Resume Writing

Developing an effective resume is one of the first steps in any job search campaign.

The resume is a formal document that allows you to present your qualifications, skills, accomplishments, responsibilities, and leadership. Many students believe that they create their first resume and are finished, except for slight modifications when additional experience must be incorporated. This is absolutely incorrect. Granted, once that first resume is done it will be easier to complete others but, as stated by Robert Half of Robert Half International, "it is essential for people to have different resumes for different jobs". He adds, "All resumes should be accurate and truthful but each should highlight different strengths as they relate to (the particular) job opening".

Resumes are necessary for many situations. For example, a resume will:
  • accompany a cover letter in response to a specific job ad or lead
  • be sent with a letter of inquiry to an organization you are interested in:
      - to request an informational interview (and to leave behind after conducting one)
      - to ask about potential opportunities
  • be given to those who are assisting you in your job search, your network
  • be presented when meeting recruiters at job fairs
  • be provided to those people who have offered to serve as references on your behalf

Below are guidelines for resume writing:


FORMAT

Whatever format you use, it should attract attention, create interest, and be consistent throughout the document. Choose appropriate categories for your information and order them from most to least relevant to the position for which you are interested. Use UPPERCASE LETTERS, underlining, and bold text to emphasize important information.

There are three basic approaches to organizing resume information.
    1. Chronological. This is the most commonly used format by both the general population and recent graduates. Details of each job, educational experience, etc. are listed, described, and dates are provided. They are listed in reverse chronological order, starting with your most recent experiences first.

    2. Functional. This format focuses on professional skills and de-emphasizes when and where those skills were acquired. Functional areas include management, research, writing, financial analysis, counseling, customer service, sales, leadership, etc. To effectively utilize this format, you must have a clear employment objective. On a cautionary note, some employers view this format as being used to hide a poor employment record.

    3. Combination. This format combines the best of each of the preceding formats. It contains functional areas as well as an employment history with the appropriate dates. This is best suited to those who want to change positions in a related career field.

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CATEGORIES

The following categories of information should be included on your resume:
  • Contact Information:
    • Name: the first and largest item on the resume
    • Address: the full address, no abbreviations. If you have both a permanent address and a temporary (school) address put both on your resume. An example of this has been provided
    • Telephone number: be sure to include the area code
    • E-mail address: ensure that you regularly check for messages and have a business-like username
    • URL: if you have a Web site that would be appropriate for potential employers
  • Objective: Objectives give your resume focus and direction, it is the anchor to which all the other elements of your resume relate. It shows that you are a person with a purpose. Without an objective, you force employers to dig through your resume to try to determine the objective for themselves. How many do you think will take the time to do that? Learn how to write the objective statement on the next page.
  • Education:
    • Use reverse chronological order with the highest degree attained listed first
    • List the degree earned, graduation date, name, location (city and state) of the institution, and major/minor areas of study
    • If your GPA is a 3.0 or above you may wish to list it here as well. Keep in mind that you may be asked about it during an interview if it is missing. You could use the major GPA instead
    • If you have financed over 50% of your education through scholarships and/or part time work, list that here
    • If you have taken courses that support your objective but are not inherent to the degree you earned, highlight those courses here
  • Experience:
    • List your experience in reverse chronological order
    • Include a job title, name and location (city, state) of company, and date of employment.
    • Include any relevant internships, volunteer work, summer jobs, or special projects, (you could create separate headings for these different types of experiences)
    • Replace typical job description statements with accomplishment statements
    • Begin each sentence with a past tense action verb
    Employers are primarily interested in the degree of responsibility you held, the skills you demonstrated, and the results you obtained. To effectively communicate these ideas, replace statements such as "Responsible for..." and "Duties include" with accomplishment statements. Accomplishments convincingly demonstrate that you know how to utilize your skills to work effectively and produce results.

Other Resume Categories:
The contact information, objective, education, and experience categories should all be included in your resume, however, you may have other information to include that requires the inclusion of additional categories. The use of some type of "skills" section is highly recommended. Examples of these and other categorical headings often included in resumes include:
  • Computer skills
  • Honors/Achievements
  • Language skills
  • Publications
  • Other skills
  • Professional Memberships
  • Activities
  • Licensure/Certifications

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WRITING THE OBJECTIVE STATEMENT

Objective statements are best left brief and to the point, one or two-lines maximum. Avoid overused phrases such as challenging position, growing industry, opportunity for advancement, etc. Also, objective statements, along with the rest of the resume, should be free of personal pronouns.

There are many different elements that can be included in an objective statement. It is up to you to decide which elements are appropriate. It may be one or it may be several. The possibilities include:
    1. Position title, occupational title, or job title i.e., accountant, public relations assistant, writer, case manager, etc.

    2. Industry or field i.e., entertainment industry, field of education, magazine industry, state government, etc.

    3. Skills i.e., excellent interpersonal communication skills, organizational skills, computer skills, mediation skills, creative ability etc.

    4. Experience/Education i.e., experience creating layouts, education targeted toward newspaper editing, management experience

    5. Specific populations i.e., the elderly, children with disabilities, college students, people with learning disabilities, etc.

    6. Other factors i.e., geographical area, working conditions, size of organization, travel, part-time, internship, etc.
Consider how you would answer to these elements. In other words, put each of the six factors into question form and to the best of your ability answer the questions. For example, #3 would be "What skills do you want to utilize in the position you obtain?"

From those answers, develop your personalized objective statement. Some examples are provided below:
  • A full-time position in the field of public relations. (#'s 2 & 6)
  • A summer camp internship working with disabled children in the northeast area. (#'s 5 & 6)
  • Seeking a position as a management trainee. (# 1)
  • To obtain employment as a graphic artist where creative ability and a targeted graphic arts education are required. (#'s 1, 3, & 4)
  • To work at a newspaper position utilizing skills in interviewing, writing and editing. (#'s 2 & 3)
  • Events coordinator position within a sports facility. Special interest in multi-purpose facilities. (#'s 1 & 6)
  • A marketing position in the fashion industry utilizing previous experience with excellent interpersonal communication and computer skills. Special interest in overseas markets. (#'s 1, 3,4, & 6)

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CREATING ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENTS

When creating the Experience section of your resume, try replacing typical job description statements with accomplishment statements. Accomplishments demonstrate that you know how to utilize your skills to work effectively and produce results.

To determine your accomplishments, Cabrera and Albrecht, authors of The Lifetime Career Manager suggest asking yourself the following questions:
  • Did I see a problem, opportunity, or challenge for which I took the initiative to create a solution?
  • Did I develop something?
  • Did I create or design a new department, program, procedure, plan, service, or product?
  • Did I identify a need for a new department, program, procedure, plan, service, or product?
  • Did I prepare an original report, paper, or document?
  • Did I make a direct or indirect technical contribution?
  • Directly or indirectly, did I create or implement an administrative or procedural recommendation?
  • Did I participate actively in a major decision related to organizational changes (hiring, terminating, salary, new projects, etc)?
  • Did I implement or participate in a sales, profit-generating, or cost-saving recommendation?
      • Examples of accomplishment statements:
    • Updated referral system resulting in 15% fewer referral errors
    • Implemented new procedure for handling customer complaints. Earned Customer Service Award.
    • Created marketing brochure attracting 12+ new customers within one month
    • Prepared process sheet to be used by all new interns. Decreased training time by 10%
    • Developed new filing system. Increased ease of use reported by coworkers.
    • Met 100% of assigned deadlines
    • Oversaw shift staff of 8 servers per night
    Not everything is quantifiable, but do so whenever possible. Even if you are reporting duties and responsibilities, use past tense action verbs:
    • Provided customer service
    • Handled customer complaints
    • Monitored sales floor for security purposes
    • Taught computer skills to children
    • Created merchandising displays
    • Received orders. Checked in merchandise

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ADDITIONAL TIPS AND INFORMATION:
    Resume Do's:
  • Use quality bonded paper in white or off-white
  • Stick to commonly used resume font like Times New Roman. Avoid more than one font
  • Keep your margins between .75" and 1"
  • Print on a quality printer to obtain sharp contrast between the letters and paper
  • Proofread, proofread, proofread! Your resume must be error-free!
  • Let someone in your field of interest review your resume for content
  • Submit in an 8 1/2 x 11 envelope if mailing, type the addresses on the envelope
  • Be honest
  • Use sentence fragments
  • Be professional. Use months rather than semesters, avoid long lists of hobbies and interests

    Resume Don'ts:
  • Don't provide references on the resume. Simply state "References Available Upon Request" or leave out all together
  • Don't include personal information such as age, race, sex, marital status, etc.
  • Don't fold, paperclip, or staple resume page(s) and cover letter
  • Don't use personal pronouns
  • Don't entitle the document "Resume"
  • Don't use a three syllable word when a one or two syllable word will do
  • Don't use 'anticipated' or 'expected' before your graduated date, simply put the month and year
  • Don't forget to update your resume often

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SCANNABLE RESUMES

Also referred to as an electronic resume, these are resumes that will be scanned into a computer database by the company, faxed, emailed, or submitted over a website. Often, the company will specify what they want, if not, follow the guidelines below.
  • Keep it as plain as possible. No tabs, underlining, graphics, italics, or columns.
  • Use a standard 12-point font throughout the document.
  • Use keywords. For a scannable resume, the focus should be on nouns over action verbs.
  • Know the language: use industry buzzwords and professional jargon, these are often found in job postings.
  • Print on the whitest of white paper.
  • Put your personal info (address, phone numbers, etc) on separate lines, even if you need two pages.
  • Put your name at the top of every page.
You may be wondering how you will ever get noticed with a scannable resume. The keywords are, well, key, but there are other things you can do:
  • Use of capital letters instead of bold letters for headers
  • Strategically use white space
  • Submit two resumes to employers that you believe may be scanning. Put a post-it note on a nicely formatted resume that reads "Visual Resume". And on your plain text resume, put a post-it note that says, "Scannable Resume." If an employer doesn't scan resumes - then he'll have a resume to look at.

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Want more?

- The Career Resource Center has several books that concentrate on this topic
- The SJRCC Counselors are available to answer questions and critique resumes

See samples of resumes:
Resume 1 (coming soon)
Resume 2 (coming soon)


The following Online Resume Tips are also available:


ACCOMPLISHMENT STATEMENT

When creating the Experience section of your resume, try replacing typical job description statements with accomplishment statements. Accomplishments demonstrate that you know how to utilize your skills to work effectively and produce results. The following information has been excerpted from the book The Lifetime Career Manager

What is an Accomplishment?
Accomplishments can be large or small and both are equally important and valid for inclusion on your resume. An accomplishment fulfills at least one of the following conditions:
  • Greater results were achieved with the same resources (budget, people or equipment for example) than had been achieved previously
  • The same results were achieved with fewer resources than had been used previously
  • Operations were improved or things were made easier or better than they were before
  • A problem or panic situation was resolved with little or no increase in time, energy, dollars or people
  • Something new or different was brought about

As you develop a list of your accomplishments, you will gain an awareness of things you have done well, have the information needed to identify work skills, and have a skill inventory that will assist you in assessing your employability in similar or diverse jobs, industries, functions and locations. To determine your accomplishments ask yourself the following questions:
  • Did I see a problem, opportunity, or challenge for which I took the initiative to create a solution?
  • Did I develop something?
  • Did I create or design a new department, program, procedure, plan, service, or product?
  • Did I identify a need for a new department, program, procedure, plan, service, or product?
  • Did I prepare an original report, paper, or document?
  • Did I make a direct or indirect technical contribution?
  • Directly or indirectly, did I create or implement an administrative or procedural recommendation?
  • Did I participate actively in a major decision related to organizational changes (hiring, terminating, salary, new projects, etc)?
  • Did I implement or participate in a sales, profit-generating, or cost-saving recommendation?


Writing the Accomplishment Statement
To clearly develop your accomplishment statements, use a device called the "PAR" statement.

P = Problem, challenge or opportunity; state the nature of the problem you had to solve
A = Action taken; what did you do about it
R = Results; what came from your action, the outcome, achievement, or impact

After creating the PAR statement, wording it as concisely as possible will create a strong statement of accomplish perfect for inclusion on your resume. For example:

Problem: Manufacturing firm unknowingly shipped sub-standard components. Company experienced an avalanche of complaints form valued customers. Sales staff uncertain how to deal with complaints, became upset with customer abuse.

Action:
1) Called supplier and negotiated replacement policy for defective components.
2) Developed clear procedures for handling customer complaints/returns.
3) Trained sales staff to handle irate customers and speed returns.
4) Instituted policy to prevent reoccurrence.

Result:
1) Rapid decrease (33 percent) in customer complaints.
2) Minimum loss of customer loyalty.
3) Improved morale/productivity of sales professionals.

Statement of Accomplishment: Established "hotline" to handle customer complaints, resulting in 33% decrease in product returns.

Whenever possible, quantify your results in the form of numbers or percentages. Indicate your results in terms of:
  • Dollars saved, amount of new business generated, increased sales, or profits
  • Improved efficiency: time saved, better procedures
  • Reduced staff needs
  • Improved productivity
  • How your accomplishment impacted the organization



SKILLS

By taking the time to inventory your past accomplishments, you will also enable yourself to identify what you can do, in other words, your skills. Identifying your skills, learning how they transfer to new positions or areas, and determining new skills you may need to develop to improve your employability are all required in order for successful career management.

To avoid being too vague or general when discussing skills, it may be useful to break them down into three distinct categories:

Functional skills:
    skills related to, or acquired within, different organizational functions or units. Examples of functional skill areas include: warehousing, banking and finance, distribution management, electronic data processing operations, health and education, manufacturing, marketing, and personnel.
Technical skills:
    skills acquired through specialized education or work experience. Examples include: arithmetic skills, computer skills, graphic skills, machinery skills, manual skills, secretarial skills, and writing skills.
Administrative/Managerial skills:
    skills that facilitate and enhance administrative processes. Examples include: analyzing, controlling, creating, delegating, directing others, innovating, leading, motivating, organizing, planning, and problem-solving.
Personal skills:
    innate talents or attributes as well as qualities acquired from life experience. Examples include: assertiveness, perseverance, and creativity.

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Below are examples of skills derived from accomplishment statements:
    Accomplishment - Assisted in setting up new overtime reporting systems which consolidated three systems into one.
    Skills - Analysis, Problem-solving


    Accomplishment - Initiated new program to increase production by 20% and reduce average turnaround time from five to four days.
    Skills - Innovating, Organizing, Manufacturing, Creativity


    Accomplishment - Conducted competitive studies of duplicating equipment, computer work stations, and telephones, saving division $90,000.
    Skills - Analysis, Computer, Cost Control, Perseverance