What is a Resume? The American Heritage Dictionary says
that it is “a brief account of one’s professional or work experience and qualifications, often submitted with an employment application” or “a summary”
IT IS NOT YOUR ENTIRE LIFE’S STORY! It also allows you to market yourself and
may be your first impression to a professor or future employer.
A Summary of Your Work Experience As difficult as it might be, a resume should
NEVER be more than two pages long! It will also include other pertinent
information like: Contact Information Job Objective Education Volunteer Work
Contact Information Should be at the top and contain your
proper name, address, phone number or cell phone number, and e-mail.
What does your e-mail say about you? Be careful with your e-mail! If your e-mail is [email protected]
or [email protected], this does NOT make a good first impression!
You may want to set up a new e-mail with a more professional sound.
Check out Dr. Berg’s posting on this subject: http://stevenlberg.info/blog/01-22-2007.html
Objective Since it usually accompanies a job
application or is sent in place of a job application, you place the job title of what you’re applying for in the Objective.
Keep it short! This does not need to be a sentence. Academic Librarian Arc Welder Middle School English Teacher
Work History These should be listed as most recent first
and should include: Name of Company Position Title How long you worked there What your job responsibilities were
Use ACTIVE verbs – not Passive Verbs Keep this short, sweet and concise!
I don’t suggest… Using a Template from Microsoft Word Yes, all you have to do is fill in the blanks,
but… The trouble happens when you want to
drastically modify, add or delete sections of your resume.
In my experience, the templates don’t adapt well to major modifications, and major changes mess up the formatting.
I suggest… Making a document that you can continue
to modify over the years by using Microsoft Word.
You can do all your own formatting after the fact.
I suggest: Using a standard, professional font like Times
New Roman or Ariel. Use Bullet Points Use Bold OR Underline – probably not both
If you’d like help writing a resume… You could go to Schoolcraft’s Career and
Transfer Center (CTC) McDowell Center - RM 205 (734) 462-4421 Hours are:
Monday & Thursday, 8am - 7:30pm; Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, 8am - 4:30pm
There are also plenty of websites to help you create a resume. About.com – Career Planning:
http://careerplanning.about.com/od/resumewriting/Resume_Writing.htm
How to write a resume: http://www.howtowritearesume.net/
OWL – Online Writing Lab from Purdue University: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/pw/