1. Resumes Tory Nair, Career Advisor Career Development Center, B-119
(773)

2. Parts of a Resume
Name and contact information
Objective (optional)
Qualifications summary/professional profile (optional)
Education and relevant coursework
Work experience
Internship experience
Volunteer experience
Extracurricular activities/honors/awards
Computer skills
Language skills
Additional sections for related information

3. The Length Debate How long should a resume be? Answer: It depends!
1 page
2 pages
Doesn’t matter
It depends
Answer: It depends!

4. Formatting Margins: ¾ to 1” margins Consistency: Font:
Dates on right side
How list work experiences
Fonts/formatting
Font:
10-12 point font
“Professional” font – Arial, Times New Roman, Calibri, others
Name & headings should be bolded, larger font size to stand out

5. Formatting Additional Formatting: Important tips:
Use special formatting (bold/italics/underlines) sparingly
Colors – black font is best in most situations
No pictures or graphics!
Important tips:
List bullets in order of importance
Do not need to include references on resume
Make sure it looks ok when converted to a PDF file or being sent via
Avoid templates!

6. Chronological vs. Functional Resumes
What is a chronological resume?
Lists work, internship, and volunteer experience in reverse chronological order (most recent to oldest)
What is a functional resume?
Highlights skills and qualifications vs. experiences
Order of relevancy vs. chronological

7. Chronological vs. Functional
Chronological Resumes
(Use this style if you want to…)
Functional Resumes
Stay in the same career field
Enter the job market
Emphasize past growth and career development
Return to the job market
Show an established career progression
Change careers
Identify related skills within industry
De-emphasize frequent job changes
Highlight skills directly related to the job
Highlight transferable skills from unrelated industries
NOTE: Can also use the “combination” format – there’s no one right way!

8. Contact Information
What’s wrong with this header?
“Snooki” Polozzi
100 S. jerzeeee st
Jersey Shores, Nj
Cell:
No nicknames!
Check your grammar!
Do not need to write “cell,” just include one number
Use a professional
address
Watch for typos!

9. Contact Information
How it should appear:
Nicole Polozzi
100 S. Jersey St.
Jersey Shores, NJ
(555)
Professionalism reminders:
Use a “professional” address, check it often
Make sure your voic message is appropriate
Yes, include your mailing address!

10. Education Section Should include:
Current institution and location – write it out!
Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL
NOT Northeastern University (Boston), NEIU, NorthEastern…
Graduation date
Degree obtaining, including major(s) and/or minor(s)
Master of Arts in Counseling
NOT “MA” or “Masters” or “Masters of Arts”
GPA (if a 3.0 or above)
Can include GPA in different ways (e.g., major GPA vs. cumulative/overall GPA)
Previous institutions (for Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science)
Can include: relevant coursework here

11. Education Section - Examples
EDUCATION Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL May 2014 Master of Arts in Counseling North Park University, Chicago, IL May 2011 Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

12. Education Section - Examples
EDUCATION Northeastern Illinois University, Chicago, IL Master of Arts in Counseling May 2014 Bachelor of Arts in Psychology May 2011

13. Work Experience Include: Use bullet points for easy reading
Name of employer
Location (city, state)
Dates of employment
Position title
Use bullet points for easy reading
Action verbs should start each bullet point
Content should be specific and in order of importance (as related to position description)
Include skills, achievements/accomplishments vs. job duties or responsibilities
Watch tenses!
Present tense for current jobs
Past tense for previous jobs
Be consistent in formatting!
Can have a separate section for “relevant” work experience

14. Work Experience How far back should you go?
If you have more years of experience, include up to last 10 years
If you have less years of experience, include all relevant and/or recent experiences
Can include relevant skills section
Does not have to be exactly related, but try to pull out transferable/related skills
Should appear in reverse chronological order (chronological resumes)
Read job descriptions for clues!

15. Additional Experiences to Include
Internships
Can list among rest of work experience, but stands out if it has its own section/heading
Format and write similarly to work experience
Can list on resume as soon as you start!
Volunteer/Community Service Work
Leadership/Student Organizations
Any experience is “good” experience, paid or not!

16. Phrases to Avoid in your Resume
“Team player”
“Responsible for…”
“Hard-working”
“Strong communication skills”
“Proven track record for success”
Demonstrate your skills by using specific details:
Show, don’t tell!

17. Additional Sections for Resumes
Computer skills
Write out Microsoft Office products (e.g., Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Access, Outlook, Publisher)
Include any specific knowledge of social media, software, hardware, coding, programming, and so on
Foreign language ability
Be careful with use of “fluent” or other words to describe extent of knowledge/use in conversation
Activities (extracurricular activities, campus involvement)
Honors/Awards
Any additional experiences you feel are relevant, unique
DO NOT include hobbies, interests!
DO NOT include “references available upon request”

18. On a Separate Page… 3-4 professional references
Name
Contact information
Phone, address
Relationship to you and/or position title
DO NOT include personal (family, friends) references unless asked to do so!
Make sure your references have agreed to do this for you!

19. Hints, Tips, & Tricks Tailor your resume to the position
Place sections in order of relevance and importance
Save your resume with your name in the file name (e.g., “Tory Nair Resume.doc”)
Can also add the position title (e.g., “Tory Nair Career Advisor Resume.doc”) or company (e.g., “Tory Nair ALA Resume.doc”)
Save one file for every position, along with a master
On new versions of Word, you can “save as” a PDF. Many employers prefer this.

20. LinkedIn – Your Online “Resume”
Can list this on your resume, but not necessary
Import your resume for your profile
One of the first things that comes up when someone searches for you online
Use it to connect to others and to research companies, people
LinkedIn workshops

21. Come in for a resume critique!
Drop-in hours Mondays and Wednesdays 1-3pm (Building B, Room 119)
Appointments Monday-Friday
Monday-Wednesday hours: 8:30am-7pm
Thursday-Friday hours: 8:30am-4:30pm

22. Career Development Center – Additional
In addition to resume and cover letter critiques, we also assist with:
Preparing for interviews
Writing thank-you letters
Applying to graduate school
Deciding what to do after graduation
Applying for internships and full-time positions
Negotiating salary and navigating job offers
Additional questions regarding your career search!
We host many events, coordinate on-campus interviews and job fairs, and post jobs, internships online (CCN)!

23. Questions? Career Development Center
B-119
Tory Nair –