1. Guidelines for Writing
The Résumé
Guidelines for Writing

2. What We’ll Cover Types of Résumés Parts of a Résumé
Ways to use action words
Reasons Employers Disregard a Résumé

3. Types of Résumés
Chronological
Functional
Combination

4. Chronological Résumés
The most popular format
Places information in reverse chronological order (most recent is first)
Demonstrates a candidate’s steady and upward career growth
Focus is on time, job continuity, growth, and achievements
Employers prefer this format

5. Functional Résumés
Focuses on skills, credentials, and accomplishments over the course of all jobs
Emphasis is on what you did, not when or where you did it
Accomplishments, qualifications and experience are grouped together, to emphasize experience in specialty areas

6. Combinational Résumés
Uses a functional style listing of relevant skills and accomplishments
Then describes employment and education histories in reverse chronological order
A combination of the other two résumés
The experience section directly supports the functional section

7. Which Résumé Should You Pick?
Whichever works best for your circumstances
Normally, Experience precedes Education
3 situations where Education beats Experience:
Currently in school or a recent graduate
Changing careers
A position where specialized education is a prerequisite
Remember that whatever information is first will be what catches the employer’s attention first
Put your greatest asset first – whether education or experience

8. Parts of a Résumé Heading / Identification Job Objective
Summary / Profile
Work Experience
Qualifications / Skills
Education
Awards / Achievements / Honors
Activities / Associations

9. Heading/Identification
Include
Your full, legal name
Permanent address with the area code
Phone number
Cell phone number
address

10. Job Objective
State what you want to do, the position you are interested in and should be employer-focused
Modify your objective to fit each employer and position you target

11. Summary/Profile
Three or four bulleted statements highlighting your skills
Entice the reader to look at the rest of the résumé
Supports the objective
Quantify statements whenever possible

12. Work Experience
Name of the employer, geographic location (city and state only), position title, dates of employment, a brief statement of duties and your major contributions and accomplishments
Military experience, internships / cooperative and volunteer experience
List in reverse chronological order - the most recent first

13. Qualifications/Skills
Provide a concise list of your qualifications, skills, and accomplishments that are requirements for the position you are seeking
Use action statements to describe these and quantify whenever possible
List in order of importance.
Include computer software/hardware skills, technical skills, percent of increase in production, sales, etc

14. Education
List all your relevant education, training, and certifications
List degrees awarded, school attended, dates of attendance or year of graduation/completion and your program/major
List your education in chronological order, starting with your most recent first
Include your grade point average if it is a B or better

15. Awards/Achievements/Honors
A separate category or under the Education heading
Highlight formal recognitions, professional and academic awards.

16. Activities/Associations
Include participation in professional associations, student government, clubs, or community activities
Include the name of the organization and any leadership roles you held

17. References
Assumed – Don’t indicate that these are “available upon request”
Prepare a list of references on a separate piece of paper
Include the person’s name, job title, phone number, name, and address of the organization
Ask if person is willing to provide a great reference

18. Action Words Action keywords relate to the position
Words like prepared, managed, developed, championed, monitored, and presented will cause your resume to stand out
If your résumé stands out, so will you
If your résumé is scanned electronically, the computer will pick up on the words

19. What Not to Put on a Résumé
Age
References
Gender
Weaknesses
Religion
Political Belief
Preference
Salary Required
Marital Status
Fake Employment
Number of Children
“References Available”

20. Why Employers Disregard Résumés
PHYSICAL APPEARANCE IS SLOPPY: poorly typed and printed, uneven margins or inconsistent spacing, font too small or to fancy to read, paper not appropriate, looks unprofessional
ERRORS: misspelled or misuse of words, poor grammar, typographical errors
DISORGANIZED: information is scattered, hard to follow, employer has to search for information􀂾

21. Why Employers Disregard Résumés
TOO LONG/OVERWRITTEN: one page, no more than two; unnecessary information, unrelated to your job qualifications, long paragraphs and sentences
TOO SHORT: not enough information, gives only bare essentials of dates and job titles, sparse in describing duties or accomplishments on various jobs
WRONG RESUME: resume does not fit position applying for; content does not support objective􀂾

22. Why Employers Disregard Résumés
INFORMATION NOT CURRENT: resume does not include current information
CONTACT INFORMATION MISSING: leaving out information such as your name, mailing address or telephone number
CONTAINS PERSONAL INFORMATION: do not include information about age, marital status, health, height, weight, gender, photographs, etc
NO COVER LETTER: resume misdirected, sending resume without a cover letter

23. Summary Objective should be similar to job listing
Quantify your accomplishments
List your skill set
List your education
One page