Updated Resume Guidelines (Mar 2012)

8/2/2019 Updated Resume Guidelines (Mar 2012)

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Rsum Guidelines

Placements Office

FAST School of Management, Lahore

March 10, 2012


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FAST School of Management Placement Office ([email protected])

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CONTENTS

I. IntroductionThe FAST-NU Rsum

II. Format

III. Sections

IV. Style

Accomplishment Statements

Quantifiers

Verbs

Positioning Content to One Page


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I. Introduction - The FAST School of Management RsumThis guideline is developed to facilitate the students of FAST-NU, especially from the FAST School of

Management, to standardize their resumes, to ensure consistent quality, superior branding, and ease of

reading for the recruiter.

The job market today requires that you market yourself effectively to prospective employers. Your

rsum is a critical marketing tool designed to sell your strengths to a targeted reader.

The purpose of this extensive and elaborate guide is to describe the specific requirements of the format

and to assist you in developing relevant content for your rsum.

Standardization also helps FBS Careers Office to facilitate the process of creating and sending Graduate

Directory to employers which presents profiles of all graduating students or students otherwise interested

in taking up internships in a standardized format.


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II. FORMATChronological Format:It is recommended that chronological format for your rsum because it emphasizes continuity, academic

growth, and is easy to follow. Educational and business experience (if any) should be listed in reverse

chronological order (most recent first).

Length:Your rsum should fit into one page.

Less is more: a shorter, simpler, clearer document communicates best and conveys your message with

confidence.

Paper:Use 8 x11 (or A4) white, cream, or light grey in color, higher quality paper. All printing should be inblack color only.

Margins:Left: 0.75"

Right: 0.5"

Indent: 1.75" from edge of page (1" from margin; 2 tabs from margin)

Top (range): 1.0"Bottom (range): 1.0"

Bullets:Bullets should only be listed vertically. They should be small and indented from the margin (refer to

sections V-VII for clarification). Do not use sub-bullets. You do not need a bullet for a single item undera heading.

Abbreviations:In general, do not use abbreviations.

Spell out months and addresses: January, rather than Jan.; Street and Road, rather than St. and Rd.

Spell out degrees (Master of Business Administration, rather than MBA; Bachelor of Business

Administration, rather than BBA).

Abbreviate or use acronyms only if they are more appropriate than using the full name.

Font:Times New Roman, 10 point, Black color, throughout rsum

Typography:Use plain type (i.e. no bold, italics, or all-capitals) unless specified below.

Use italics only for newspapers, magazines and words in languages other than English.

Lines, Boxes, Tables, Headers or Footers:Do not use any of these on your rsum, except the table given on the top.

Capitalization:Capitalize a word if it is a proper name: i.e. the name of a major, a title, or a department, etc. (Examples:

Bachelor of Science, Finance Intern)


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Subject Headings:Use capital letters.

Subjects should be in bold and placed along the left margin.

Use only the following headings: EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, PROJECTS and OTHER DATA, in this

order.

Nothing else should be included on the subject heading rows. Leave a blank line between sections.

It is not recommended to use an objective statement. Omitting it gives you the greatest flexibility during

your job search process.

Dates:Place along left margin in plain text years attended or worked, in reverse chronological order.

Use only years (no months). Present all years fully: 2001-2002, rather than 2001-02.

For internships or other seasonal work, the following are acceptable: Summer 2004, Fall 2006, or Spring

2007.

When necessary or appropriate, further explanation of employment periods may be included in

parenthesesin italicsafter the job title: e.g.: (part-time during academic year).

Locations:Place locations of universities and companies flush with the right margin. The location should be bold in

lower and upper case. Please note that this does not apply to your current address at the top of the rsum

or in the body. For international locations, spell out both the city and country.

Position Titles:Italicize in lower and upper case. Place in EXPERIENCE directly under the company name. If you

worked in various capacities for the same company, add to each title in parenthesis and italics the dates

you worked in that capacity. Use the format: (20XX-20XX).

Punctuation:Bullets do not need periods at the end unless they are multiple-sentence bullets.

It is important to be consistent with punctuation within each section and throughout the entire rsum.

Numbers:Spell out numbers ten and under; use figures for 11 and over.


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III. SECTIONS1. CONTACT INFORMATION:A balanced heading at the top of your rsum should include your complete formal name, street address,

city, phone number, and email address as well as the university contact details.

Your name should be in 10 point font, all capitals, and in bold. It always comes firstcentered at the top

of your rsum. Your address, in plain text, should be centered under the name.

Use your current address. List one telephone number. Be sure it is a number where you can be reached or

where a message can be left. Make it easy for prospective employers to contact you. List one email

address and make sure your email address is not a hyperlink (underlined). The University address will be

the same for all the students.

2. EDUCATION:Present education in reverse chronological order. Begin with the school name, in all capitals and in bold.

Under it, list the degree, date of graduation (in Month 20XX format) in plain font. Under that, indicateyour areas of concentration, undergraduate major(s), honors, activities, experiential programs, and

awards. Use three to five lines for each educational experience, more if the information is notable.

Paragraphs should be four to six lines at most. You may use bullets, paragraphs, or a combination of both.

Start with NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COMPUTER & EMERGING SCIENCES, then on the nextline FAST SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT. All text should be in plain type. Use italics for words in other

languages, newspapers, and magazines. Leave a blank line between educational institutions.

Include educational programs only if you obtained a degree. Otherwise, you may mention them under

Other Data. Include significant honors, scholarships, awards, selections, and positions of leadership, club-

related or those which pertain to each school. Include any experiential programs under Projects.

3. EXPERIENCE:Experience, if any, should be listed in reverse chronological order, beginning with the most recent

experience. The COMPANY NAME should be in all capitals, in bold, and indented at the recommendedspace from the margin. On the same line, the dates of employment should be on the left margin and the

location on the right margin. When listing employers, city is sufficient (no addresses).

For internships and other seasonal work, use Summer 20XX or Jul/Aug 20XX format. Leave a blankline between jobs or positions at the same company.

EDUCATION2006-Present NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COMPUTER & EMERGING SCIENCES (FAST-NU) Lahore

FAST SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENTMaster of Business Administration, May 200 8

President, BestPractices SocietyMajorin Finance

2002-2006 NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF COMPUTER & EMERGING SCIENCES (FAST-NU) Lahore

COMPUTERSCIENCES DEPARTMENTB. Sc. (Computer Science)

raduated with honorsbased on academic performancelass Representative

2000-2002 ABC SCHOOL LahoreGCE Advanced Level

hree As in English, Mathematics & PhysicsPresident Adventure Club


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Under the company name, list Your Title in italics in plain text (not bold). If you worked in various

capacities for the same company, add to each title in parentheses and italics the dates you worked in that

capacity, e.g. 20XX-20XX. If a position you held had no specific title, or if your title does not accurately

represent what you did, re-write your title to better describe your activities. Be sure to accurately

represent your level in the organization.

Under the title you may use indented bullet points, paragraphs, or a combination thereof to listinformation effectively in a crisp and concise format. Begin statements with action verbsimplemented,

produced, planned, supervised, managed, directedthat compel the reader to find out what youaccomplished. Use the past tense unless you are presenting a current job. Keep sentences and paragraphs

short. For ideas on what to include, see Section III, Content.

Remember that this information should support your current career goals. You should have already

identified skill areas most important to the function you are now pursuing; organize your

accomplishments around these skills.

List all full- and part-time experience. Volunteer work may also be listed if it is substantial. Mention

specific accomplishments under each experience. Accomplishments should be brief and precisely stated.

Follow the STAR pattern: Situation, Task/Action, and Result. State your role in taking action on a

situation and the results of your work. Start every bullet with a dynamic action verb. See Section IV,

Style for suggested action verbs and ways to quantify your results.

End each statement with the impact of your actions on the organization. This will demonstrate that you

are results-focused and a producer. List accomplishments which answer the question: So what?Whenever possible, quantify your accomplishments. Use numbers, dollar values or percentages. Make

sure you mention if you presented your results to clients or senior management. Emphasize transferable

skills. This is especially important if you are a career changer. Accurately represent your experience (no

embellishing). Be specific rather than general, with quantified measurement.

EXPERIENCE

Jul/Aug 2005 AROMA TRAVELS KarachiIntern

Developed new business processes resulting in 10% increase in customer response time Developed, as part of a team, three new tourist plans

Jul/Aug 2004 ABN AMRO LahoreIntern

Prepared a report on consumer banking department, which helped the management in developing someuseful insight into the performance of various consumer products.


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PROJECTS:

Include only the relevant projects, along with the relevant details.

5. OTHER DATA:

Display information that does not fit into any other category in bullet or paragraph format. This section

should include at most a few lines. For ideas on what to include, see Section III, Content.

The key word here is relevance. Include information that clearly contributes to your work ability for your

current career goals. Make sure to mention relevant social or civic, volunteer, or sports activities that

demonstrate qualities such as leadership, teamwork, responsibility and initiative. Mention foreignlanguage skills only if they are higher than conversational level. Preferably include higher level software

skills you have, such as MS Project, MS Access, Java, SAP, UNIX, etc. it is not recommended to

include Word, Excel, Power Point, etc. Consider including one or two outside interests, especially if they

demonstrate leadership, commitment, tenacity, or excellence, especially those with long history. Often

listing your interests creates an opportunity for relating to the recruiter or for small talk at the beginning

of the interview.

PROJECTS

MITCHELLS

Financial Analysis of MitchellsAnnual Reports (2002)

Authorized a report on the above company and provided an in-depth analysis of some key performanceindicators. Main components of the project included the calculating WACC and the value of the company

through the dividend discount Model.

SNGPL & SSGC

Comparison of Financial statements of SNGPL and SSGCs (2002)

As a part of corporate financial Analysis Project. Suggested any new treatments of financial data. DefferedTax is the main component that is used for window dressing. Main focus of the project was Deffered

Taxation and Cash flow statements.

FAT FREE YOUGURT

Launch Fat Free Yogurt in Pakistan - Marketing Research Report (2002)

Conducted a market survey to launch Fat Free Frozen Yogurt in the Pakistani Market.

OTHER DATA

Other interests include swimming, reading and riding


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IV. STYLEAccomplishment StatementsAccomplishments should be brief and results-oriented. Use an action verb to begin each statement. East

statement should specify the result or impact your actions had on the organizations success. The purposeof the STAR model is to present your experience. Describe the Situation as a problem or opportunity

encountered. Briefly describe the Task completed. Describe the Actions taken including planning,

preparation and resources involved. Then describe the Results obtained. Be as specific and quantitative aspossible. This may seem like a lot of content for each bullet. Strive to pack maximum meaning into as

few words as possible. It may take several iterations to get to the desired result.

Avoid using words and phrases such as Responsible for, Helped or Assisted in youraccomplishments. Choose action verbs with more impact such as Managed or Collaborated. Ideal

verbs are those that convey both action and results e.g.: reduced, gained, advanced, expanded, saved,

improved, and increased. Your goal is to distinguish yourself by citing accomplishments and

measurements of impact for those who explore your background and experience. Describe the results

obtainedbe as specific as possible. Be as specific as possible. Avoid being too general laying claims,

i.e. reducing costs, or improving profits, without including a quantified measurement.

Examples of Accomplishment Areas:Improved: quality, productivity

Reduced: costs, time

Planned: designed program or training process to improve, reduce, change

Decreased: turnover, failure, breakdown, shrinkage, overtime

Examples of Accomplishment Statements:

Trained new employees in customer service, secretarial and telephone procedures, generating generated a

30% reduction in complaints

Designed and implemented new promotional point of sale displays which arrested share loss and

increased market share by 25% in one year

Avoid the data dump. Remember, less is better. Select only the experiences that are relevant to thefunction and industry that you wish to be a part of in the future. It is your responsibility to provide the

connection between your past experience, your present skills, and your future career for the reader. Keep

your rsum simple, concise and visually appealing. Avoid overcrowding on the page. Margins and

space between headings and items make the rsum more readable.

Personal information such as salary, age, marital status, health, weight, or height should not be included

in the rsum.

Omit I, me, and my. Limit the use of the, a, an. Bullets or paragraphs on the rsum shouldbe abridged, business-like, crisp fragments, rather than complete sentences, Use strategically selected key

words and buzzwords pertaining to the industry and position you are seeking. They will catch the eye ofa recruiter and improve the scan-ability of your rsum.


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Quantifiers

In your STAR bullets or paragraphs, quantify your results. The best way to quantify is by using

percentages and/or numbers. Some examples are: Increased revenues by Rs. 1,000,000 in one-year

period, Sold 300 credit cards in five months, Recruited 50 new members, Completed six majorresearch projects, and Reduced costs by 25%. If it is not possible to use absolute numbers orpercentages, provide a feeling for the scope of your accomplishment, as in: Established first marketing

plan to be used by company, Revolutionized quality monitoring process by and Maintainedsuccessful customer relationships with banks top clients. Be careful to limit the use of modifiers such

as: successfully, effectively, or single-handedly.

Examples of Areas to Quantify:

sales

profits

costs

market share

savings

efficiency

customer satisfaction

sales quota

rankings

numbers of people managed

number of clients served

potential for saving


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Verbs

To help you develop a compelling description of your experience, we are including lists of action verbs. When using these

aids, remember that your rsum should be an original reflection of your unique experience and history.

Verbs for Planning Skills:

Conceived Formulated ProjectedCreated Initiated Reorganized

Designed Innovated Revised

Developed Instituted Scheduled

Devised Invented SolvedEngineered Justified Systemized

Established Laid out Tailored

Estimated Organized Transformed

Experimented Originated

Formed Planned

Verbs for Skills in Directing Employees:

Administered Determined Ordered

Approved Directed Prescribed

Authorized Guided Regulated

Conducted Headed Specified

Controlled Instructed Supervised

Decided Led Trained

Delegated Managed

Verbs for Skills in Assuming Responsibility:

Accepted Described Maintained

Achieved Developed MadeAdopted Doubled Overcome

Arranged Established Performed

Assembled Evaluated PreparedAssumed Experienced Received

Attended Gathered Reduced

Audited Halted Reviewed

Built Handled Simplified

Checked Improved SoldClassified Implemented Transacted

Collected Initiated Tripled

Compiled Installed Used

Constructed Integrated Utilized


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Verbs for Ability to Provide Effective Service:

Carried out Explained ProvidedCommitted Facilitated Purchased

Delivered Furnished Rewrote

Demonstrated Generated Sent

Earned Inspected Serviced

Exchanged Installed SubmittedExpanded Issued Transmitted

Expedited Procured Wrote

Verbs for Interpersonal Skills:

Advised Coordinated Negotiated

Aided Counseled Participated

Apprised Helped Promoted

Clarified Informed Recommended

Conferred Inspired Represented

Consulted Interpreted ResolvedContributed Interviewed Suggested

Cooperated Mediated Unified

Verbs for Investigative and Analytical Skills:

Analyzed Evaluated Reviewed

Assessed Familiarized Searched

Calculated Investigated Studied

Computed Observed Verified

Correlated Proved

Discovered Researched


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Positioning Content on One Page

"What if my text won't fit on one page?"

Suggestions for getting more space:

Minimize top and bottom margins to 0.5" and use a single blank line between sections.

Use the "paragraph" rather than "bullet" format in EDUCATION and OTHER DATA sections.Remove experiences or phrases within experiences that do not relate to the types of jobs you will be seeking.

Remove activities or honors that are not recent or do not represent applicable skills or interests.

"What if I don't have enough information to fill one page?"

Suggestions for taking up more space:

Maximize top and bottom margins to 1.0."

Use the "bullet" rather than "paragraph" format in EDUCATION and OTHER DATA sections.

Be sure to include any positions or experiences that demonstrate leadership, teamwork, and other skills that will be useful

in future positions.Include outside activities, interests, hobbies, or other honors.

Tips for 2ndyear MBAs Updating Your Rsum to Include Your InternshipKeeping everything on one page may be a challenge. Organizing your rsum to give you space for the internship

requires you to think about your experience strategically to determine what to include and what to eliminate.

Choose bullets from your past experience, education, and extracurricular activities that continue to support your post-

MBA job search goal. Your internship should be shown just like other positions. If you are already at one full page, you

will need to remove older items to make room for the internship. Include your internship with a couple of results-oriented

bullets that represent the contributions you have made. There is no magic number of bullets for any one section; two

bullets for your internship is a place to start. If you have enough room and more results to present, you can include them.

Documents

Updated Resume Guidelines (Mar 2012)