1. McGraw-Hill/Irwin
Copyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

2. Chapter 12 Building Résumés Definition Job Hunting Personal Branding
Cautions about Social Networks
Guidelines
Kinds of Résumés
Résumé Information
Electronic Résumé
Honesty

3. Résumé Definition Persuasive summary of qualifications for employment
Makes you look well organized, prepared
Highlights your unique qualifications
Helps you try for an even better job
Shows you how to prepare for job market

4. Job Hunting Check services of career placement office
Join extracurricular organizations
Find jobs/internships that give you experience
Note which courses you like

5. Job Hunting, continued…
Conduct a self-assessment
Take personality and aptitude tests
Ask yourself some questions:
What skills and strengths do I have?
What achievements have given satisfaction?
What work conditions do I like?
Do I prefer firm deadlines or flexibility?
What kind of work/life balance do I want?
Where do I want to live?
Use the Internet to research jobs

6. Personal Branding Marketing yourself Use a variety of tools to do so:
LinkedIn
Personal web page
Blogs
Facebook
Twitter
Professional forums
Cover letter

7. Cautions about Social Networking
Remove any unprofessional material
Remove negative comments about current or past employers and teachers
Remove political or social rants
Remove any personal information that might embarrass you
Remove inappropriate material posted by friends, family, relatives
Check blog for writing aptitude

8. How Employers Use Résumés
To decide whom to interview
To screen applicants by scanning or skimming
To assess what they assume is your best work
To prepare for job interviews
To get final approval for selected applicants

9. Guidelines: Length Fill at least one page
Average résumé these days: 2 pages
Put most important information on page 1
Put at least 10 lines on page 2
Include Name and Page 2

10. Guidelines: Emphasis Emphasize your achievements
That are most relevant to position applied for
That show superiority to other applicants
That are recent

11. Guidelines: Emphasis, continued…
To emphasize information:
Put it at top or bottom of page
Set it off with white space
Give it in a vertical and/or bulleted list
Include it in an informative heading

12. Guidelines: Details Give evidence to support your claims
Convince reader
Separate you from other applicants
Use numbers and descriptions
Omit details that add no value

13. Guidelines: Writing Style
Be concise (brief, but complete)
Use phrases and sentence fragments
Never use I; use me or my if you must
Use more action verbs than nouns
List items in parallel form

14. Guidelines: Key Words
Use words or phrases that employers will have the computer seek
May include:
Software programs
Job titles
Types of degrees
Job-specific skills, buzzwords, jargon
Professional organizations
Honor societies
Personality traits

15. Guidelines: Layout and Design
Experiment with layout, fonts, and spacing
Consider creating letterhead to use for your résumé and application letter
Use headings for reading ease
Avoid templates

16. Guidelines: Layout and Design, continued…
Work with fonts, bullets, and spacing to highlight information
Use no more than three fonts
Use color sparingly
Use at least 10-pt type
Use white space to group items
Select good quality 8 ½ x 11 paper

17. Kinds of Résumés: Chronological
Summarizes what you did in time line
Starts with most recent events, uses reverse chronology
Includes degrees, job titles, dates

18. Kinds of Résumés: Chronological, continued…
When to use—
Your education, experience closely related to job for which you’re applying
You have impressive job titles, offices, or honors

19. Kinds of Résumés: Skills
Emphasizes skills you’ve used, rather than the job in which you used them or the date
De-emphasizes job titles, employment history, dates
a.k.a. functional résumé

20. Kinds of Résumé: Skills, continued…
When to use—
Your education and experience not usual route to applied job
You’re changing fields
You want to show broad experience from
Paid jobs
Volunteer work
Extracurricular activities
College courses

21. Always separate categories
Résumé Information
Essential
Name and contact information
Education
Experience
Omit unfavorable information
Always separate categories
For over 7 items,
use subheading

22. Résumé Information, continued…
Optional
Career Objective
Summary of Qualifications
Honors and Awards
Activities
References
Portfolio

23. Résumé Information: Contact Info
Use full name, even if you have a nickname
Center one address; type two side by side
Provide professional address
Provide phone (cell or land) where you can be reached during the day
Omit age, marital status, race, sex, and health

24. Résumé Information: Career Objective
Make it sound like employers’ job descriptions
Make it brief—2 lines at most
Tell what you want to do, level of responsibility you want
Targeted to a job at a specific company

25. Résumé Information: Summary of Qualifications
Show knowledge of specialized technology in your field
List accomplishments
Be specific; include numbers and amounts
Include as many keywords as you can

26. Résumé Information: Education
First main category in these cases—
Earn new degree
Need degree for job you’re seeking
Can present the information briefly
Put it later in these cases—
Need page 1 for another category
Lack degree that other applicants may have

27. Résumé Information: Education, continued…
Cover 4-year and graduate degrees
Include junior college if it gave you other expertise
Include study abroad, even non-credit courses
Give degrees, dates, schools, and cities
May list short, descriptive course titles
Include GPA—if it’s good—and what it’s based on: 3.4/4.0

28. Résumé Information: Honors and Awards
New college graduates put on page 1
Include Honors and Awards if listing more than three items
Use Honors and Activities if listing fewer than three items

29. Résumé Information: Honors and Awards, continued…
Include entries that add to your professional image
Fellowships and scholarships
Awards from professional societies
Major awards from civic groups
Academic honor societies
Varsity letters

30. Résumé Information: Experience
Use heading that works best for you
Include this information for each job held—
Position or job title
Organization
City and state
Dates of employment
Job duties; other details

31. Résumé Information: Activities
Critical for new college graduates
Include this kind of information—
Volunteer work and student organizations
Professional associations
Activities involving talent or responsibility
Varsity or intramural athletics
Leadership roles

32. Résumé Information: References
Usually omit from résumé
Omit “References Available Upon Request”
Line up 3 to 5 people
New graduates include 1 professor, 1 employer or adviser—minimum
Choose persons who can comment on work habits, leadership skills
Don’t list relatives even if you worked for them
Omit personal or character references

33. Résumé Information: References, continued…
Ask the person’s permission
Jog their memory of your work
Keep list up-to-date
List this information—
Name and title
Organization
City and state
and phone number

34. Résumé Information: What to Omit
Personal information
Controversial activities or associations
High school facts
Trivial items

35. Electronic Résumés Basic guidelines of email job hunting etiquette:
Don’t use your current employer’s
Set up a free, Internet-based account
Avoid using silly or cryptic addresses
Write a simple subject line
Test how résumé looks before sending
Send only one résumé

36. Electronic Résumés, continued…
When sending résumé in text of
Start all lines on left margin
Do not use bold, underlining, tabs, or unusual fonts
Put headings in all caps, but use sparingly
To avoid awkward line breaks, shorten line lengths to 65 characters and spaces

37. ALWAYS BE HONEST ON YOUR RÉSUMÉ !!!
Honesty
ALWAYS BE HONEST ON YOUR RÉSUMÉ !!!