The Resume
A resume is a brief description of your previous education, work experience, and additional relevant information.
The purpose of a resume is:
- To introduce you to an employer
- To serve as an example of how you think and express yourself
- To catalog skills, experience, training and achievements
Remember your main objective is to include:
- Name, address, city, state, zip, phone number with area code, e-mail address, fax number
- Honors, awards, fellowships and scholarships
- Licenses and certificates
- Memberships and activities, including leadership positions
- Special skills, such as computer knowledge and foreign languages
- Job history listed with most recent job first
- Previous job experience to include: title of position, name and address of employer, beginning and ending dates, job description and responsibilities
- Education with most recent or current school first, including degree, name of high school or college, address, major and graduation date
Presenting the information
- Create a scannable resume using white paper, standard fonts, and dark type
- Put most important information at the top of the page
- Be creative and professional
- Use active verbs like initiated, designed, supervised and developed
- Use past tense to describe former jobs and present tense to describe current jobs
- Spell everything out. Do not use abbreviations or acronyms.
- Present candidates credentials in a positive manner
- Tailor the resume to the kind of job you are looking for
- Have someone proofread your resume
Qualities of a good resume
- Easy to read, concise
- Professional. Use a typewriter or computer to print your resume, making sure copies are neat and clean. Mail your resume in good condition preferably in a large envelope.
- Emphasize key points or expressions by using bold type or underline
Mistakes to avoid
- Too short, too long (preferred length is one page)
- Misspellings, typographical errors, poor grammar
- Irrelevant information-height, weight, gender, marital status
- Disorganization, too wordy and vague; important qualifications should stand out
- Italics, underline, shadow or reverse type, vertical and horizontal lines, graphics or boxes