ENGL 214

Academic & Professional

Communication

Résumés

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 1

Aims

• To learn the steps involved in

preparing a resume
• To consider some useful resume
language
• To study the parts of a resume
• To look at a model resume
• To set relevant homework
• To set the task (5%)

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Source: Course text

Much of the information in this slide is

adapted from parts of the course text:

Kolin, P. (2012). Successful writing at work.

(Concise 3rd Edition ed., Vol. International
Edition, pp. 160-174). Boston, MA:
Wadsworth.

If you consult pages 160-174, you can get a

more detailed account.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Assessment (100%):

20% 20%
15% 15%
15% 15%

PRE- FINAL MIDTERM JOB ORAL FINAL

REPORT REPORT EXAM SKILLS PRESENTATION EXAM

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Job Skills Assessment: Four tasks

20%

10%
5%
5%

1. 2. 3. 4.
JOB SEARCH RÉSUMÉ LETTER INTERVIE
JOB
W SKILLS

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 5

What is a résumé?
• sometimes called a curriculum vitae,
though the two are slightly different
• a summary of your academic and
professional history
• is like a showcase for you, and your
professional qualifications
• is an essential part of any job search
• in fact, it is usually the first step

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

• A curriculum vitae (Latin for • A résumé (French for “to sum up”) is a
“course of life”) is an in-depth document which summary of your academic and professional
describes your career in full detail. history, usually for a potential employer.
• It is long (can be 10+ • It is a short (1-2
pages) and gives page), concise, and
extensive details of briefly covers your
your education, education and
career, publications, experience.
awards, honours, and • It is used mainly for
achievements. job applications.
• It is used only for • A good resume
academic should be targeted at
applications: a specific job.
academic jobs, grants,
research fellowships,
etc.

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Why are résumés important ?

You will need a résumé for:

• job applications
• research applications
• postgraduate applications
• co-op applications
• summer training applications
• marriage (if you are a foreigner)

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Making a résumé

• Everything you put in it is

significant.
• The aim is to distinguish yourself
from other candidates and to get an
interview.
• You won’t have much experience
yet, so keep it short, 1-2 pages.
• Everything in it is there to convince
an employer that you are the perfect
person for the job.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

In a résumé, employers like…
Be truthful about your
Honesty > qualifications.
The résumé should be
Attractiveness > pleasing to the eye.
Information should be easy-to-
Organization > follow, logical, and consistent.
Grammar, spelling, dates, names, titles, and
Accuracy > programs should be correct.

Quantification > Include specific data regarding

your abilities, if possible.

1. Currency > All information must be up-to-

date and documented.

1. Relevance > Your résumé needs to be

appropriate for the job.
Generally, keep your résumé
Conciseness > to one page.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 10

Résumé language
Use past tense, academic verbs.
“During my undergraduate degree program I
achieved a GPA of 3.6 and was awarded a first
honor after I completed 110 credits. In my
senior project I created a solar energy system
which was designed and developed to support
the established university system. It is estimated
that my system reduced electricity loss and
increased the efficiency of the university’s grid.
I earned praise from the professor who
supervised and managed the project, and he
evaluated it as an A+. Since then, I have
maintained and improved the system, purchased
more batteries, and installed more panels. I was
motivated to enter my system in KFUPM’s
electronics competition, where it was reviewed
and tested by experts, and won second prize and
was ranked 10th place in all of KSA.”

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Before starting, ask yourself these questions:
What subjects and courses do I excel at? Can I organize difficult tasks or solve problems?

Which major courses and how many credits

What is my GPA, both major and cumulative?
hours have I finished?

Which extracurricular activities have I

Which soft and hard skills do I have?
participated or engaged in?

Which jobs have I had, and what were my

Do I have any certificates or licenses?
duties?

Have I won any awards or received any

recognition for my work? What type of position am I seeking?

Do I have any experience Which people can I ask to act

managing people? as referees for me?

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 12

 No Experience
• Most university students have only
limited professional experience.
• Many have none at all.
• Never write “None” on your resume.
• Think of something.
• Almost anything can be experience, if
you say it right.
• At the very least, you still have time
before graduation to get as much
experience as you can.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

 No Experience
• “Experience” is a broad concept that is not always limited to paid employment.
• It can be any situation where you worked to achieve a goal, possibly under supervision.

part-time jobs volunteer experiences

Example: Any personal / private Example: Picking up rubbish; giving water to
businesses; Uber or Careem driver. runners; assisting people at Hajj.

summer jobs
Example: Flipping burgers; stacking
personal projects
Example: photography; website design; creating
shelves. something; designing something.

seasonal jobs
Example: Picking and packing dates;
community jobs
Example: cleaning a mosque; building a
helping out at Hajj. structure, helping people.

family jobs
Example: Caring for a relative; managing
university projects
Example: Tutoring; grading, competitions; club
finances; driving family. management.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 14

Things Not to Include on a Resume
Anti-discrimination laws should prevent employers from making unfair choices based on your age,
sex, race, nationality, religion, marital status, or disability.

You probably should not include:

• your photograph (unless it is a modeling or acting job)
• salary expectations, or discussion of money
• preferences for work schedules, days off, or overtime
• comments about your family, spouse, or children
• physical characteristics: height, weight, or hair/eye color
• race, sexual orientation, religious and political affiliations
• unrelated or irrelevant hobbies
• long paragraphs without bullets
• misspellings or grammatical errors
• exaggerations or lies
• uncommon acronyms, abbreviations, contractions
However, if you feel that including such information would be a benefit, then why not?
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 15
Should I include high school?

Usually, high school is not included on a

High
resume. School

However, we do include it if:

• you are still in high school;
• you are in your first couple of years of
university;
• a high school diploma is your highest degree
or most recent qualification.

However, once you complete any other form

of education, eliminate this information from
your resume.

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Résumé parts and order
• Undergraduates usually put education before
experience because they don’t have much
experience.
• Whichever section is bigger comes first.

• At the top of the résumé, include your name, address,

1 Contact Details telephone number, and e-mail address.
• Create an objective that precisely dovetails with the
2 Objective prospective employer’s requirements.
• Begin with your most recent education. Describe your but
3 Education include only the most relevant information.
• Begin with your most recent experience. Describe your but
4 Experience include only the most relevant information.
• Indicate any additional languages you speak or write,
5 Skills extensive travel, certificates or licenses, and memberships of
professional organizations or community groups. Also
include any computer skills you may have.
6 References • You can simply say that you will provide references on
request or list your references (no more than a few).

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 17

Résumé parts

Contact Details
Objective
Education
Experience
Skills
References

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 18

Résumé parts

Contact Details
Objective
Education
Experience
Skills
References

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 19

Contact Details

Include:
• Your full name (not nickname)
• Postal address (location)
• Mobile phone number
• Email address
• Avoid unprofessional sounding
emails like toughguy@netfield.com

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 20

Objective
• An objective is a single sentence that tells the
employer about the specific job you want, and
in what ways you are qualified.
• Make sure your objective is directly related to
the position you are applying for
• Emphasize what you can do for your employer,
not the other way round
• Remember, you are selling yourself
• To write an effective career objective statement,
ask yourself three basic questions:
1. What kind of job am I searching for?
2. What kind of job am I qualified for?
3. What capabilities do I possess that match what a
potential employer wants?

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 21

Education
• Begin with your most recent education,
and work your way back (even to high
school)
Give:
• the name(s) of the school(s);
• location;
• dates attended (if not graduated yet, put
the expected graduation date);
• title of degree, diploma, or certificate
earned;
• details of your study, such as GPA,
courses, credits completed; and projects.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 22

Experience

• Begin with your most recent

position and work backwards

For each entry, provide:

• the company name;
• location;
• date range (if current, write
“present”)
• job title;
• duties and responsibilities.
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 23
Skills
Include:
• second or third languages you speak or
write;
• certificates or licenses you hold;
• memberships in professional associations;
• hard skills;
• soft skills (not much attention will be
paid to these);

If you can, try to quantify your abilities.

You can do this visually or literally.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 24

References
For summer training or co-op:
• it is not required to provide
references.
• Just write “Available on request”.
ENGLISH 214
For jobs:
• Provide your references’ name, position, department,
company, and contact details
• Choose people who will say good things about you.
• It is good manners to contact that person first and ask if
is fine to use them as a reference.
ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 25
Bad vs. good

Contact
Details

Objective

Education

Experience

Skills

References

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 26

Bad vs. good

Contact
Details

Objective

Education

Experience

Skills

References

?
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 27
Formatting, font, colours and document design
• You will have many options to choose from:

• However, don’t get too carried away.

• Colours are very personal and perhaps the
recruiter won’t like the one(s) you choose.
• These should be professional documents.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 28

Formatting, font, colours and document design
Résumé
Use a standard, uniform, clear font, and
blacks/greys/blues, unless you are applying for
an artistic or design position.

• Use standard, uniform font.

• Use standard margins.

• Use left alignment, and left to right.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 29

Resources

• Use Microsoft Word

• There are hundreds of inbuilt templates in File->New->Resume

• If you use one of these, don’t forget to rearrange the existing parts to match the
requirements for this course.
• Also, you will find thousands on the web.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Outsourcing
• There are sites which do impressive professional resumes.

• Try this: https://www.fiverr.com/ .

• However, you need to supply all the information.
ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 31
Worksheet
• Use this template to collect and
record all of your information.
• It is designed for students in
exactly your position
(undergraduates who have not yet
completed co-op or summer
training). Document
• Once you have compiled all the
data here, then you can use it to
make your resume, or you can send
it to a professional.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL

Task: Résumé

• Weighting: 5%
• Length: 1-2 pages
• Due date: Tuesday
• Next class will be a
feedback class.

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 33

 Questions Discussion Thank you

ENGLISH 214 ACADEMIC & PROFESSIONAL 34