RESUME BUILDING

Road Map

Role of the Resume

Types of Resumes

Resume Formats

Resume Sections

Additional Documentation

Miscellaneous Tips

Miscellaneous Tilts

Sample Resumes

On-line Resources

What is a Resume?

A marketing tool Your first tool for building a career The first impression a prospective employer has of you A selling tool that allows you to highlight to an employer

how you can contribute to the company

Request for an interview Purpose of the resume is to get you an interview Must capture the reader’s interest and attention Must convince the employer that you have the ability to fill

their position

Your “big picture” A snapshot of what you believe are your most important

experiences and qualifications

Types of Resumes

A Paper/PDF Resume A printed resume for use at job fairs, conferences, …

Should be clean, concise, professional, and pleasing to the eye

Use bullets, bolding, and indentation

Take this resume with you on job interviews, career breakfasts, …

An Electronic Resume A plain text resume for on-line submission

Typically must conform to employer specifications

Use left-justified and space indented formatting

If desired, use “+”, “*”, and “0” to represent bullets

An HTML Resume Typically includes links to homepage, images, …

Avoid this type of resume

Most people don’t want an employer walking around in their homepage

Resume Formats - Chronological

Highlight your work experience in reversechronological order

Be sure to not leave gaps

The most widely used format for working professionals

Cut off

Resume Formats - Functional

Highlight specific skills for which the market has high demand

Seldom used by new graduates

Frequently used to change jobs or careers

Again, cut off

Resume Formats - Combinational

Highlight specific work experience

Highlight marketable skills

Use reversechronological order

The best resume stylefor most college students

I would prefer bullets

The Silver Bullet What Is Your “Story”?

What slant can you take on your resume?

Do you want to emphasize internship experience?

Do you want to emphasize work experience?

Do you want to emphasize course work?

Do you want to emphasize project experience?

Do you want to emphasize research experience?

Do you want to emphasize personal traits?

What is unique or interesting about your college experience?

My Recommendation

If you have an interesting internship – emphasize it – if not get one!

Most MBA graduates have interesting project experience

Build on your liberal arts education!!!

Demonstrate leadership, communication, cultural awareness

Standard Resume Sections

Header

Objective

Education

Honors/Activities

Work Experience

Relevant Courses

Skills

Projects

Move toward bottom

I prefer other order

The Header Section

The first line should be your name Larger than the largest font used in body Avoid using decorative fonts Don’t use black or gray shaded backgrounds Exclude titles Mr., Mrs., Ms., …

Include contact address Permanent address Current address

Include your email address Use your PROFESSIONAL email address Don’t use “BIGBOY@HOT_MAIL.COM”

Include your phone number Change the message machine OR caller tune to be

appropriate

The Objective Section

Considered optional but I strongly suggest including it

Make statement clear, concise, and to the point Bad: “I want to get a job” Weak: “To attain an internship in the computer industry.” Good: “To attain an internship in the computer industry working

with database or network security.”

Avoid being overly specific to single company “To attain a position at 3M Pharmaceuticals working on …”

I prefer objectives from the company’s perspective “To attain a web application programming position where

knowledge of Java and the Struts framework will add value the overall development process.”

The Honors/Activities Section Should only contain honors and awards earned

during your time in college

You can include academic or extracurricular items I prefer only academic or service-related items

Include a brief description if not self-evident from title “Award given to top performer on the capstone exam”

Don’t include hobbies or activities not related to the job or your story

Don’t include volunteer work unless there is a direct and positive link with the job or your story

This section should scream “I am a leader”

The Work Experience Section

Dedicated to most recent and relevant employment

Format Employer and location on the first line

Don’t need name of supervisor, complete address, or contact information

Position and time-span on the second line Use only year, not month and year (avoids time gaps)

Each position should have at least two bullets Explain role and contributions

Don’t emphasize duties but rather emphasize outcomes “Increased efficiency of … by 20%”

“Improved user navigation experience on …”

Descriptions should be consistent in wording

Watch the tense Current job uses present tense

Former jobs use past tense

Employers wantproblem solvers

The Relevant Courses Section

The keyword is relevant courses Don’t include Foundations of Computing

Don’t include Aloha and Fabric Painting

Focus on courses the are either unique or would normally be considered elective Soft Skills Seminars

Language Competency Classes

Computer Networks

Employers will assume you have had the rest

The Skills Section

This is where you emphasize your technical skills

The Projects Section

Used correctly, this section can set you apart from other new graduates

Most new grads don’t get the opportunity to use this section

Show any lengthy, impressive, or relevant projects to which you have made real contribution

Each project should have at least two bullets (focus on outcomes)

Supporting Documentation –Cover Letter (1) Why do I need to write a cover letter?

Use the cover letter to focus attention on elements of your background that are particularly relevant to the company

Letter acts as your verbal introduction to the employer

Send it to a person, not a place Avoid “To Whom It May Concern,” Worst case “Dear Recruiter:”

First sentence should tell why you are writing “I am writing in regard to your posting listed on …” “Dr. Wagner at Money Minting Business School suggested that I

…” “As you may recall, I spoke with you briefly at …” If unsolicited, indicate why you are interested in the company

Supporting Documentation –Cover Letter (2)

Highlight your skills Use two to three paragraphs to given in-depth

description of your selling points

Each paragraph should be stand alone (could be moved to different location in text)

Close with a promise of action If possible, indicating that you will be contacting them

in the near future to set up a mutually acceptable meeting time or to further discuss your qualifications

Nice if you can say “during the second half of this month, I will be in your Delhi. I will contact your office when I arrive to arrange a possible meeting time”

Supporting Documentation –Cover Letter (3)

Supporting Documentation –References Prepare a separate reference sheet

Use same paper as the resume itself Bring reference sheet (and resume) with you to any interviews,

job fairs, career breakfasts, … Do not mail reference sheet with resume and cover letter

Reference sheet is a stand-alone document Should include your Header from the resume Try to arrange contact information in pleasing fashion

Use professional references only Pick individuals that think highly of you Pick individuals that are familiar with your work

Always ask your references before using their names Be prepared to give supporting materials – courses, projects, … Ask again if it has been a while

Scannable Resumes

Most large employers will scan your resume into a central database

Tips to assist the scanning process Don’t use italics, underlining, or graphics

Use bold only for headers

Use “scanner-friendly” fonts Times New Roman, Courier, Helvetica, or Arial are

good examples

Font sizes of between 9 and 12

Use black ink on white background

Tips on Delivery of Your Resume

Posting Online “rules” are still emerging

Common mistake – formatting that doesn’t make the trip Convert to text only

Use PDF if allowed

Proofread carefully after conversion

If they ask about salary, leave it empty

If they force salary, be honest but don’t shoot for the moon

Emailing your resume Attach resume as a PDF document (or Word document)

75 – 80% of companies are running Windows

Also include text version in the email message Attachments can get dropped or filtered

Test before deploy Send to at least three friends, ask them to print it and send it back to you

Miscellaneous Tips (1) Use action words in your descriptions

Miscellaneous Tips (2)

Act like a professional Avoid inappropriate graphics, images, formats, …

One page only You are a fresh graduate, don’t assume that the one-

page rule doesn’t apply to you!

Stick to the truth Don’t sprinkle buzzwords in that you really don’t

understand It speaks volumes about your character when you

can’t explain your own resume

Focus on achievements and results Laundry lists of duties are not impressive

Miscellaneous Tips (3)

Use easy-to-read language Winston Churchill - “Use short, old words.”

Get the words and punctuation correct Errors and “broken English” are the kiss of death

For example, “Lets eat grandpa!”

Follow the instructions If the company asks for specific information, then give it to them

Follow up If you said you would call, then call

Maintain a consistent writing style Avoid “To apply …” then “Applying …”

Avoid the use of “I” or “my”

Miscellaneous Tilts (1)

USE ALL CAPITAL LETTERS Much harder to read

Avoidwhitespace Use white space (not borders) to break sections apart

Include a picture of yourself You’re not THAT good looking!

Use several fonts to catch their attention Creates a “ransom note” effect

Print your resume on “day glow” paper Be professional

Illogical Order Use Resume is a story – put most interesting parts at the beginning

Would you hirethis guy?

Print your resume on “day glow” paper

How about him?

Miscellaneous Tilts (2)

Focus on you and your needs Employers have better things to do than hear about you

They want to know “what can you do for me”

Use templates to construct your resume

Use superlatives to emphasis your work Great performance as …

Stick to the facts and figures – not an evaluation of yourself

Use long flowing sentences Short and to the point

Sentence fragments are fine if they are understandable –BUT NOT IN THE COVER LETTER!!!!!

Don’t Make These Famous Mistakes “Education: Curses in liberal arts, curses in

computer science, curses in accounting”

“Personal: Married, 1992 Chevrolet”

“Proven ability to track down and correct erors.”

“Disposed of $2.5 billion in assets”

Cover Letter: “Thank you for your consideration. I hope to hear from you shorty!”

Good Examples (1)

Good Examples (2)

Bad Examples (1)

Bad Examples (2)

On-Line Resources www.collegerecruiter.com

www.developercareers.com

www.writinglettersandresumes.com

www.professional-resumes.com

www.1stresumes.com

www.a1resumes.net

www.10minuteresume.com

www.crsresume.com

www.resumeservice.com

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