Developing your Résumé

A résumé markets you. It includes your skills, experiences, and achievements and should stimulate an employer's interest in offering you an interview.

Areas included on a résumé

• Contact information
• Career Objective
• Education
• Experience
• Activities/Interests/Honors/Awards
• Skills/Technical Skills (field specific or general)
• Reference Information

Contact information to include…

• Your name (and make it big and make it stand out!)
• Your address, phone number, email and professional website address
• This is the only area on your résumé that you should consider any boxes, underlines, or distinct markings.
• Keep the look professional!

Objective information….

• A brief explanation (target) of your interests and intent
• Does not need to be a full sentence
• Uncluttered with flowery language

Education section…

• Degree, name of institution(s), location, major(s), minor(s), graduation date
• Include GPA if above a 3.0
• May use this section to list scholarships, study abroad, honors, awards, or related coursework
• Usually listed in reverse chronological order (most recent first)
• Generally includes transfer institutions only if 2 semesters as full time student or more
• Should leave off high school information once you attend college UNLESS there is a reason
• Can include related coursework – be careful only to include relevant or unique courses

Experience section….

• This is the body of your résumé
• It may include volunteering, internships, field/clinical experiences, part time or summer jobs, etc.
• It's listed in reverse chronological order
• You can use General section titles - work experience, work history, experience, employment history or Specific section titles - related experience, volunteer experience, professional experience

Activities/Interests/Honors/Awards…

• Memberships, leadership experiences, athletic participation
• Scholarships, awards, honors societies
• Use a title for this category that is relevant to the experiences you are listing
• Use a consistent format within categories

Skills/Technical Skills

• Include technology skills and other important/unique skills that you may have to offer an employer (e.g. additional languages)
• Usually placed at the end of the education section…although many technology related majors list this section after the objective

Other things to consider…

• Training received/Publications
• Presentations/Certification

Checking your Résumé

Résumé Do's and Don'ts

• Do:
  • Arrange your résumé so that employers will see the most relevant information first
  • Revise your résumé for every position if possible
  • Use categories that fit your experiences
  • Make sure your résumé has no errors
  • Use short phrases, not complete sentences
  • Use action words
• Don't:
  • Expect to send out your first draft
  • Use personal pronouns such as "I" "me" "my"
  • Rely on spell check

Common résumé mistakes

• Listing personal information (age, weight, marital status, health issues, hobbies)
• Having a résumé that is too long
• Not filling up both pages of a two page résumé
• Continuing to list high school information after completing some college
• Including irrelevant information

Appearance

• Print on heavy paper – white or light color
• Chose a readable font
• Be conservative about varying font type and size within your résumé
• Make sure your résumé is balanced on the page and uses the page effectively
• Be consistent in your spacing and use of headings
• Keep our résumé to 1 page if possible
• If 2 pages…fill both pages, put your name and "page 2" on the top of the second page
  

Choosing your words

Action Verbs

Action verbs convey accomplishments:

Adjectives

Adjectives enhance descriptions:

Skill Areas

Use action words to describe your transferable skills: