Checklists, Guidelines, and Examples Writing Your Resume… Checklists, Guidelines, and Examples

Where to Start The resume is one of the most daunting aspects of the job search process. Should it be one page or two? Should it include activities? How much is enough? Can I exaggerate? Am I mailing it, faxing it, or sending it through e-mail? How fancy should it be? These are just a few of the questions we are faced with.

Begin at the Beginning What job or career do you want? Before proceeding, download and read the resource document included with this lecture.

The Communication Context Analyze your market. Write the CC accordingly - your potential employer is the focus. Research the potential employer.

The Modern Resume The resume once a prim and proper document printed on acid free paper and reproduced in a standard format is no more. Your resume may end up in a database, an HR rep’s hands, or scanned into a PDF and e-mailed. Caveat - Always have a printed version ready for your interview. You’ll want to leave it with your potential employer.

Keywords A good starting point is to determine the keywords your resume will use. Anderson has a good selection of keywords.

Know Your Enemy Okay, maybe you shouldn’t see your future employer as the enemy, but you still need to do your research.

Types of Resumes Experiential Functional Formative Chronological

Experiential Organized around your experiences Include education, work, and volunteer activities. Anderson considers Experiential a good choice for college students, but beware of ‘good advice.’ Pick a format matching your style. There are no magical answers.

Functional Organized around your abilities Include your job accomplishments/responsibilities. Anderson notes Functional is appropriate for individuals already in the work force, but Functional may also be right for you if you’ve had a number of internships and work/study opportunities.

Formative Highlights your formative experiences Show the building blocks of your potential. Good if you’ve worked full-time while attending school, been a parent while balancing job and school, or overcome a significant handicap to achieve your goals.

Chronological Organized around a history of your work and school existence Once the standard, the Chronological resume has fallen on hard times. By its nature, chronological highlights job longevity.

The Dreaded Checklist Preliminary Research What does the employer want? Researched the company? Created your keywords?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) The Heading Does it have your name, address, phone, and e-mail?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) Objectives Have you tailored your resume to your job? Does it emphasize what you will give your potential employer rather than what you want?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) Education Shows your school, major and graduation date? Additional information? Included honors and related course work or seminars?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) Work Experience Identifies employer’s name, city, and employment dates? Specific details about your job responsibilities?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) Activities Your extracurricular and volunteer/community activities? Church, service organizations, etc?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) Interests Should you include hobbies and non-work/school pursuits?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) References Impressive enough? Can they talk about you in a variety of contexts? Consider a professor, a minister, and a supervisor as a good mix.

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) Prose Highlights the most impressive information? Expresses action in verbs and avoids passive statements? Uses parallel constructions? Omits the irrelevant? Error-free?

The Dreaded Checklist (Cont.) Visual Design Does it look nice? Is it usable? Does it avoid garish Microsoft clipart styles? Does it look professional? Does it stick to the conservative (unless you’re trying to get a job as a graphic designer or you just graduated from the Herron School of Art)?

The Dreaded Checklist Ethics Did you tell the truth? Did you avoid exaggerating your experiences? Did you avoid misleading statements?

Finally Read Anderson and study the examples. Look at the resources I’ve provided. Get your resume ready for peer review. Good luck.

Resources Parts of the checklist and content of this lecture are derived from the Anderson text and resources available from its companion Web site.