The purpose of this material is to give you a general understanding of how to format and write a resume that will highlight your skills, strengths, education and experience. Because this is general, it is strongly recommended you review your resume with a Career Services Coordinator at your earliest convenience.
Three types of resumes
- Chronological
Most often used by college students
Lists education and experience in reverse chronological order, with the most recent listed first
- Functional
Used by people in career transition, and those lacking direct, relevant experience
Lists skill sets rather than individual experiences
- Technical
Focuses on skills related to technology
Often used by Science, Technology, Engineering and Math majors
Creating a Quality Resume
Creating a quality resume takes time. Before you even put pen to paper, or fingers to the keyboard, you should do a thorough self-assessment. Create a working document of information about your experiences, skills, knowledge and activities first. There are a few simple ways of assessing yourself and your experiences more completely presented below.
Develop a complete list of your:
- Work Experiences – paid or unpaid, summer, part-time, full-time, etc.
- Career Related Experiences – Internships, volunteer positions, etc.
- Extra-curricular Experiences or Community Involvement
- Education Experiences
Assess your experiences for:
- Skills Acquired or Developed
- Knowledge
- Qualities and/or Characteristics
- Values (things that are important to you)
- Interests (what did you like)
Exercise:
- List your duties or activities (experiences) or classes (education).
- Ask yourself, “What skills or abilities did I either have or acquire that allowed me to successfully carry out my duties?”
- Be action oriented when presenting the skills--“planned”, “assisted”, “organized”. Refer to the Action Verbs list.
Now you can organize the information in a way that will support the objective of your resume. For example, if the position for which you are applying requires leadership skills, you can highlight the skills you have that show leadership…directing, managing, supervising, etc.
Type of Resume
If you are creating a chronological resume, the skills you have identified can be shown with each position and activity
If you are creating a functional resume, the skills you have identified can be organized into skill categories.
Match it to the job
When writing your resume, be sure to have a copy of the ad or job description with you. You want to get the employer’s attention by using key words that match their ideal candidate.
Five Basic Sections of a resume
- Contact Information
- Objective
- Education
- Experience
- Skills
Additional potential sections
If there is still space on the page after completing the five sections, consider adding an additional section
- Activities/Interests
- Leadership Experience
- Honors/Awards
- Military Experience
Contact Information
- Name
- LARGER, BOLDER, than any other font on the page
- Address
- A local and permanent address is appropriate
- Telephone
- PROFESSIONAL e-mail address
- Website, if applicable
Objective
Use the examples below to formulate your own objective. Be specific and brief.
- “Obtain a position in______________ with ______________to use my leadership, communication and problem-solving skills.”
- “A career in the ______________ field which offers the opportunity for personal and professional growth”.
- “A position in ____________________ where I can utilize my education and experience with _____________.”
Education
Bachelor of Arts Degree, Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado; Month/Year
Major: Minor or Concentrations:
GPA or Major GPA: (List if either is 3.0 or higher).
Experience
Work experience, career-related experiences, extra-curricular experiences or community involvement.
Skills
Skills acquired through your education and experiences, i.e. computer skills, leadership skills, communication skills, etc.
Page Layout
- No more than one page for new entry-level graduates
- Margins can be as small as .5 on all sides
- Font ranges from 10/5 to 12 are acceptable
- Be consistent with date format
There are two parts to preparing a professional resume: format and content. The content is the information, but the format allows for a reader to easily access relevant data. A key strategy is having a resume that is targeted to the job and the employer, and is easy to read.
Format
- Font selection – sans serif is preferred such as arial
- White spacing – allows for ease of reading
- Patterns – putting the same information in the same place allows for ease of reading
- Organization – categorizing information effectively
A good format allows the reviewer of the resume to quickly see how the person’s knowledge, skills and experiences are relevant to the position. Good format with relevant content puts the candidate in to the “yes” pile. A resume reviewer may spend no more than 15 – 30 seconds on an initial read of a resume sorting quickly into “yes” and “no” categories.
Content
Good content is targeted to the objective of the resume supporting the person’s candidacy for the position. The information presented should be action oriented, accurate, clear, precise, relevant and supportive of the requirements of the job (or graduate school program).
Good content contains:
- Quantifiable information – numbers, increases, decrease, percentages, dollar amounts, etc.
- Achievements – awards, outcomes, recognition, recommendations, completions etc.
- Transferrable skills – skills that can be used in any situation with any employer such as communication, problem resolving, organization, management, computer, leadership skills (refer to your self assessment exercises)
- Keywords – words that are used on the job description
- Action words (typically in past tense), “created”, “determined”, “developed”, etc.
Good content avoids:
- Negativity
- Vague word usage such as “all”, “many”, “successful”, etc.
- Dishonesty
- Irrelevant information