1. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Creating Your Own Dynamic Resume \

2. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Functions of a Resume
Initiate contact with a potential employer
Provide concise summary of education, skills, and results
Entice employer to invite you for an interview
Facilitate Interview
The interviewer will use the information you provide in your resume to ask questions. Be able to elaborate further.

3. First Steps in Building your Resume
The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
First Steps in Building your Resume
Assess yourself: interests, skills and values- be able to articulate these
Collect details of work, volunteer, academic, and research “life”
Research potential employers/ organizations
This is pretty self explanatory

4. WHAT GOES ON YOUR RESUME?
Optional/Additional Sections:
Essential Sections:
Identification & Contact Information
Objective (*)
Education
Experience
Activities/Involvement
Honors & Awards
Study Abroad
Volunteer Work
Special Skills
Relevant Coursework
Presentations
Affiliations/Professional Memberships
“Which sections do I use?”
-You can use all, or some of these sections. It depends on your situation.

5. WHAT DOESN’T GO ON YOUR RESUME?
Personal Data
Including marital status, weight, height, religion, ethnicity, nationality, children, etc.
Photographs
High School
Including high school diploma, high school activities and awards

6. Note: This style of heading is especially appropriate for Accounting and Finance Majors

7. Note: This kind of heading is ONLY appropriate for creative majors such as Marketing or Advertising.

8. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Patricia Lynn Mahone
Present Address Permanent Address
105 South Maple Oak Drive
Coralville, IA Skokie, IL 60000

9. Writing Your Objective
The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Writing Your Objective
Specific for each position applied
Skills you wish to use
What can you offer them, NOT what they can offer you
This will ALWAYS change for each job

10. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Education
Name of institution granting you a degree
Location
Degree (s) obtained
Graduation month/year
Major/Minor
Certificates
GPA, if above a 3.0
A standard format for your education makes it easy for your potential employer to skim your resume and quickly grasp what degree you have /will have
You only need to list institutions from which you received a DEGREE from

11. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Examples
Example 1:
Example 2:

12. Optional Designations Under Education
The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Optional Designations Under Education
Course Highlights
3-6 related course titles
are most appropriate for internship resumes
International Experience
List name, location and emphasis of study
License / Certifications
Name/type
Make sure and list the name of the granting organization and date received
% of Education YOU Financed
Shows responsibility
Only if more than 50%
Special Projects
BREIF description
Related to area of potential employment
Educational Honors
Granting organization and date
If you have room / or if it adds to your resume in light of a specific job you are applying for

13. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Work Experience Section (reverse chronological order)
Job Title
Company Name
City/State of Employment
Date Employed (month/year)
Job Description – Quantify, give skills used and gained, and successes that occurred
Most recent first.
Calling it “experience” vs. “work experience” allows you to list more things such as unpaid internships or volunteer experiences
Your job title is always more transferable than where you worked or for how long

14. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Example
Public Relations Intern, Las Vegas, NV
Las Vegas Tribune Jan to May 2005
Wrote and disseminated 5 newsletters, 3 media advisories, and 10 news releases for clients
Planned and facilitated 2 marketing events for new client
Developed a new public relations reporting mechanism used to track and record client data daily
Make sure and use the same format throughout your resume

16. Skills Section
Summarize your academic skills, along with any related work skills in a “Skills” section on your resume. This will quickly show an employer a qualitative summary of the skills and experience you have to offer.
Additional Skills
Research skills, collect and analyze data utilizing SPSS for various Departmental child development research projects
Foreign Language skills, Intermediate level in Spanish
Only list if you are fluent
Computer skills, proficient in Microsoft Word, Excel, Front page.

17. Multiple Experience Sections
The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Multiple Experience Sections
Don’t be afraid to use several different experience sections
Examples include:
Related Experience
Internship Experience
Leadership Experience
Volunteer Experience
Other Work Experience
Remember the “experience” does not equal “paid”

18. Additional Sections Community Outreach Civic Engagement
Campus Activities & Awards
Study Abroad
Shows you’ve challenged yourself to function in a different culture, & have understanding of diversity issues
Relate to international clients
Honors and Awards
Dean’s List, Membership in Academic Honorary,

19. VOLUNTEER Demonstrates commitment to community
May be relevant to future career
Make sure you list the activity and date
Be honest
Organized through a second party?
EX: SOS, Relay for Life, Dance Marathon- all sponsored by USF Center for Leadership and Civic Engagement
NO ABBREVIATIONS

20. ACTIVITIES Involvement in:
academic clubs/organizations
student government, sororities, fraternities
athletics
Many employers specifically seek out athletes. WHY?
social organizations
Include offices held or other positions of leadership
Describe position and responsibilities or duties.

21. A Word About Bullet Points
The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
A Word About Bullet Points
Describe more than just your duties
Include what IMPACT or CONTRIBUTION your actions had
Turn DUTIES into SKILLS
The more that a past experiences is related to the work you are seeking the more space you should allot to its description.
When possible, note any achievements or key lessons learned from your experiences.
Highlight what you have done in a concise, powerful, action-oriented way.
Since position titles usually do not do justice to the work performed, it is advisable to highlight the functions for which you were responsible.

22. How to Write Bullet Points
The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
How to Write Bullet Points
WHO – Who did your job help? The company? Clients? Customers?
WHAT – What happened with the results of the job? If you did research was that information published? If you had to do a report what was done with that information?
WHEN – When did this happen? Daily? Weekly, Monthly? Talking about how often you did something is an easy way to show productivity in your job.
Correct Tense
no longer employed- past tense
currently employed- present tense
Try to answer as many of these questions for each bullet point. We understand that it is not possible for every bullet point, but the more you answer, the more descriptive the bullet point.

23. Bullet Points (cont.)
WHERE – Where did your duties occur? Did you have to travel for a job? Were you responsible for interacting with people outside of your organization?
WHY & HOW– Why did you do this? How did your job duties help or add to the organizations ability to function.

24. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Bullet Points (cont.)
One of the best things you can do is QUANTIFY
Adding numbers – whether it be money, number of times you did something, or how much of something you accomplished – shows productivity.
PRODUCTIVITY IS ALWAYS TRANSFERRABLE!

25. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Bullet Points (cont.)
TIP: If you get stumped on how to write your bullet point, break it into its basic duty and then use the “Power Verbs” attachment
Example – if one of your job duties was about communication then you go to that section and pick the appropriate word to start your bullet point

26. Examples of Bullet points
The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Examples of Bullet points
This
Kept inventory
Called prospective customers
Coordinated volunteers
Turns into THIS
Kept daily inventory of over 1000 classifications of medical supplies
Built client base from 0 to 70 within two months by effectively using cold calling techniques
Coordinated over 50 volunteers and tabulated donations during fundraisers

27. Consider the following…
Receptionist ABC…
Answered phone
Greeted plant visitors
Made appointments
Sorted incoming mail

28. Better would be Receptionist XYZ…
Received incoming calls on three business lines, determined the nature of the call, and effectively transferred caller to destination with 99% accuracy
Maintained log of phone calls, time of call, nature of business and person called upon
Greeted visitors to plant and issued visitor passes when necessary
Arranged future appointments for staff upon request

29. Employers Look For… Skim left hand margin of resume for key words
“Do I want to invest in reading the entire thing?”
Active verbs that catch attention
Can you use something other than “Responsible for” or “Provided”?
Thesaurus can be your best friend! (Created, Improved, Spearheaded, Increased, etc)
Spend approx seconds skimming a resume
Should be quick, easy to read

30. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Tailoring Each Resume
Generate a “Master Resume” that includes bullet points for all experience
Include volunteer, leadership, and part-time experiences
Cut and paste the document to create the order to fit the position
Prioritize information
Identify the skills and qualifications the employer is seeking and place the most relevant experience first

31. Overall Appearance Length (1 page, 2 at most) Format Margins
Paper (Resume paper)
Printer
Headings
Font/Size/Style
Proofread

32. FINAL POINTERS
Essential you use correct grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
Do not use abbreviations sparingly.
Use a serif font for a traditional resume.
Don’t switch fonts
Present similar information consistently (dates, headers, etc.)
Use capitalization, underlining, spacing & white space creatively to emphasize the most important points- but don’t overdo it.
Get your point across quickly & clearly. It will be read an average of seconds.

33. FINAL POINTERS continued…
Never use pronouns (I, me, my, mine, etc.)
Use bullet statements
Don’t ever lie on a resume
Begin each statement with an action verb
Eliminate as many prepositions as possible (a, and, the, as, etc)
Don’t list high school (by end of second year of college, high school should be replaced by college activities)

35. The University of Iowa Pomerantz Career Center
Questions?