1. Resume workshop

2. Formatting Stick to a traditional font Font size: 9-12
Try a different size for your name and the companies you have worked for
Do not use a template
Max – 2 pages, really only 1
Shorter the resume, the better
Apply bold and italic typeface that help guide the reader’s eye
Leave white space
will improve the legibility of your resume
Use bullets to call attention to important points

3. Getting started First thing on your resume should be your name
Name and contact info should be all pages of your resume
Make your contact info prominent
Use your permanent address and a professional
Replace objective with career summary
Brief overview of who you are and what you do
Gets their attention immediately and accurately/powerfully describes you as a solution to their problems
Try to make your resume unique to the company you are applying to
When applying, try to have certain keywords on your resume
Applicant Tracking Systems, Keyword-searchable databases

4. Work experience & Education
Use strong action verbs when describing what you did for a company
Managed, coached, enforced, planned
Use words that refer to titles (use effective titles)
Customer service, manager, accountant
Identify accomplishments not just job descriptions/responsibilities
Focus on what you did in the job
Keep job description to one to two lines
Accomplishments should be unique to you
Make sure too list your secondary education
Include Institution, area of study, expected grad date, what college (ex. College of Natural Science), and location.
Also, if you have a good GPA and any other academic achievements (actuarial exams passed) include these.
List your most recent job first and then work backwards
Avoid negativity
Do not include things that you hated about your last company
You do not need to list all your work experiences
No real work experience? Include your summer jobs/volunteer work
Be specific when describing your past/current jobs
Quantify wherever possible

5. Skills, awards, and interests
Put the most important information first
When describing experiences/skills, list the most important ones first
Show personality
Include interests but try to keep them related to the company
Don’t bury relevant skills at the bottom of your resume
If computer skills are relevant to your field, put them in your summary atop of your resume
Avoid empty words
Detail-oriented, team player, hard worker, quick learner
Professional goals

6. Finishing touches No pronouns or first person Update it frequently
No slang
Design for skimmability
Mix up your word use
Update it frequently
Save it as a pdf
No “references available upon request”
Name your file smartly (ex. Last, First Resume)
PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD, PROOFREAD
Make sure you have no grammatical errors
Show your resume to other people before sending it out
Your resume should be a summary of who you are that would appeal to the company you are sending it to.
Make sure you can provide additional information to each point that is on your resume.