1. Building Your Resume from the Ground Up
Building Your Resume from the Ground Up David McMahon ’69 Associate Director Experiential Education
The following notes are not intended to be used as speaker notes! Please read through these notes to familiarize yourself with the content, then compose your own notes to use during the actual presentation.
Ideas for a “attention grabbing introduction.”
Use a Quote!
Nearly 50 hiring professionals were asked what they look for in a resumé. “The consensus: The ideal resumé is easy to read (i.e., well-organized), professionally presented, concise, results-oriented, and tailored to the requirements of the job being applied for.
They cited sloppiness — typos, poor grammar and misspellings — and wordiness as the major resumé killers. If you can't take the time to carefully proof your own work, they assume you won't be any more conscientious on the job.” As cited from “Tips for a Great Resume” on Studentadvantage.com
Use Your Own Story!
Have a favorite resume story? Use it as your introduction!
Ask Questions!
You can begin the presentation by asking the students questions to get them involved.
Building Your Resume from the Ground Up
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2. “Why Should I walk away from my Customer to Interview You?”
The First Question
“Why Should I walk away from my Customer to Interview You?”
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3. Purpose of a Resume To convince an employer To call you
A Marketing Tool:
To convince an employer
To call you
For an interview
You’ve got 10 seconds!!!
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4. Steps to Building a Resume
Laying the foundation.
Building the resume.
Polishing the resume.
This is part of your introduction. After your "attention getting" story, quote, statistic, etc., provide some general overview of the purpose of the presentation and what you will cover. DO NOT GO INTO DETAIL! This is just a "roadmap" of what's to come.
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5. How Employers “Grade” TAMU Students

6. Laying the Foundation Assess Yourself on Paper/Computer
What are your Objectives?
Kind of job you are looking for and when you are available
What have you accomplished?
Skills, Abilities, Work Experience, and Extracurricular Activities/Leadership
Laying the Foundation...
Objectives....What are you trying to convey? Talk about the general purpose of a resume. (Interactive exercise opportunity (IEO)....ask the students what they think a resume used for.)
Experience and skills...What have you accomplished? Encourage the participants to list out any and all prior work experience when preparing to write their resume. (IEO...give an example of a typical summer job and ask the students to provide typical duties as a brainstorming exercise.) Stress the importance of including everything...even if it seems insignificant.
Resume Formats...Which is most appropriate? Go over the differences between a functional and chronological resume. Provide examples of which is more appropriate for different situations.
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7. Laying the Foundation What Makes a Good Employee??
1. Integrity
Ability to work with people
Responsibility
Judgment
Motivation to succeed
Work ethic
Intelligence
Creativity/enthusiasm
Communications skills
10. Technical competence
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8. Laying the Foundation What Resume Format is most appropriate?
Chronological
Organized by date in reverse date order
Most commonly used type and more acceptable by employers
Functional
Grouped by status areas
Useful for employment gaps
Less acceptable by employers
Combination
Chronological/functional types combined
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9. The Mostest, The Fastest
Building the Resume
Tell the Employer……
The Mostest,
The Fastest

10. Building the Resume Personal Data Section Objective Education Section
Work Experience
Activities and Honors
Do Not List References
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11. Personal Data Section Examples
Building the Resume
Personal Data Section Examples
Example #1
Ima T. Aggie
1234 High St West Way
College Station, TX Kingsland, TX 78639
(979) xxx-xxxx (325) xxx-xxxx
Example #2
1234 High St.
College Station, TX
Home: (979) xxx-xxxx
Cell : (979) xxx-xxxx
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12. Personal Data Section Examples
Building the Resume
Personal Data Section Examples
Example #3
Ima T. Aggie
1234 High St (979) xxx-xxxx
College Station, TX
Example #4
1234 High St., College Station, TX   (979) xxx-xxxx

13. Building the Resume Objective Education Work Experience
Type of Job - CO-OP, Intern, Full-time?
Specific Ideas, Not Vague and Fluffy - Operations, Business, Sales, Design, R&D, Consulting?
CO-OPs and Interns – start date
Education
University, Location, Graduation Date, Degree in Major, GPR, Study Abroad, Related Coursework, Graduate Research, % Paid by Work
Work Experience
Job Title, Company Name, Location, Dates of employment
Job Description – Statements (not sentences)
Using action words and showing results
Be Positive, Be Concise, Be Persuasive
Education...Formatting and the GPR debate.
Go over formatting educational experience, i.e. most recent first, including city, state, major, minor, graduation date. Talk about when to include the GPR, when to omit. Also talk about alternatives to listing one's overall GPR.
Experience...Using action words and showing results. Go over how to turn the "brainstorming" from the preparation phase into full job experience statements. Explain how employers like to see "results" in past jobs. (IEO...take one of the examples of experience you received in the first phase and help the participants turn it into a resume quality statement.)
Affiliations/Honors....What to include, what to disregard. Explain what students should include and what they can omit. Give examples. Emphasize the importance of leadership!
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14. Building the Resume Activities and Honors Skills Work Authorization
Student/Professional organizations
Leadership positions
Scholarships,Dean’s List, etc.
International experiences, security clearance
Skills
Computer software/systems, foreign languages
Work Authorization
References
Do not list on resume
Bring separate page to interview
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15. Building the Resume Present most marketable information first
Use brief, descriptive phrases
No personal pronouns
Use action verbs to describe experiences and accomplishments
Be Positive
Be Truthful
You Have the Right to Remain Silent
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16. Polishing the Resume Be Concise Show results Top Heavy Reader Friendly
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17. Polishing the Resume Avoiding common mistakes No picture
Broad generalization statements
Spelling and grammatical errors
Formatting, fonts, length, paper quality
Translate “Aggie speak” to business English
Don’t overdue it
Can’t explain every statement
Too long
No picture
Don’t include references
Avoiding common mistakes...speak about the importance of proof-reading and getting a second opinion before the resume is sent out. Also touch on formatting, fonts, recommended length, using quality paper, etc. (IEO…show the participants an example of a resume with a lot of errors. Ask the participants to find the errors and then show them a “new and improved version.”)
Including references...Although they are usually not included on the resume itself, talk about how it is important to have them available on a separate sheet of paper. Give examples of the types of people employers would like to see as references...remind the students to contact the reference and ask permission before listing them.
Including cover letters...explain the importance of cover letters. Emphasize how it "completes the package" and "highlights" the resume. Do not go into detail about writing the letter itself, but do recommend resources for the student to use. (You may want to bring the cover letter handout to your presentation as well.)
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18. Polishing the Resume
Use white or off-white paper (checkout resume paper at area copy centers, i.e. Kinkos, Copy Corner, or Graphics Center on campus)
Use 8 ½ x11-inch paper
Use a font size of 10 to 14 points
Black ink only
Do not fold or staple your resume
If you must mail your resume, put it in a large envelope
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19. Polishing the Resume Applicant Tracking Systems
Use keywords or phrases directly from the job description
Include full keywords and abbreviated formats
Use non-decorative typefaces
Choose one typeface and stick to it
Avoid italics, script, and underlined words
No horizontal or vertical lines, graphics, or shading
Most scan text and Word formats
Some cannot read Word 2007, PDFs, or PowerPoints

20. Polishing the Resume Resume Critique and Advice Career Center Advisor
Academic Advisor
Mentor
Roommate
Employer
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21. Employer Comments
When I evaluate a candidate, there are a couple of key questions I'd like to get answers to as much as possible:
1. The degree of relevancy between candidate's overall profile (candidate's GPA, class projects, external project experience, major/minor, curriculum, extra curriculum) and the job position
2. The candidate's short term and long term career goal
3. The candidate's personality, capability, potential and willingness to accomplish his/her career goal
(past experience can demonstrate that)

22. Employer Comments
1. Stick to 1 page. We had several students give us 2 (and in one case 3) page resumes. After 8 years in the industry, I can still highlight all necessary and pertinent information on my resume in a single page. 2. Clearly state GPR. Several students played games with the GPR by giving us only their in-major GPR because the overall was significantly lower. Another presented only the last 2 years because the first two years were very bad. Some gave no GPR. It does not reflect well on students to manipulate their resumes in this fashion before we even interview them. Employers who went to A&M can very easily review an A&M transcript and see who is playing games.

23. The Mostest, The Fastest ??????
Polishing the Resume
Did You
Tell the Employer
The Mostest,
The Fastest
??????

24. In Conclusion…. Congratulations! You Did It! Laying the foundation…
Building the resume…
Polishing your resume…
Congratulations!
You Did It!
Summarize your presentation by reviewing your key points. Make reference to the Career Center guide for resume writing as a tool for further guidance. Also remind the students that the Career Center offers resume critiques on an ongoing basis.
Finish the presentation with a question and answer session.
You might want to bring a few t-shirts or other freebies to give away throughout the presentation. (Maybe as a reward for the IEO’s????)
2011 Spring Resume Building - JDM.ppt