Resume

What is a resume? A resume is a personal advertisement about who you are and what you have to offer. In essence, it is your own personal marketing tool. It summarizes your education and work-related experiences. Most importantly, your resume will get you an interview, not the job. It is the door-opener and visual reminder of who you are. As you know, it is a very important part of your job search process.

Resume Components: Choose appropriate category headings for the information you want to present. Include the ones that fit your information and exclude the ones that don't. You may even need to develop other more appropriate categories. You will also want to order them according to importance, with the most important categories closer to the top of your resume.

Identification: Include name, address (both school and permanent, if appropriate), phone numbers and e-mail address.

Career Objective: Don't overlook this most important category! The statement reflects your goals and direction. Without it, employers question your focus. The text of your resume should support your objective. Maybe put on cover letter also.

Personal Summary: A statement that highlights your strengths. This section is optional, especially if length becomes an issue. Education: Your institution, degree, major and graduation date are included. Additional coursework and a concentration would also be reflected here. Include your cumulative and major grade point average if over a 3.0 and any foreign study experience. If you transferred from another college/university, you will want to present that information in this section.

More about GPA. You may tabulate GPA cumulatively, by major or even by years of study. If your freshman year wasn't the best, but you turned it around and really did outstanding work the remainder of your college career, you may want to calculate your sophomore-junior-senior GPA or perhaps only your junior-senior GPA. As long as you identify how you calculated it, you may present the information as you wish.

Honors/Activities: Employers look very critically at this section. Include all honors/awards like scholarships and honorary organizations and activities, especially those where you held leadership roles. Honors/awards are listed first followed by activities. If you have enough information for two separate sections, divide them. Unless you are an underclass student, high school honors and activities are probably too far removed to be included.

Internship(s): This may be the most important piece of your resume because it is work-related experience. Include your title, employer, dates of work and and description. If you have more than one, the most recent is listed first. Student teaching experiences are included here.

Work Experience: If you have both relevant(related to career objective) and non-relevant work experience, you may want to develop two separate sections with the relevant experience presented first. You will want to include your title, employer, dates of employment and job description. Quantify information whenever possible. Your most recent job is listed first.

Interests: This section is optional, especially if length is an issue, but can be very important. Include something in this category that will be remembered something that is unique about you and that sets you apart from the many others who might be interviewed for the same position.

References: Do not list your references on your resume. If space allows, simply mention that they are available upon request. Instead, you will want to develop a separate sheet for your references. Include the person's name, relationship to you in parenthesis, title, employer, address and phone after securing permission from them to be included on the list. Choose professors, advisors, supervising teachers, past employers, etc.

Additional Sections: Depending on the information you have to share, you may want to include additional headings so replace others with: Skills, Community Service, Research, Professional Organizations, Additional Training, etc.

General Resume Tips

• Have your resume proofed by someone other than you! Typos are never acceptable.
• When constructing your resume, use resume language. Begin your statements with strong and appropriate action verbs.
• If at all possible, keep your resume to one page. Because information on a second page might not be read, place the most important information on the first page. If using a second page, be sure to put your name at the top of page two.
• Duplicate your resume on good quality resume paper that can be purchased at most print shops. Appropriate colors include white, cream, and light gray. To make your materials stand out, buy enough matching paper for your cover letters and envelopes.

Cover Letters

A cover letter accompanies a resume that is sent through the mail. Hand delivered resumes do not require a cover letter. Cover letters are just as important as your resume because they are seen first and reflect your writing skills. If you would like a cover letter critiqued, simply drop it by the Office of Career Services and pick it up the next day.

Cover Letter Construction

Salutation

It is important to address your cover letter to a person, rather than to a position. If it isn't sent to a person, you will be unable to follow up to see that it has arrived. Often times, you will have to call the company to get the appropriate name of the person who will be making the hiring decision. Unless otherwise requested, address it to either Mr./Ms.

Paragraph One

In this paragraph, indicate why you are writing, what position you are interested in and how you learned of the opening.

Paragraph Two

This is the most important paragraph! This is where you put your education, skills and experience on the table and convince the employer to interview you. Be specific about what you can do for the employer and don't regurgitate your resume. Explain why you are the perfect candidate for the position. After doing your homework, be sure also to include some positive information about the company that is especially attractive to you.

Paragraph Three

In the last paragraph, you ask the employer to take some action on your behalf. Be as assertive as you feel comfortable being. This is the place to tell the employer that you will call during a certain week to see if a convenient meeting time can be arranged or that you will be in that particular city during a certain week and you want to set up a meeting while you are in town. In other words, if you wait for the employer to contact you, you may be waiting a very long time or forever. It is up to you to do the contacting and following up! And, if you say you are going to be in touch during a particular time, don't fail to make the contact.

General Cover Letter Tips

• Keep your cover letter short and to the point. Never write over four paragraphs.
• Be specific about qualifications and speak to why the employer should interview you.
• Remember that your cover letter is just as important as your resume, so deserves the same amount of time and attention.
• Have your cover letter proofed by someone else because typos are never acceptable.
• Include your return address on the letter.

Please send any comments or questions to Career Services Center.