Resume Development

Your Resume: An Advertisement for Yourself

Must You Have a Resume?

T or F. The best way to find a job is to network and talk your way into a job.True IF you are: Extroverted Charismatic Fluent in speaking Visually attractive Can carry the weight of your employment

marketing presentation without supporting materials.

Must You Have a Resume?

Resume' is a specially prepared sales presentation to persuade a potential employer you are the BEST one to do the job you seek.

Your resume' helps prove what you say about your achievements, accomplishments, and abilities.

Must You Have a Resume?

Absolutely! Most employers say you need one. No time to take oral histories. People who make hiring decisions

insist on seeing a piece of paper or computer screen that spells out your qualifications.

Resumes get you an interview, interviews get you a job.

Resume': Self Advertisement

Sales presentation about you as a product

Intrigue potential employer

Entice them to invite you for interview

First impression – lasting impression

As a Sales Presentation

What skills do you bring to the organization?

Why are you worth the money you hope to earn?

How are you better than other candidates for the job?

Can you solve company or agency problems?

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Contact information Objective or summary statement Education and training Experience Skills Activities Organizations Honors and awards

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Heading: Contact information Name: First line. Often slightly larger & boldface.

Mailing Address: Street name, city, state, zip code. Permanent & temporary.

Valid telephone number. Personal number.

Other contact media. E-mail address.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Objective or Summary? Hook to grab reader attention.

Job Objective: Wellness Coordinator Skills Summary: Over 5 years of

progressively responsible wellness program experience, including program planning, implementation, and evaluation for 500+ employees.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Education List highest degree 1st – type of degree,

major, college name, and date awarded. New graduates give more detail on course work Omit high school if you have a college degree Note continuing education including seminars

related to work.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Experience. Describe present and previous positions

in reverse chronological order. Include dates of employment, company

names and locations, and specific job titles Show progression and promotions within an

organization Consider using more than one

Experience heading.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Skills The heart and soul of job-finding. Any identifiable ability or fact that

employers value and will pay for. Encompass a wide variety of

experiences. General & industry specific abilities Personal characteristics, special knowledge

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Skills. Administering aerobics programs,

analyzing participation rates, advising aerobics instructors, allocating equipment resources, desktop publishing, coordinating department events, designing fitness promotion ads, wilderness expedition problem-solving, writing injury reports.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Skills. Avoid self-ascribed attributes. Give

examples of attributes & substantiate. Dependable, sense of humor, commitment,

leadership, persistence, adaptable, crisis-resistant, creative, accept criticism – meaningless.

Brochures, 100% quota, telemarketing, spreadsheet, web site designing.

Where do skills belong on resume? Everywhere.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Activities. Can include hobbies, sports,

campus extracurricular participation.

How relevant is activity to target job?

Avoid potentially controversial activities.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Organizations or Affiliations Professional and civic affiliations Mention important offices held Relate affiliations in terms of

marketable skills. Never list membership in religious or

political organizations unless applying for position requires membership.

Step 1: Gather Your Information

Awards and honors List most achievements for which you

were recognized. Scholastic awards, athletics

recognition, work achievement. Omit if honor had nothing to do with

work or does not show in professional light.

Step 2: Design a Format

1. Reverse chronological format

2. Functional

3. Hybrid

Other Formats: Accomplishments, Curriculum vitae,

KeyWord, Linear, Professional

Step 2: Design a Format

Reverse Chronological FormatLists all employment and education,

beginning with most recent work backward

Functional FormatEmphasizes what you can do instead of

relaying what you’ve done & where you did it.

Hybrid Format: both

Step 2: Design a Format

Which format should new graduates use? Reverse chronological is not as

persuasive because irrelevant jobs. Functional directs reader’s eyes to

what you can do instead of listing stray student job or two.

Functional uses unpaid and non-work experience to your best advantage.

Step 2: Design a Format

Hybrid format shows timeline and showcases marketable skills and impressive accomplishments.

Essentially a functional tops a reverse chronological presentation of dates, employers, and capsules of each position’s duties.

Wise choice for rookies and job history gaps.

Step 3: Finishing Up

Review and refine so everything is clear. Use resume language, avoid first person. Start statements with action verbs. 100% correct grammar, punctuation, and

spelling. Have 2 or 3 people proofread it. Type on word processor. Print on laser or inkjet printer

Step 3: Finishing Up

Checking for typos cannot be completed using spell check alone. Consider these real-life resume blunders. “Consistently tanked as a top sales producer

for new accounts.” “Dramatically increased exiting account

base, achieving new company records. “Experienced supervisor, defective with both

rookies and seasoned professionals. “Seeking party-time position with potential

for advancement.”

Step 3: Finishing Up

Paper restrict to white or off-white. Print on one side only. Quality of paper immaterial when

scanned. Use white space. Do not right justify. Times Roman & Helvetica good fonts. Use at least 10 point font (11+ better). Omit underlining. Italics difficult to

read.