1. Resume Writing KEY TO LANDING YOUR DREAM JOB

2. What is a resume?  Arguably most important piece of any job application  Advertisement of yourself  Written compilation of  Work Experience  Credentials  Accomplishments  Educational background  Personal skills  Lays out summary of qualifications  Hopefully pushes employer to an interview  Optional sections – objective, summary statement, career highlights

3. Types of Resumes  Chronological  Experience section is focus  Each job (or last several) described in detail  No major section of skills/accomplishments at beginning of resume  Staying in same profession/type of work  Recommended to have objective or summary  Most traditional  Employers typically prefer  Advantages  easier to understand what you did in what job  Disadvantages  More difficult to highlight what you do best  Rarely appropriate if making career change

4. Types Cont.  Functional  Focuses on skills & accomplishments at the beginning  Employer clearly sees what you can do for them  A must for career changers, employment gaps  Also useful for students, people with wide range of skills, military officers  Advantages  Great for reaching new goal or direction  Disadvantages  Hard for employer to know what you did in each job

5. Types Cont.  Combined  Includes elements of chronological and functional  May be shorter chronology of job descriptions with a short skills/accomplishments section  Also could be functional resume with accomplishments under headings of the different jobs held  Advantages  Maximizes both chrono and functional  Avoids potential negatives of each  Disadvantages  Generates a longer resume  Can be repetitious  Accomplishments and skills may have to be repeated in both sections

6. Generating Interest  Needs to be powerful, but subtle  Sell yourself  1 interview for every 200 resumes received  Quickly scanned  10-20 seconds  Top half of resume will make or break you  After first few lines you have them interested or resume is in trash  Resume is an advertisement for yourself

7. Ask Yourself  What would make someone the perfect candidate?  Need to be thinking of employer’s needs, not yours  What do they really want?  What special abilities would this person have?  What would set a great candidate apart from a good one?

8. Writing a great resume  Has 2 sections  Assertions section (regarding abilities, qualities, achievements)  Evidence section (backing up your assertions)  Assertions – juice of the resume  Don’t inform the reader, get them interested and excited  Usually broken down into 2 to 3 sections  Job is to communicate, assert, declare you are the best candidate  Most resumes include just evidence section  Need to have both to create a great resume

9. Objective Section  Ideally resume conveys why you are perfect candidate for a specific job/title  Great advertising directed toward specific target audience  Be absolutely clear in regards to your career direction  Or at least appear to be  OBJECTIVE – a software sales position in an organization seeking an extraordinary record of generating new accounts, exceeding sales targets and enthusiastic customer relations.

10. Writing your objective  Decide on specific job title for objective  Make sure it is to the point  Avoid the obvious statements and “fluffy” phrases  Have to generate interest right away  OBJECTIVE: An xxx position in an organization where yyy and zzz would be needed (or, in an organization seeking yyy and zzz).  If applying for multiple positions – adapt resume each time  Each resume is crafted for different type of position  Remember this is advertising copy not your life story  Can include objective section with the summary section

11. Summary Section  Several brief statements  Focuses readers attention to most important qualities & achievements you have to offer  Should be most compelling demonstrations of why you should be hired instead of other candidates  Gear every word to your targeted goal  Refer back to questions to ask yourself  What would make someone the ideal candidate?  Possible inclusions:  short phrase describing profession  Statement of broad or specialized expertise  Depth of skills, well-documented accomplished, history of awards/promotions  Professional or appropriate personal characteristics

12. Examples of summary  Highly motivated, creative and versatile real estate executive with seven years of experience in property acquisition, development and construction, as well as the management of large apartment complexes. Especially skilled at building effective, productive working relationships with clients and staff. Excellent management, negotiation and public relations skills. Seeking a challenging management position in the real estate field that offers extensive contact with the public.  Over 10 years as an organizational catalyst/training design consultant with a track record of producing extraordinary results for more than 20 national and community based organizations. A commitment to human development and community service. Energetic self-starter with excellent analytical, organizational, and creative skills.  Financial Management Executive with nearly ten years of experience in banking and international trade, finance, investments and economic policy. Innovative in structuring credit enhancement for corporate and municipal financing. Skilled negotiator with strong management, sales and marketing background. Areas of expertise include (a bulleted list would follow this paragraph.)

13. Skills & Accomplishments  This section will go into more detail, very similar to previous section  Still writing to sell yourself, not inform the reader  Let them know what results you produced, results of your efforts, special gifts you possess  Communicating that if you buy this product, these are the direct benefits you will receive  If it does not further this, do not bother saying it  Not too much detail however, you want some to remain a mystery  Can be a separate section or part of job descriptions in a chronological resume  Many different structures for this section  In all of these styles in order of importance for the desired career goal

14. Examples of Skills & Accomplishments  Raised $1900 in 21 days in canvassing and advocacy on environmental, health and consumer issues.  Conducted legal research for four Assistant U.S. Attorneys, for the U.S. Attorney’s office  Coordinated Board of Directors and Community Advisory Board of community mental health center. Later commended as “the best thing that ever happened to that job.”

15. Experience Section  Listed in reverse chronological order  Early jobs not much detail  Focus on most recent/relevant  More impressive: job titles or firms worked for  Have to be consistent  Bold face type is a possibility here  Dates in italics – end of job  Can include volunteer work, internships, military work  Use “Experience,” Professional History,” Professional Experience”  Avoid “Employment” or “Work History – sound lower-level

16. Education  Reverse chronological order  Degrees & Licenses 1 st  Certificates & Advanced Training 2 nd  Be selective, summarize, include only impressive items  Set degrees apart = more easily seen  Can use bold face type  Most impressive  GPA – ideally only listed if over 3.4  If convinces reader of qualifications use selected courses

17. Education Cont.  No Degree?  Still include degree  After degree use (expected 20xx)  Headings – Education, Education and Training, Education and Licenses, Legal Education/Undergraduate Education (more for attorneys)

18. Awards  If only in education place under education section  Mention what awards were for if you can  If have received awards this section almost a must

19. Professional Affiliations  Must be current, relevant, impressive  Shows membership in an association  Enhances appeal as prospective employee  Include any leadership roles  Examples: clubs(students), AICPA, Kiwanis, City Council Board of Directors  DO NOT include a personal interests section  Irrelevant to job in majority of cases

20. References  At end of resume: References available upon request.  Not a must, but a standard close for a resume  Do not include names of references  Separate sheet will be brought to interview if requested

21. Guidelines  Visually enticing – simple clean structure, symmetrical, balanced, uncrowded  Uniformity & Consistency – italics, capital letters, bullets, boldface, underlines  Ex. – if degree is bolded all degrees should be, if period at end of job’s dates all need period  Absolutely no errors – grammar, spelling, punctuation  Basic info/expected is included – name, address, phone #, email, jobs held, etc.  Resume is targeted & is focused  Strengths highlighted, weaknesses deemphasized  Power words – use most impressive verbs

22. Few More Tips  Avoid turning employer off – controversial or negative light  Ex. political views  Bold name on page 1  Boldface section headings  General rule - #’s 10 & under spell out, 11 & over use numerical form  Unless 1 st word in sentence  Spell out abbreviations unless obvious

23. DO NOT  Word resume at top of your resume  Salary information  Reasons for leaving jobs  Personal section  Names of supervisors  References