2. What is a Resume?  …a brief, one to two-page written summary that communicates to the reader your unique combination of…  Skills  Experience  Abilities

3. It is an Advertisement of the Job Seeker…YOU.

4. How is a Resume used by YOU?  To highlight your unique and relevant skills, and your relevant experience.  Helps you get an interview by making a good first impression.  Useful for job fairs.

5. How is a Resume used by an EMPLOYER?  Like an application, it is used to screen out most job seekers.  Helps them find people who are worthy to interview.  Quick way to see who possess the skills their organization/company desires.

6. Basic Resume Facts  Employers review resumes on average, for 15 seconds.  2 out of 100 resumes will result in an interview.

7. Things to notice about Resumes  Resumes are NOT long.  Keep them around 1 page  Do not write paragraphs  Get to the point

8. Writing A Job Objective  Get out a piece of paper…

9. Objective Statement  1-3 sentence summary of your area of expertise and career interest.  Relate your existing skills directly to the job you are seeking.  Demonstrate what you can do for the company rather than what they can do for you.

10. Why Write One?  A good objective will…  Emphasize key qualifications, skills and/or goals  Help your readers find what they need to know quickly  Make a good first impression

11. Q: Is this a good objective statement?  An internship allowing me to utilize my knowledge and expertise in different areas.

12. Objective Statement  Avoid overgeneralized statements:  A position allowing me to utilize my knowledge and expertise in different areas.  Avoid statements that focus only on what a company can do for you:  A position where I gain experience in working on mathematical problems.  Make the statement as specific as possible:  A position which allows me to apply my background in engineering and high performance computing to mathematical problems.

13. A good objective statement answers these questions.  What position are you applying for?  What are your main qualifications?  What are your career goals?  On your sheet of paper, answer these.

14. For Practice, fill in the parts in brackets  To utilize my [qualifications, strengths, or skills] as a [position title]  A position as a [position title] for [company name] allowing me to develop my [qualifications, strengths, or skills]  An opportunity to [professional goal] in a [type of organization, work environment, or field]

15. Resume Do’s  Be neat, clean, and concise. (Few words as possible)  Resumes must be typed.  If it is barely two pages, knock off the least important information.  This is a summary of your accomplishments, not an autobiography.

16. Resume Do’s  Use nice paper  Paper with a little weight to it  Paper should be white, off-white, or light gray…NO COLORS  Appearances count  The appearance of anything representing you will also say something about you.  Sloppy resume…sloppy employee

17. Tips To Start Writing A Great Resume  1)START  Use italics and bold lettering to highlight key points  Be creative but not crazy  There is no right way to write your resume

18. Tips…  2) JUSTIFY YOUR TEXT  Don’t just use left align. Justify your text to make it easier to read and follow.

19. Tips…  3) CHOOSE A COMMON FONT  Times New Roman, Arial, and Verdana

20. Tips…  4) DO NOT USE THE WORD “I”  Start each sentence with a powerful verb.  For example:  Organized annual student essay and reports for marketing  Implemented production bonus incentives…

21. Tips…  5) Print resume and read it WORD FOR WORD.  Use spell check and grammar check but DO NOT RELY ON IT!!!  Spell check and grammar check is their for a reason but it doesn’t always catch the mistakes!

22. Tips…  BE CONSISTENT  If you use 4/2009 for the date once, then don’t use another date in a different form, for example  4/2009 and April 2009

23. Tips…  USE KEYWORDS.  Will receive a handout…

24. Tips…  DON’T LIE  Or sneak keywords on your resume.  Example…