Writing Resumes

Your Resume Tells an Employer how well you organise information how much attention you pay to detail how good you are at written communication how much care you take with your work

Resume Writing Style Use bullet points Use plain, simple language in a professional and business-like tone Correct all spelling, grammar and typing errors. Put it aside for a day and then reread it with fresh eyes.

Writing your Resume: Do’s Use white A4 sized paper - the paper should be clean and new Use a margin width of 2.5cm, and with a clear line space between each section Neatly staple the pages of your resume together.

Writing Your Resume: Don’t Use a resume that is photocopied, crookedly printed, stained, marked with pencil, pen or whiteout Use a title page or cover sheet Use binders or presentation folders Fold your resume Lie Mention your age, your health, religion or sexuality Include a picture of yourself Include copies of certificates/qualifications, but do take them to the interview

Resume Recipe contact details objectives work history education activities and interests referees

Objective (optional) Tells an employer what you’re looking for; is useful when a covering letter is not required. Example: To gain regular casual employment on weekends, in a customer service role, while I complete secondary school over the next three years.

Work History Start with your most recent experience Include: Job title Company name and location Dates -Use years and months. For example: Journalist, The Magazine, May Jan 2012 Editor, Counter Calendar, Jan Mar 2012 Responsibilities and duties - Use one or two sentences to describe what you did in each job. Ask yourself 'Who? What? Why? Where? When? How?' to expand your descriptions to include enough detail.

Work History Example If you have done child care, ask yourself: How many children did I look after? How old were they? What activities were involved in caring for them? Your description might end up something like: 'Cared for ten children aged from two to four years, offering a range of activities including...'

Education Most recent first (don’t include primary school) List the qualification or program, then the school or TAFE college, then the dates you undertook or completed the course E.g. Undertaking Year 10 at St. Albans Secondary College First Aid Certificate Level II, St. John’s Ambulance, 2011

Activities and Interests (optional) Helps an employer form a picture of you and sometimes employers use your interests to start a conversation at interviews. Activities are organised by clubs or voluntary organisations. When listing activities, list the organisation, your role and how long you've been involved - for example, Volunteer fire-fighter, CFA, Interests are unstructured, individual pursuits, such as sewing, playing guitar, restoring cars.

Referees A referee is someone you know who is happy to be contacted, to talk about you and your work experience. Referees should be people you have worked with or who have supervised you. For each referee, include: their name their title the company they work for their work phone number their address

Referee Example Referees Kim Stewart, Maths teacher Sydney High School (02) Monica Cook, Netball coach for two years Allenby Gardens Netball Club Ross Stone, Supervised me on two work experience placements State Museum (02)

Using Action Words To create a description of a task you performed, use the verb, then indicate the thing on which you performed the action: then, if you can, put the result of your action, to show how well you performed. For example: Increased (action word/verb) my fitness through daily training (object: what you acted upon) which resulted in being chosen to represent my team at the state finals (result: how well you did the action). If you are describing something that you are currently involved in, change from the past tense (‘ed’) to the present tense (‘ing’). E.g. ‘Increased’ to ‘increasing’