RÉSUMÉ WRITING
Your résumé often creates the firstimpression that you make with an employer. The information you include and the way you present it can determine whether you will have the opportunity to interview for a position. If the résumé is strongly written and presented attractively, it will often open the door to an interview.
Your résumé is your marketing tool. It provides a quick overview of the skills, knowledge, and experience you have to “sell” to an employer. A résumé summarizes your educational and employment experiences. It should be a concise, easy-to-read review of your qualifications.
PREPARATION FOR WRITING THE RÉSUMÉ
Before you begin to write your résumé, it is important that you evaluate the skills you have tooffer an employer and develop a statement of your career objective(s). Working through these steps will make construction of your résumé easier—and make your résumé a more focused document.
Developing Your Career Focus
A résumé should support your career goals by presenting evidence to the employer that you have the skills and knowledge necessary to perform the job. If you are unsure which career options you want to pursue, it will be more difficult to design an effective résumé. Therefore, it is important to have some type of “objective” in mind (if not on paper!) when constructing your résumé. Your objective will enable you to write a résumé that highlights your most important qualifications for specific kinds of jobs.
Formulating at least a general career goal forces you to assess the skills and knowledge you have to offer employers and enables you to focus your energy on the most likely job opportunities. A vague career goal will be interpreted by employers as a lack of direction and self-knowledge. If you don’t know the types of positions for which your background can best be utilized, the employer cannot afford the time and energy to figure it out for you!
When you feel confident that you have identified your skills, defined your objectives, and become familiar with options in your chosen career field (including potential employers), you are ready to begin writing your résumé.
RÉSUMÉ CONTENT
A résumé is a flexible document. It can be adapted to highlight your particular skills or experiences. Information can be included or deleted according to your needs. The order in which you present this information can vary as well. The content categories you select for your résumé will be determined by a number of factors, especially by your strongest “selling points,” relative to the type of position you are seeking. You may find that you have several versions of your résumé if you are targeting different types of career positions.
The length of a résumé is generally one page, but two pages are usually acceptable if you need the space to show the breadth of your experience. If you go to two pages, make sure the information on page two is relevant and that you use the majority of the second page.
***For Engineering undergraduates, a one-page résumé is highly recommended.***
The Importance of Keywords
Many organizations utilize keyword searches for their résumé databases. Even large web sites like CareerBuilder.com and Monster.com employ this type of technology. Keywords are what an employer would type in to extract résumés from the large database. Think carefully when constructing your résumé for the “buzz words” that would be significant to industries in which you are interested. Including a “Relevant Course Work” category may also help assure that keywords are in the résumé simply with listing course titles (see section below on “Relevant Courses”).
Types of information normally included in the résumé:
Identification Data This section includes name, address/es (current and permanent if appropriate), zip code(s), e-mail, and phone number(s) including area code(s). You may include a web site address if you have developed your own website or have an online portfolio of your work (web site content must be relevant to the job search). Make sure your e-mail address sounds professional!
Career ObjectiveWhether or not to include an objective is confusing because some sources advise you to leave an objective off the résumé while others tell you to include one. If you decide not to include an objective on your résumé, then your objective should be clearly articulated in your cover letter. If you do include an objective, be specific—don't explain what you wantfrom an organizationbut rather address the skills you are bringing to that organization. Objectives do not include pronouns such as I, my, or me.
An objective can range from a simple job title to a statement that mentions skills, settings, or philosophy. If you are considering several fields, or are not aiming for a particular job title, a skills or functional objective will allow you flexibility while still providing focus.
Education Your academic experiences should be listed in reverse chronological order with your most recent degree or experience first and work backward in time.
- You may list your cumulative grade point average (GPA) and/or GPA in your major, if you feel that this information enhances your qualifications. The guideline for including a GPA is 3.0 or above. Academic achievement is one of the areas in which employers will have an interest, particularly if you do not have extensive work experience or activities. Do not include too many decimals ex. 3.578—this is unnecessary.
- If you earned a significant part of your educational expenses, you might mention this.
Example: “Responsible for 70% of college expenses.”
Relevant Courses You may list courses you have taken which relate specifically to your career goals. Remember not to abbreviate the courses using a course number but include titles instead. If an employer uses a “keyword” search, this list of relevant courses may allow your résumé to be pulled from the database.
***According to the July 2005 edition of “Spotlight Online,” published by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), including relevant courseson your résumémay be helpful if an employer uses a key word search to obtain résumés from a database—especially if you’re applying online.***
Experience The experience section should include not only paid full-time positions but also part-time, volunteer, field experience, observation, internship, senior design project, major class projects, and cooperative education experience. For each position, list the organization’sname, the location (city and state), job title, and dates (month/year) of employment. There is no single correct order for the presentation of this information as long as you are consistent throughout the résumé.
You are highly encouraged to differentiate between "Relevant Experience" or “Professional Experience” which relates to the position you are targeting and another category entitled "Other Experience" or “Work Experience” and lists general work experiences unrelated to major/career goals.
- Give a brief description of the skills and responsibilities for each position using short phrases and clauses rather than full sentences.
- Avoid the use of any personal pronouns (I, my, or me). It is particularly effective to begin each fragment with an active verb (see the list in this handout for suggestions).
- Take credit for what you have done—especially for those activities that you initiated, developed, orsupervised. Be careful not to exaggerate your responsibilities but do not undersell yourself either.
Activities The activities section indicates your interests, willingness to accept responsibility, and leadership abilities. Your involvement in clubs, student government, athletics, and social organizations shows an employer you have broadened your education with activities outside the classroom. These activities can also demonstrate important work-related skills and knowledge such as organizational or management experience and the ability to work effectively with others. Be sure to include offices or other positions of leadership you have held, as well as describing the positions and related tasks.
Optional Special Sections You may list other types of information if they relate to your career and/or reflect achievements in which an employer may have an interest.
Honors and Awards Honors such as Dean’s List, membership in an academic honorary, or scholarships may be listed in a separate category.
Special Skills This section highlights any expertise you may have in foreign languages, computer operation and programming, technical writing, equipment you can use, testing procedures, processes, or other areas that have not been mentioned elsewhere.
Professional Affiliations If you have joined a professional association (either a campus or national chapter) that is related to your major or chosen career field, be sure to list the name (no abbreviations).
Additional Training You may list any significant seminars, workshops, or other training that has given you background or knowledge which will be helpful in your chosen career field.
Research If you have assisted a professor with her/his research, you should include a brief description of the research itself as well as your role in the project. This gives the employer additional insight into your professional abilities, training, and level of responsibility.
Presentations If you have given a presentation at an academic or professional conference, you should list the date, title of paper, name of the conference, and conference location.
Publications List titles of articles, books, stories, or poems you have written which have been published or selected to be published. The title of the publication should be listed, too.
Qualifications Summary Candidates with strong skills or extensive experience may be well served by listing the qualifications concisely in a separate category. This listing can highlight skills not explicitly stated elsewhere as well as point out unique aspects of your background. A qualifications summary is often used in a functional résumé; this section is usually unnecessary for a traditional college student.
Study Abroad Students with study abroad experience are highly encouraged tocreate a separate category which is usually listed after the “Education” section. Studying abroad shows a prospective employer that you havechallenged yourself to function in a different culture and have an understanding of diversity issues which would allow you to relate to international clients.
Volunteer Significant volunteer experience demonstrates your commitment to the community and may be relevant to your chosen career area.
Military Experience This may be listed under its own heading or included as one of your work experiences. Be sure to reflect promotions you received during your military career in addition to describing your responsibilities. State your type of discharge, if honorable.
Certifications A section listing any certifications you possess—first aid, food safety, engineering, CPR, etc.
Do Not Include
Personal If it doesn’t relate to how well you can do the job, leave it out! Personal data (e.g. height, weight, date of birth, social security number, marital and health status) are not mentioned. Information about your family is also inappropriate in the résumé. Much of this information is potentially discriminatory and inappropriate for the employer to have prior to offering you a job.
Photographs In the United States, photographs are not included on a résumé.
HighSchool High school graduation dates and activities are generally left off the résumé. However, if some aspect of your high school experience relates to your career goal (ex. education major who was involved in high school athletics and plans to coach) then it is acceptable to include in the résumé.
Ethical Issues
You must represent your skills and qualifications honestly to prospective employers whether it is on a résumé, cover letter, reference sheet, interview, career fair, or any other type of OhioUniversity event/service.
Social Networking Sites
Check to make sure you do not have inappropriate information accessible in Facebook, My Space, other online blogs, or Google. Employers and graduate committees are researching candidates’ online accounts and/or “Googling” their names. You are advised to edit the content in these accounts or change your privacy settings.
ACTIVE VERBS
achievededitedprepared
actedenabledpresented
adjustedencouragedprocessed
administeredestablishedproduced
advertisedestimatedprogrammed
advisedevaluatedproofread
analyzedexecutedpublicized
arrangedexpandedpublished
assembledexpeditedpurchased
assessedexperimentedrated
beganfacilitatedrecommended
budgetedfiledrecorded
builtformedrecruited
calculatedgeneratedreferred
chairedguidedregulated
changedhandledreorganized
clarifiedidentifiedrepaired
classifiedillustratedreported
coachedimplementedrepresented
collaborated (with)increasedreproduced
collectedinitiatedresearched
communicatedinspectedretrieved
compiledinstalledreviewed
composedinstructedrevised
computedinteracted (with)scheduled
conductedinterviewedselected
constructedinventoriedserved
contactedinvestigatedsimplified
contributedledsold
controlledmadesolicited
coordinatedmaintainedstudied
corresponded (with)managedsupervised
counseledmarketedsynthesized
createdmeasuredsystematized
definedmonitoredtargeted
delegatednegotiatedtaught
deliveredobservedtested
demonstratedobtainedtrained
designedoperatedtranslated
describedorderedtutored
developedorganizedupdated
directedoversawutilized
dispensedparticipated (in)verified
distributedpersuadedvolunteered
draftedplannedwrote
RÉSUMÉ STYLES
There are many good résumé layouts. There is no “perfect” style. A sampleis included in this handout, but other examples are available online through reputable sites: and others. The layout of your résumé is important in creating a favorable first impression in the mind of the employer. The appearance of your résumé may determine whether it is even read at all. Many recruiters recommend not using résumé templates that are available with your word processing software. It is more impressive to create your own résumé “from scratch” utilizing categories and formatting which fit your unique qualifications.
The style you select will depend upon which of your qualifications you want to emphasize. The following explanations should help you decide which style may best serve your purposes.
TRADITIONAL or PAPER RÉSUMÉ STYLES
Traditional résumé styles generally employ serif fonts, are 1-2 pages in length, and utilize active verbs to focus on various skills developed during work experience. However, traditional/paper résumés are not necessarily designed for submission through electronic means. You are encouraged to develop both a traditional “paper” résumé and an electronic résumé to meet employers’ preferences. If you send an electronic résumé, then it would be acceptable to take a traditional, fully-formatted résumé to the interview or a career fair.
CHRONOLOGICAL STYLE With this style, information is presented in reverse chronological order—most recent information is listed first, and you work backward in time. This approach is the easiest to follow and is often used by job seekers with limited experience.
If you have an extensive list of jobs, but they do not all warrant a full description, you may find it useful to end your listing of work experience with a composite or summary statement which combines several less important positions. This statement could read, “Additional experience as a retail salesperson and as a child care provider using good interpersonal and problem-solving skills." The fact that you have worked during your college years, even though the positions may only be income-generating in nature, is significant to many employers.
FUNCTIONAL STYLE The focus of this style is on skills and abilities—not on when or where they were attained. Related skills are grouped together in comprehensive listings. The skill areas should relate closely to the stated career objective.
Some experienced workers find this style a good way to display their qualifications. It is best used by people who may have changed careers, taken time off from their career, or who have gained their skills in volunteer or community service settings. It can also be used effectively by persons whose responsibilities were more extensive than their job titles would suggest.
A list of employing organizations with dates of employment should always be included on the résumé. This should be in reverse chronological order.
ELECTRONIC OR SCANNABLE STYLES
Scanning résumés allows human resource departments to manage the large volume of résumés they receive. While more traditional résumé formatting techniques were covered earlier in this handout, it is important to understand the guidelines for creating a scannable résumé. The following list explains what to include and what to avoid when developing an electronic or scannable résumé.
You are highly encouragedto go to this web site: and search for “Writing Electronic Résumés.” There are several excellent articles that provide more detail on this topic.
Avoid on Electronic/Scannable Résumé / Include on Electronic/Scannable Résumé*Boldface, italics, underlining, highlighting, boxing, shading (no gray screens), or script text / *Horizontal lines should have ¼” above and below
*Use (*) or (+) rather than bullets
*Avoid vertical lines completely / *10-14 point font size; do not exceed 20 pt. for name
*Pictures or graphics / *White, light gray, or beige paper color
*Bullets / *Use sans serif fonts like Helvetica or Arial
*Columns—scanners read left-to-right and will not read columns / *Do use technical industry terms and jargon and make sure to spell out any abbreviations
*Do not compress text to fit 1-2 pages; letters may blur / *Send clear, original copies from a laser printer
*Do not use unusual characters or put brackets around area codes / *Use a 1” margin—although ½” will usually work
*Do not send several versions of your résumé to the same employer—scanners can catch this and “flag” the employer / *Scannable résumé may be 2-3 pages in length because you cannot use columns or compression techniques; however, do not go beyond 3 pages
*Do not staple, use paperclips, or fold / *Use 8 ½” x 11” paper—no unusual sizes
*Do not put information on the back of your résumé / *It is appropriate to send a hard copy of your résumé if you fax it first
*Do not format the résumé to look like a newsletter or newspaper / *The use of keywords is imperative! Nouns play a more important role in electronic résumé writing. Computers search for keywords, not verbs—repeat keywords
*Do not focus as much on active verbs as key words / *Mail flat in a large envelope
*Do not put all of your contact information on one line—each item should have its own line / *Leave a good amount of white space between sections
*Do not exceed 65 characters per line / *Use 20 lb. paper or slightly heavier
*Do not include an Interests or References section / *Capital letters can be substituted for bold face
*Do not use colored ink—only black / *When faxing, use the highest mode rather than standard
*Do not use tabs for indents—use the space bar instead / *Include a Keyword Summary section after the contact information section
FINAL POINTERS