1. Megan Bergeron Dan Bocchino
Writing your Resume
Megan Bergeron
Dan Bocchino

2. Getting Started Step 1: Step 2:
Sit down and do a self assessment. Think of all of the things that you’ve done in the past four years (e.g. work, school, internships, extracurricular activities, etc.) Anything that you feel may be relevant to an employer or school.
Step 2:
Draft it up!

3. General Tips Use standard size, white or off-white paper.
Use font size
Choose one font style and stick to it
Print on one side of the paper
Avoid things like Italicizing, underlining, graphics, etc.
Use Action Words whenever possible

4. Resume Content
Personal Information (Name, Address, Telephone number, address, website, etc.)
Objective
Education
Experience/Employment
Skills
References

5. Personal Information Dos Don’ts
This information should go at the top of your resume.
Make sure you include your permanent address and telephone number.
Include address
Don’ts
Use nicknames
Give your website only if relates to your professional goals.

6. Objective Dos Don’ts Be specific about what it is that you want.
The Objective of your resume will let the employer or school know exactly what your goals are. This is the first step in assessing whether or not you are a good candidate.
Dos
Be specific about what it is that you want.
Make sure that your objective matches what you are applying for.
Don’ts
Give one generic objective for every place that you apply to.
Be vague

7. Education Dos Don’ts Add your most recent education experience first
The Education section of your resume should include all of the college level work that you have done to date.
New graduates should list this section before his or her work experience section. Alumni who have been working should list that experience first.
Dos
Add your most recent education experience first
Include degree (or expected date of graduation), GPA and academic honors.
Don’ts
List high school education!

8. Experience/Employment
Dos
List the most recent work experience first
Give an overview of all that you learned from the experience
List extracurricular activities (e.g. sports, clubs, etc)
Give specifics of experience (e.g. position title, name of organization, location, etc)
Don’ts
List Hobbies or irrelevant information
Don’t add extraneous personal information (you may be a club team dodge ball champion, but they don’t want to know about it!)
List TOO much experience

9. Skills
Dos
Include transferable skills that you have acquired. These are especially helpful if you don’t have a lot of work experience to speak of.
Don’ts
Emphasize skills and or jobs that you do not want to do in the future.
(even if they are some of your strong points!)

10. Your References Dos Don’ts
This section will generally conclude your resume.
Do these on a separate sheet of paper, they are a part of the resume process.
Dos
Include the phrase “References available upon request”
Don’ts
List the References right on the resume, this is a later part of the job search.

11. Resume Checkup When you’ve completed your resume make sure that you:
Do a spell check
Have someone proofread your resume for you
Proofread it again
How about once more
Get outside opinions on what your resume. It’s not about what you think it looks like, it about what other people think!

12. Top Resume Mistakes Typos and grammatical errors Lack of specifics
Using a “one-size-fits-all” resume
Focusing on duties as opposed to accomplishments
Too long or too short
Poor objective
No action words
Leaving off important information
Too cluttered
Incorrect contact information

13. Resume Resources for You!
Career Development Center
Drop your resume off today for review
Meet with a career counselor
Do it Yourself (with a little help)
Microsoft Word
Resume Wizard
Resume templates

14. References
Hansen, Katharine, Resume Preparation Do's and Don'ts, Quintessential Careers (17 March 2005)