of resumé.

Personal Profile or Summary of Qualifications (optional)

♦ Personal characteristics or skills that make you an especially strong candidate
♦ Statements must be supported by evidence in the education, experience, and extra-curricular
sections of your resumé

Education (after high school)

♦ Degrees, institutions and location, graduation date(s)
♦ Major (and minor)
♦ GPA if above 3.2/4.0 (overall and/or major)
♦ Academic honors, scholarships (if applicable)
♦ Highlight significant coursework
♦ Other schooling, special projects

Related Experience
♦ Position title, employer, city & state, dates
♦ Stress action verbs and transferable skills to convey accomplishments
♦ Include any experiences (paid or unpaid) relevant to your position objective

Other Activities, Skills, and Honors

♦ Mention extracurricular activities; These can show how you took advantage of the available
components of college life and that you are a well-rounded candidate
♦ Cite those which support your job objectives or which demonstrate your ability to take positions
of leadership and responsibility
♦ Include awards, honors, professional licenses, publications, membership in professional
organizations
♦ Note computer languages/applications and foreign language fluency

Power of Verbs
Carefully chosen verbs can greatly strengthen the presentation of your skills and accomplishments. A
list of action verbs can be found at the end of this handout.

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Send it to People Who Count
No matter how good the content of your resumé, it serves little purpose if it does not get into the hands
of the right people. Sending your resumé cold to hundreds of companies usually does not produce
sufficient return to warrant the effort. You are better off doing the necessary research to get names and
addresses in specific organizations of individuals and customizing your cover letters appropriately. You
may want to call the company ahead of time to determine to whom you should write.

Preparing Ideal Scannable Resumés

Many companies are using document-imaging technology that scans your resumé into a computer
system. The computer can search for just about anything in your resumé. This can make it easier for
you to be considered for more jobs, and it keeps your resumé on file so it is quicker to update your
information.

Tips For Maximizing Scannability of Your Resumé

♦ Use white or light-colored 8.5 x 11 paper, printed on one side only
♦ Provide a laser printed original.
♦ Do not staple or fold.
♦ Use standard, easy to read typefaces such as: Times New Roman, Helvetica, Times, Palatino,
New Century Schoolbook, Arial, etc.
♦ Use a font size of 10-12 points.
♦ Do not condense spacing between letters.
♦ Use boldface and/or all capital letters for section headings as long as the letters do not touch
each other.
♦ Avoid vertical and horizontal lines, graphics, and boxes.
♦ Avoid a two-column format or resumes that look like newspapers or newsletters
♦ List each phone number on its own line.
♦ Use a one-line format for your addresses.

Tips for Maximizing Hits

♦ Use enough key words to define your skills, experience, education, professional affiliations, etc.
♦ Describe your experience with concrete words rather than vague descriptions. For example, it is
better to use "Managed a team of software engineers" rather than "responsible for managing,
training".
♦ Be concise and truthful.
♦ Use more than one page if necessary. The computer can easily handle multiple-page resumés,
and it uses all of the information it extracts from your resumé to determine if your skills match
available positions. It allows you to provide more information than you would for a human
reader.
♦ Use jargon and acronyms specific to your industry (spell out acronyms for human readers).
♦ Increase your list of key words by including specifics, for example, list the complete names of
software you use such as Microsoft Word and Lotus 1-2-3.
♦ Use common heading such as: Objective, Summary of Qualifications, Employment, Work
History, Positions Held, Appointments, Skills, Summary, Accomplishments, Strengths,
Education, Affiliations, Professional Affiliations, Publications, Papers, Licenses, Certifications,
Examinations, Honors, Personal, Additional, Miscellaneous, References, etc.
♦ If you have extra space, describe your “soft” skills. Key words could include: time management,
dependable, high energy, leadership, and integrity.

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 E-mailing your Resumé
Many employers prefer electronic versions of your resumé and cover letter. Also, e-mail is often the
most efficient way to send resumés when you are conducting a long-distance job search. If an employer
does not specify their preference for receiving application materials, but provides an e-mail address with
their other contact information, you may assume that e-mail is an acceptable way to send your resumé.

Tips for e-mailing your resumé

♦ Attach your resumé to your message as an MS Word document; because this is the most
universal program, nearly every employer will be able to open and read your resumé
♦ Use only universal fonts, like Times New Roman or Arial, to ensure that the employer will view
the document exactly as you sent it.
♦ Pasting your resumé into the body of your e-mail message will cause your formatting (including
bullets, columns, indentation, lines, and font style) to be lost.

What Do Employers Want?

1. Ability to communicate 9. Flexibility
2. Intelligence 10. Interpersonal skills
3. Self-confidence 11. Self-knowledge
4. Willing to accept responsibility 12. Ability to handle conflict
5. Initiative 13. Goal achievement
6. Leadership 14. Competitiveness
7. Energy level 15. Vocational skills
8. Imagination 16. Direction

Employers’ Most Frequent Complaints Regarding Resumés They Receive

1. Too much "factual" information (dates, titles, courses) and not enough presentation of
accomplishments or results
2. Takes too long to say too little
3. Poorly organized and laid out
4. Too much irrelevant information (age, weight, sex, health, etc.)
5. Poorly typed and printed
6. Misspellings and bad grammar

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Resumé Checklist
_ Resumé is one page
_ Name is prominent and contact information is complete and up-to-date (including email)
_ Objective is concise and addresses the needs of the potential employer (what you can contribute, rather
than what you want from the employer)
_ Education section lists all colleges that have granted or will grant degrees or certifications, with degree,
major and graduation date
_ Education section includes GPA, study abroad, and related coursework – if applicable
_ Experiences are listed in reverse chronological order
_ Verbs in active tense start each description
_ Accomplishments are written to highlight skills, abilities, and competencies rather than duties.
Descriptions give details about methods, actions, and results.
_ Resumé is error free
_ Resumé is printed with a laser printer on cotton or linen resumé paper in white, ivory, or light gray
_ Format and overall appearance of resumé is attractive and well-organized
_ Resumé is easy to read and the most important points stand out

Do not include any of the following:

X Reasons for leaving past jobs

X Past salaries or present salary requirements
X Photograph
X Names and addresses of references (however, these may go on a separate sheet and sent with your
resumé)
ROBIN SMI
Current Address: Wheato
Permanent Address: 712
E-Mail: Robin.L.Smith@

Summary of Qualif
7
8
 Current (un
Perm

OBJECTIVE
9
1
 Current (until____

OBJECTIVE
To obtain a position in_
1
List of Action Verbs

1
Accelerated C
Accomplished C
Achieved C
Acted C
Adapted C
Addressed C
Adjusted C
Administered C
Advised C
Analyzed 1 C