Résumés: Your Road to the Future

Average Time Spent Reading Resumes 20 seconds Resumes are scanned, not read.

What to put on a resume? Jobs and experience since high school All work that involved business, engineering, or “people” skills Nothing personal, unless a special case

What do employers expect? Ability to communicate Ability to learn Self-confidence Willingness to accept responsibility Initiative Imagination Flexibility Interpersonal skills Adapted from Career Assistance Center, Cockrell School of Engineering

How to make your resume fit you...

Résumés: Two Major Types Chronological  Emphasizes education  Usually best for young college grads  Works backwards from most recent for jobs, awards, etc. Functional  Emphasizes skills  Organizes many and diverse job experiences  Headings name skills instead of job titles or places of employment.

Types: Chronological Resume Education  Related Courses Experience  dates easily seen  including volunteer work if relevant Skills  including languages (computer & other) Accomplishments (or Honors)  including awards and scholarship Interests (or Activities)  especially team sports and activities

Two Common Questions Do I need an Objective statement?  Answer: it depends Where do I put my GPA?  Answer: under Education  You may list Overall and Major GPAs.  Also consider stating how much of your college education you financed.

Job Experience Use keywords to stress specific technical, organizational, or communication skills:  “pavement distress mechanisms,” “life-cycle costs,” “multimedia presentations” Use a past or present tense verb to begin each job description.  Check the list of action words for suggested verbs. Highlight job title, employer, location, and dates employed. Cluster repeated jobs held at different times.

Types: Functional resume Summarizes skills and experience before listing education and specific jobs. Organizes strengths shown in many jobs -- better for mid-career applicants.

Résumé Formats Print  for interviews and cover letters  handsomely designed Scannable  plain and simple design  PDF format is safest attachment  Ms Word or PDF Web  provide PDF version as well as HTML version  avoid possible web-page excesses

Tips... for all resumes  Use white space as a design element.  Use common names for section headings (Education, Experience, etc.).  Put your name first; put contact information on separate lines.  Avoid most abbreviations.  Be concise and concrete in descriptions.  Use format to differentiate between job title, company name, and place.  Use some industry keywords.

Scannable Resumes These are read by a machine. Keep the resume design simple and standard. Use standard typefaces/font styles. Use a font size from 10 to 14. Do not condense spacing between letters. Avoid 'fancy' extras (italics, underline, etc.). Don’t use lines, graphics, and boxes. Use boldface for section headings.

Printable business correspondence: Letters are for external audiences.  Contain salutations and sign-offs  Include addresses of sender and receiver Memos are for internal audiences (or those working on same big project).  To:  From:  Date:  Subject: Both can be sent electronically as an attachment; letters must be signed.

Job-application letters are marketing. You want to “sell” yourself as highly qualified for the job. Read the job description carefully.

Job-application letters Mention personal contact if you have one. Use exact title of job and indicate source of the information. Connect your qualifications with those listed. Do NOT repeat your resume: highlight two or three important qualifications/experiences. Conclude with an action step.

In lab this week: Job Letter and Resume Workshop You will give and get a written and a verbal review of both your letter and your resume. Please also bring a copy of the job description. Resumes will not be graded, but letters will be. Both are due in final form on Wed., Feb. 17. You can remove or change your actual GPA for the workshop, if you’d like.