Writing Résumés and Cover Letters Part I: Writing Résumé Content Adapted from The Resume Handbook, 3 rd ed. by Rosenberg and Hizer*

Writing Résumésand Cover Letters

Part I: Writing Résumé Content

Adapted from The Resume Handbook, 3rd ed.by Rosenberg and Hizer*

3 Common Résumé Formats

• Chronological– Focus is on employment history in first main section– Safe for people with unbroken records of employment

• Functional– Advisable for those with employment gaps or other

activities they might prefer not to reveal– Emphasis on certain aspects of your career or on

your skills (rather than work experience)

• Combined

Basic Principles of Résumé Writing

• Brief is better– Single page if possible, not more than two– If 2+ pages, put most important info on first

• Format– Use conventional patterns/sections, but don’t

get locked into them– Model your résumé after others that closely

meet your needs


• Optional categories– Career objectives

• A long-range plan that may or may not relate directly to the job at hand

• General or vague objectives are best omitted

– Summary of Qualifications• Use with an extremely diversified background or if your

résumé extends beyond a single page

– Personal data (including age, marital status, health)• More likely to hurt than help you; you cannot anticipate

people’s prejudices


• Also leave out:– Reasons for having left a job– Former (or desired) salary– Hobbies and memberships in social, fraternal, or

religious organizations– Reasons for not having served in the military– Any potentially negative information about you (prison

terms, lost lawsuits, handicaps that affect your job performance)

– The label “Résumé” or “Vitae” (if they can’t tell what it is at a glance, the label won’t help)

– The phrase “References available on request”


• Visual Impact:– Use principles of good page design– Always print your résumé on quality paper of

neutral tones– Make sure you résumé is letter perfect

• No errors, typos, stains• No abbreviations, technical jargon, buzz words

– Have someone reliable proofread and critique your final draft


• Ensure internal integrity– Be consistent with content throughout– Your résumé should provide separate, but

interrelated, facts

• Employment history– Balance between job content and accomplishments;

emphasize the latter– List current position first, working back chronologically– De-emphasize jobs you held further back in time– Use action verbs and phrases to your advantage


• Organizations of which you are a member– List the ones that show achievement or professional

standing– Indicate leadership abilities as an officer or official in a

strictly non-controversial association– Avoid listing political, religious, and potentially

controversial groups

• Awards– List those that relate to the job you’re seeking– Avoid those that don’t

Stating Your Accomplishments

• Use active, energetic phrases to attract your reader’s attention

• Balance job content and accomplishments


Dull1. Raised level of sales above

previous year.2. Put on training sessions for

supervisors in corporation.

3. Contributed to making group much more efficient.

4. Handled bookings for elderly pop group.

5. Hired and trained six new lion tamers. Only one serious casualty.

With Impact1. Reversed negative sales trend;

sales up 41% over prior year.2. Conducted leadership training

for forty-eight supervisory and management level staff.

3. Increased group efficiency as measured by time and quantity parameters by 35%.

4. Managed bookings, travel, and accommodations for sexagenarian sextet.

5. Recruited, trained, and motivated six new lion tamers; five continue to excel.


• Consider writing about your membership and leadership involvement in campus clubs and organizations. Avoid mentioning controversial or unsanctioned groups.– “Captained intermural coed softball team that

won campus championship, 2003. Recruited, coached, and motivated fourteen players.


• Look for an accomplishment statement in a term project or paper that you wrote, especially if it relates to your job objective or career interest:– “Researched and wrote twenty-one-page term

paper, entitled Which Niche Now, that listed the latest approaches in identifying and appealing to your product’s market. (Received an ‘A.’)”


• Form an accomplishment statement around a noteworthy comment made by a professor, instructor, or teacher that shows you creativity, insight, or hard work:– “Recognized verbally by organic chemistry

professor who stated that I had ‘natural research instincts’ and I was ‘bound for greater heights’.”


• Include accomplishment statements that show initiative and responsibility:– “Initiated, organized, and led almost entire

dormitory population in preparing for Parents’ Day--June 2002. Parents were overwhelmingly united in their praise of the day’s events.”


• Think in terms of specialized training and learning experiences that exhibit uniqueness or an interest in learning new things:– “Volunteered to stay after hours and without

pay to learn and work with employer’s bookkeeper in closing out the financial books; subsequently closed out next month’s books on ownwithout pay.”


• Include volunteer work—school, civil, or community:– “Selected by Lincoln Parish School Board as

‘Volunteer of the Year,” 2002.”

• Explore how managing family issues can serve as work-relevant accomplishments:– “Conducted exhaustive research that led to identifying

a rare learning disorder that doctors and clinicians had been unable to diagnose. Identification led to successful treatment and article in Parents magazine entitled ‘How Parents Can Make a Difference.’”

Describing Your Education

• If you have extensive work experience, list bare details:– 2002: B.S., Biology, Howard University, Washington, D.C.– Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.: M.B.A., Business Administration– 2002: San Diego State University, San Diego, California: B.A., History

(summa cum laude).

• If your work experience is limited, elaborate on educational achievements:– 2001Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration, University of Florida.

Achieved 3.6 grade average (4.0 scale); specialized in management information systems. Senior project consisted of 223-page report on the compatibility of selected information retrieval systems.

– Boston University, College of Communication, 2001. Maintained 3.5/4.0 GPA; emphasized newspaper journalism sequence. While in school, served as editor of The Daily Free Press (1998-2000); awarded John Scali Achievement Prize for best student investigative news story.

Describing Your Work Experience

• Include name and location of organization (city/state only), specific job title, job description, skills applied, skills acquired, significant accomplishments, dates of employment (unless using functional format)

• Don’t go back more than ten or twelve years, unless you’ve spent all that time with the same company (then briefly list an earlier job or two)

• Gaps in employment dates of more than a month or two should be “hidden” (or briefly explained) by employing a functional format

Documents

Writing Résumés and Cover Letters Part I: Writing Résumé Content Adapted from The Resume Handbook, 3 rd ed. by Rosenberg and Hizer*