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Chapter 11 Building Résumés   Definition   Job Hunting   Guidelines   Kinds of Résumés   Résumés Information   Electronic Résumés   Social Networking Sites   Honesty

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 11-3

Job Hunting  Check services of career placement office  Join extracurricular organizations  Find jobs/internships that give you experience  Note which courses you like 11-4

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 11-5

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 11-6

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

Guidelines: Emphasis  Emphasize your achievements  That are most relevant to position applied for  That show superiority to other applicants  That are recent 11-8

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 11-9

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 11-10

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 11-11

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 11-12

Guidelines: Layout and Design, continued…  Work with fonts, bullets, and spacing to highlight information  Use more than one but less than three fonts  Use color sparingly  Use at least 10-pt type  Use white space to group items  Select good quality 8½ x 11 paper 11-13

Kinds of Résumés: Chronological  Summarizes what you did in time line  Starts with most recent events: reverse chronology  Includes degrees, job titles, dates 11-14

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 11-15

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 11-16

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 11-17

Résumé Information  Essential  Name and contact information  Education  Experience  Omit unfavorable information Always separate categories For over 7 items, use subheading 11-18

Résumé Information, continued…  Optional  Career Objective  Summary of Qualifications  Honors and Awards  Activities  References  Portfolio 11-19

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 11-20

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 11-21

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 11-22

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 11-23

Résumés 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/

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 11-25

Résumé Information: Honors and Awards, continued…  Include entries that add to your professional image  Listings in recognition books (Who’s Who)  Awards from professional societies  Major awards from civic groups  Academic honor societies  Varsity letters 11-26

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 11-27

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 11-28

Résumé Information: References  May omit to make résumé fit one page  Omit “References Available Upon Request”  List 3 to 5 persons  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 11-29

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 11-30

Résumé Information: What to Omit  Personal information  Controversial activities or associations  High school facts  Trivial items 11-31

Electronic Résumés: Scannable To help résumé scan correctly  Use a standard 12-point typeface  Use a ragged right margin  Don’t italicize or underline words  Don’t bold text  Don’t use bullets or tabs  Use as many pages as you need 11-32

Electronic Résumés: Scannable, continued… To help résumé scan correctly  Use keywords (noun or adj.)  Print on high-quality paper  Don’t fold or staple pages  Mail paper copies in flat page-sized envelope 11-33

Electronic Résumés:  Make good first impression with simple subject line  Don’t use current employer’s for job search  Set up free, Internet-based account  Understand that isn’t confidential  Avoid cryptic or silly addresses:

Electronic Résumés: , continued…  Heed specific directions of employers for proper format for submission  Include brief cover letter in ; mention attachment  it to yourself to see how it will look 11-35

Electronic Résumés: Web  Include link at top of résumé under your name  Omit addresses and phone numbers  Insert links to various parts of résumé  May link to Web pages that give information about you  List of courses or documents you wrote 11-36

Electronic Résumés, Web continued…  Remove all dates; replace employer names with generic descriptions  Make small changes at least every two weeks  Remove résumé when you have a job 11-37

Social Networking Sites  Remove unprofessional material such as  Pictures of beer at your computer  Descriptions of last party  Remove negative comments about current or past employers and teachers  Remove political and social rants  Remove any personal information that will embarrass you on the job  Check your blog for writing aptitude 11-38

Honesty ALWAYS BE HONEST ON YOUR RÉSUMÉ !!! 11-39