IDENTITY AND CONTACT INFORMATION should quickly and effectively communicate who you are and how you can be contacted. Include your name, phone number, and address. If you provide your e-mail address, fax number, or work phone, expect that you might be contacted in that manner; list this information only if it is appropriate and if you consistently and frequently check for new messages. A heading is not required for this information; however, you should provide headings if more than one set of contact information is included. See the example below and other optional headings.
Ima Jayhawk | |
| School address 1415 Louisiana Street Lawrence, Kansas 66045 785-123-4567 (day) imajayhawk@ku.edu | Permanent address 1234 street address Anytown, US 55555 555-456-7890 |
EDUCATION sections should communicate that you have the necessary educational credentials to do the job. The section can include your credit-based, higher education degrees and certificates as well as noncredit learning. Including academic awards or scholarships can show academic breadth and intellectual accomplishment. Sometimes, it may be beneficial to include grade point average, class rank, and/or relevant courses.
If it is applicable, it is a good idea to include a statement about your contribution toward financing your education; something like, "Financed 75% of college education through scholarships and employment."
Don't be afraid to combine headings. Information about your education can often be combined with other headings like "EDUCATION AND HONORS" or "FORMAL AND CONTINUING EDUCATION". See other options below.
EMPLOYMENT RELATED EXPERIENCE - Employers know that the best predictor of future performance is past performance. The experience section should communicate what you accomplished in past work experiences, this information will suggest what you can accomplish in the future. A common error of resume writers is to describe work duties and responsibilities rather than activities and experiences in an accomplishment-oriented fashion, highlighting transferable skills and abilities. There are many ways this information can be combined. See optional headings and heading combinations below.
Optional headings that are commonly used:
OBJECTIVE - When included, this statement should tell an employer about the next immediate step on your career path, not you life goals. There are guidelines for creating effective objective statements. A well-crafted objective indicates that you are clear about opportunities available with an employer and that you are clear about the position you are seeking. An objective should convey useful information; it is preferable to omit the objective, rather than to include something "fluffy" or vague.
SUMMARY OF QUALIFICATIONS / PROFILE when included should focus on the big-picture and help the employer understand how your experiences fit together. Summary information should briefly communicate your experience, training and personal abilities as they related to the specific job you are seeking. Information of this type can also be included in a cover letter thus eliminating the need to include it in the resume. Details of your experiences belong in other sections of the resume.
The summary can be expressed in one short paragraph. For example:
Strong educational background in communications and marketing. A transcultural individual who is comfortable with people and settings around the world. Skilled at bringing diverse people together to pursue a common goal. Willing to relocate abroad.
or in bullet format of four to six statements. For example:
SKILLS sections are included to highlight particular abilities frequently technical skills and language abilities are found in this section. Some heading combinations are included above.
ACTIVITIES / INTERESTS / AFFILIATIONS might be included...
It is possible to combine these headings. When you choose to include activities and interests, be aware of hot buttons. A hot button is an activity or interest to which some employers may have a strong positive or negative reaction like religious or political affiliation. When you have an activity or interest that is a hot button, you have three options; make an informed, reflective choice. Options include:
Interests are unstructured individual pursuits. Examples would be reading, cross country skiing, etc. When listing activities indicate the name of the organization, your role (e.g. member, volunteer, office held) and years of participation. For example:
Volunteer Coach, Lawrence Little League, 1992 - 1995.
Objective statements are optional in a resume...
... An objective should convey useful information; it is preferable to omit the objective, rather than include something "fluffy" or vague.
- When included, objective statements should tell an employer about the next immediate step on your career path, not you life goals.
- A well-crafted objective indicates that you are clear about opportunities available with an employer and that you are clear about the position you are seeking.
Guidelines for creating
An objective should contain on the following four parts.
- The level of the position - internship, co-op, part-time, full-time, entry level, experienced, supervisory and executive.
- The field or industry (e.g., telecommunications, higher education, banking, pharmaceuticals and social services). Your particular position may well be found in a variety of fields or industries. For example, accountants work in all of the above industries. If your career vision is not field or industry specific, you may wish to omit this part of the objective.
- The skills you hope to use in your next position could be included. For some resume writers, this is the only piece of the objective that is known. If you have difficulty identifying skills you'd like to employ, refer to the list of action verbs and pinpoint those you like and/or have experience using (e.g., "A position in consulting, software design, development and support.")
- The position function/title (e.g., chemist, administrative assistant, process engineer, accountant, and project manager.) For those with broad skill sets, many position titles may apply. Find out what a specific employer calls this function within their organization. You may choose to invent a title that is broad enough to encompass your unique vision.
Examples:
A full-time project management position in the telecommunications industry.
A summer internship that will utilize my marketing skills.
The Administrative specialist position (position # 23453).
Writing Results-Oriented Accomplishments
- Use action verbs to create active, results-oriented accomplishment statements
- Highlight your unique skills and abilities as they apply to the position you seek
- Adding results lengthens statements so select those that best market you for the desired position.
Passive phrases describe duties and responsibilities Active phrases Active phrases with results-oriented accomplishments Responsible for publicity. Interacted successfully with public affairs representatives and local media. Interacted successfully with public affairs representatives and local media, increasing community awareness of agency by 25%. Duties included handling customer complaints. Resolved service and billing problems. Resolved service and billing problems. Consistently recognized for promptness and professionalism. Duties included writing an environmental impact report. Drafted environmental impact report. Drafted environmental impact report, prompting an investigation into construction project threatening a wetland area. Responsibilities included adhering to safety policies and ensuring other lifeguards knew policies. Carried out safety precautions and instructed staff in the proper use of equipment. Carried out safety precautions and instructed staff in the proper use of equipment. Worked with delinquent youth in after-school athletic program. Explained team strategies and instructed youth on how to execute strategies. Explained team strategies and instructed youth on how to execute strategies. Development of enthusiasm and team commitment was exciting. Electronic Resume Formats
Scannable resumes
Some employers with computerized applicant tracking systems use scanners to transfer resumes into their database. Scanners can translate your information into machine readable data if your resume is word-processed, but without bullets and the other design highlights. For scannable resumes:
- Do not fold or staple
- Name top of page 1, address & phone on next successive lines. Additional pages should have your name on first line
- Standard headings - education, experience, activities, honors, credentials, skills, etc...
- Simple font - arial, courier, helvetica,etc.; 11 or 12 point
- Dark type on white paper - not condensed or stretched
- No italics, underline, graphics, columns or boxes for emphasis use ALL CAPS
- Blank lines between sections;
- Include KEYWORD profile
E-mailed and on-line resumes
Before posting your resume on the Internet, consider if you want your résumé public. There are inherent security issues related to posting personal contact information on-line. Check the confidentiality of the database or service where you are placing your résumé.
There are possibilities for controlling the information you make available on-line:
- Consider creating a free e-mail account at Yahoo! or hotmail.com to use only for job search purposes with the intention that you will stop using the e-mail account once employment has been secured.
- Consider looking into options for securing a post office box or a private mailbox from a private mail receiving agencies for use during your job search. This will eliminate the need to local street addresses as the mailing address.
Resumes saved as plain text files can be copied and pasted into e-mail messages and on-line forms.
Plain text resumes should:
- Be text files (ASCII or DOS text; text only)
- Be no longer than 65 characters across the screen; then hit the enter key to force the line to wrap. In some instances 65 characters per line may be too many.
- Indent lines by using the space bar
- Use ALL CAPITAL LETTERS for section headers
- Surround formerly bolded subheadings within major sections with asterisks (*)
- Rebuild lists using a hyphen (-), asterisk (*), or plus sign (+) at the beginning of each line
- Use a series of dashes to create lines where you used to have lines drawn across the resume, or leave lines out.
- Be e-mailed to yourself and a friend to see how it looks; identify and correct any formatting problems before sending it out to possible employers.
Finally, determine if your posted résumé on a site where it can be updated at no cost and if it will be deleted from the databank if you don't update it.
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