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Program Agenda:
ResourcesBasic AssumptionsPreparatory StepsElements of a ResumeSummaryExamples of Projects / Job DescriptionsQuestions
Resources
Cornell Career Services Offers:
CCS Career Guide
Career Counseling / Advising
Resume/Cover Letter Critiques
Basic Assumptions
There is no one “right way” to write a resume but there are generally accepted guidelines
The only “wrong” resume is one that is not truthful or accurate
Effective resumes…
C…orrect
A…ppealing
R…elevant
Preparatory Steps
Know Yourself - Where Are You in Your Career Development?
Know Your Target - What Do They Need?
Know Yourself
Understand Yourself – interests, values, strengths
Explore Options – through publications, volunteer, contacts, internships
Take Action – networking, completing applications, developing your resume, conducting interviews
Know Your Target
Read their job description to see what type of employee they are looking for
Do the qualifications meet your needs and skills?
Resume Focus
Clearly states your talents and skills
Demonstrated through:Objective statementContent and structure of resume
More on this in Elements of a Resume section
Sample Qualities and Skills that May Relate to Your Focus
Personal Qualities•High energy level
•Enthusiastic
•Assertiveness
•Initiative
•Resourcefulness
•Good judgment
•Attention to details
Functional Skills•Analyzing data
•Public speaking
•Clear writing
•Coordinating events
•Promoting ideas
•Supervising others
•Programming
•Problem solving
Resume Pointers
Choose a resume style that best presents your strengths for your target
Use samples in Career Guide Use succinct, strong language; start your
descriptions with action verbs, not with “I” Use present tense for current job; past tense
for prior experiences; discuss future plans for research, study abroad, etc. in cover letters
Don’t include personal data such as age, citizenship, “native” language, religion, etc.
Resume Pointers…
Quantify accomplishments by stating:Group sizes to whom presentations madeSize of databases managedNumber of people supervisedSize of budget managed Ages of populations with whom workedAmount and number of grant(s) securedPercent of savings created with a cost-cutting ideaPercent of education financed personally
Resume Pointers…
Show qualitative results and emphasize level of responsibility and interactions
Some examples:Analyzed structure of Finance Department,
resulting in its reorganizationDesigned and constructed a web site adopted by
organizationAwarded a Cornell Tradition Fellowship for
excellence in service, work, and leadershipSelected by peers to lead the project team
Resume Pointers…Instead of this: Helped other staff with design of a treatment plant.
This: Helped senior engineers with design of drinking water
and wastewater treatment plants.
And this is better still: Assisted senior engineers with design of drinking
water and wastewater treatment plants by calculating appropriate pipe and fitting sizes based on client needs.
Resume Pointers…
Eliminate extraneous materialHigh school experiences are no longer
relevant
Information that doesn’t support your objective or goal
Resume Pointers…
Be consistent throughout your resume Choose font size, margins, styles of emphasis, etc. that
maintain readability Create a good balance between text and white space Use more space between sections than within sections Use no more than 2 different fonts, 10 points minimum Limit resume to 1 page (undergrads); 2 pages maybe
(grad students) Avoid using MS Word’s or other software’s built-in
resume template
Common Resume Styles
Chronological Functional (also called Strengths-Based or Skills-Based)
Combination
Most college students use, and employers tell us they prefer, the chronological format
Elements of a Resume:Contact Information
Make your name prominent; use a font size one or two points larger
Include permanent and local addresses, if appropriate; make the difference clear
List reliable e-mail address and phone number
Consider various formatting styles: different approaches use varying amounts of space
Elements of a Resume:Objective Statement An optional one- or two-sentence statement of the
purpose of your resume Reasons to include an objective statement:
To state your specific goal clearly for the reader To provide a focus for the rest of your resume To enable your resume to present your credentials separate from a
cover letter A good objective statement:
Supports the reason you’re writing a resume Is specific, but simple; don’t make it overly broad Avoids words such as “challenging,” “rewarding,” and “stimulating” States what you can contribute, NOT what you will gain Does not include first-person statements - “I”
Elements of a Resume:Sample Objective Statements A full-time position utilizing my chemical engineering
background in designing distillation structures in the refining field.
To design/develop remotely-operated/autonomous unmanned vehicles for use in hazardous environments; can include research, rescue, and military applications.
An entry level position utilizing my proven data analysis, and interpersonal skills.
A position in structural engineering in the Boston area.
Elements of a Resume:Objective Statement Reasons not to include an objective
statement:Some organizations recruiting on-campus prefer
resumes without objective statementsCan be limiting if your purpose is general--i.e., for
networking, attending career fairs, etc.Not always necessary for electronic applicationsYour focus/interest is obvious without itNot enough room
Showing Focus Without an Objective Statement Knowledge conveyed by course work List, in order of relevance to your goal, skills
and qualities demonstrated through:Paid work InternshipsVolunteer experienceCampus activitiesOther experiences, e.g., honors thesis
Elements of a Resume:Education University, college within Cornell (usually), major,
concentration (if any), degree, degree date, city, state—all listed correctly
Previous institutions attended (list or not?)
Grade Point Average (GPA)General guideline: list if >3.00? In competitive employment fields, omitting GPA
implies it’s lower than 3.00 If you list it, it must be right; carry to two decimal
points
Elements of a Resume:Education
Courses listed should be relevant to the job/field you’re pursuing;
Relevant Coursework: Mechanical Properties of Materials, Atomic and Molecular Structure of Matter, Magnetic, and Dielectric Properties of Materials, Mechanical Properties of Materials: Processing and Design, Materials Design Concepts, Composite Materials, Electronic Materials for the Information Age
Minor Coursework: Biomedical Materials and Applications, Cellular Principles of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Technology Approaches to Problems in Human Health, Bioengineering Seminar
************
RELEVANT COURSEWORK: Finance • Project Management • International Finance • Information Technology • Financial & Managerial Accounting • Industrial Data and Systems Analysis • Decision Models for Businesses • Statistical Data Mining
• Entrepreneurship for Engineers • Spreadsheet Modeling and Analysis
Elements of a Resume: Experience Section Can be grouped into “Related Experience”
and “Other Experience” Other Possible Headings: “Research
Positions,” “Volunteer Experience,” “Teaching Experience,” “Programming Experience,” etc. (see sample resumes)
Semesters off-campusE.g., Study Abroad, Cornell-in-Washington
Elements of a Resume: Additional Sections Leadership Honors and Awards
But list academic honors under the Education section Additional Skills: Computer, languages, and others
Indicate language ability level - fluent, proficient, basic reading ability, speaking ability
Interests/Activities/Campus Activities Can serve as interview conversation items If you include, make sure you have some level of expertise
or experience--i.e., more than a passing interest Leadership roles held may go under experience or
leadership section No need to state “References Available Upon Request”
Next Steps
Take a close look:If included, does your objective statement
add focus to the resume?Does your choice of action verbs support
the job requirements? Proofread carefully Seek and accept advice – HOWEVER...
Next Steps Continued...
Proofread again Print on light-toned, high-quality paper (if handing to someone) Upload in Handshake Review your resume and rehearse carefully
before any interviewsBe ready to discuss anything you’ve included; you
must know contents thoroughly and be able to expand upon the topic with examples
SummaryYour Resume Should:
Have a focus, and demonstrate an understanding of your relevant strengths, skills, and personal qualities
Be truthful, without underselling your skills and abilities
Use effective language: action verbs and succinct, descriptive phrases“Created and maintained a centralized Customer Relationship
Management System for all employees using MS Access and VBA.”
Summary Continued...
Be visually appealing; use samples from the Career Guide and avoid use of pre-programmed templates
Limit to one page (two pages sometimes acceptable for graduate students)
Quantify your accomplishments and show results
“Was responsible for creating and executing unit test scripts for over 150 interfaces. Discoved over 180 major defects and worked alongside the development team to resolve them.”
Design Project ExamplesCarry Ripple 5-bit x 5-bit Multiplier Apr – Fall 2014
Created transistor level layout using Cadence Spectre and designed logic-level schematics in static CMOS.
Optimized for delay time and area through critical path simulation and transistor sizing and metal routing.
Switch-Mode Power Supply DC/DC Converter Spring 2014
Designed buck-boost converter, PWM and feedback network with SPICE models from IRF using Cadence Spectre.
Optimized efficiency, speed and regulation and switching loss of MOSFET through simulation and theoretical analysis.
Trans-Impedance Amplifier Apr Spring 2014
Designed for specified voltage gain, feedback impedance, and bandwidth, taking into account non-idealities of components.
Fabricated circuit based on thick-film hybrid technology; process includes layout, masks, screen printing, trimming (sand blaster) resistors, mounting transistors, and wire-box
Project Examples Continued...
Solar Decathlon, Ithaca, New York 2014- 2015Energy Consumption Analyst – team of four represented Cornell University.Responsible for optimizing electric loads in an entirely solar-powered house.Performed energy usage modeling analysis using IES and eQuest.Presented in both Washington D.C. and at the New York State Fair; team won 4th place overall in national competition
Job Description: The CloudWatch team is currently looking for a systems engineer with SYSTEM
AVAILABILITY OBSESSION DISORDER. Is that you? How can you tell? You detest outages and high latency like the plague, so it’s your life’s mission to find and eliminate root causes of problems. You follow evolution of the industry to find useful tools that can enhance efficiency. You find data center build-outs, performance engineering, and other scaling activities to be almost as fun as Mardi Gras. Finally, you insist upon giving customers what they want: high quality, highly usable, always-on services.
In this position you’ll get to:· Work with developers to design, build, and manage massively scaled monitoring services· Build monitoring systems in new data centers and regions, and add/manage capacity in existing regions as our usage grows· Optimize the performance of our systems by analyzing and deploying new hardware configurations· Track the health of our services, identify problems, drive to root cause, and fix· Collaborate with some of the leading minds in distributed systems· Tell your grandkids that you were you “helped create the Cloud all those years ago”
Basic Qualifications: Scripting experience in a Linux environment (in Perl, Ruby, bash, etc.)
· Experience with building and running systems for Internet-facing services· BS in computer science or other technical degree and/or related experience· US citizenship required
Job Description continuedThis position requires the applicant selected to obtain and maintain a Top Secret security clearance with Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) eligibility and access.
Preferred Qualifications: Experience with TCP/IP network troubleshooting and administration
· Experience in a 24x7 production environment, esp. one based on Linux· Excellent troubleshooting skills at all levels, from application to network to host· Experience with systems management and monitoring software (home-grown or commercially available)· Experience with performance testing and tuning· Automation or monitoring framework experience, deployment or development a plus· Experience with SQL scripts and database administration preferred· Degree in computer science, mathematics, or a related field
Questions?
