Resume Writing

Presented By:
Ketki Bhatti
&
Smita Mukherjee
 What will A Resume Do for Me?
 First Impression

 Enable you to assess your strengths, skills, abilities and

experience - thereby preparing you for the interview
process

 Act as a reminder of you to the employer/interviewer after

you're done interviewing

 Be a basis for the interviewer to justify your hiring

 The ultimate goal of a resume is to gain you an interview!

 Rules of Resume Writing
 Yes, but only a few! Almost every rule you have ever
heard can be broken, if you have a very good reason.  
Some rules, however, are absolutes, including:

 No typing errors

 No errors in spelling

 No lying or grandiose embellishments

 Rules of Resume Writing
 No negative information should be included

 Include only relevant information

 Never be more than two pages long

 Some Breakable Rules of Resume
Writing
 While most recently graduated college-student resumes are one
page, this is not an absolute rule,

 IF you have the right combination of experience and education.

 Your resume must be long enough to detail what you have to offer
a potential employer, BUT short enough to entice that employer to
want to know more (that is, invite you for an interview.) 

 As a general guideline, you should keep your resume to one page

until you have 5-10 years of experience, then go to two.

 If you cannot fill two entire pages, you should condense it to one
page.
 Will I Have More Than One Version
of My Resume?
 YES!

 Employers today want to know what you can do for

them, so it is imperative that you create a targeted
resume each time you apply for an opportunity.

 You will also develop a 'generic' resume to use in online

databases, such as ours.

 You may also need a scan able or web-based resume,

depending on your field; more on these later.
 Styles of Resumes?
 There are three resumes styles:

 Chronological Style – Listing of your Job and Experience

with most recent mentioned first (Preferred).

 Functional styles – Based upon Competencies and Skills and

doesn’t go in chronological order (Not Popular).

 Targeted Style – Different for different companies and

profile.
 Which Style is Recommended for
College Students?

For students Targeted resumes are advised rather

than using a conventional resume.
 How to Get Started? 
 Get a job description for the job, or type of job, you are seeking.

 Make a list of all co-curricular activities you are involved in.

 Compile a list of all community activities of which you are a

part.

 Gather together job descriptions from your past positions.

 List what things friends/relatives/peers come to you for help

with. This may assist you in identifying strengths you would not
otherwise recognize in yourself.
 What Must Be Included In
Resume?  
 Name
  Address
  Phone number
  Objective
  Education
  Profile or Summary of Qualifications
  Experience
 What Else Can Be Included
 Licenses/Certifications

 Accomplishments/Achievements

 Affiliations/Memberships

 Activities and Honors

 Be Sure to Include Some Attitude in
Resume
 Team Player

 Involved with -

 Contributed to -

 Served on -


Volunteered to -
 Resume Don’ts

 Abbreviations and Acronyms

 No fancy fonts, binders, layouts etc.
 Never use pronouns such as “I”, “My”, “Me”, “Our”. 
 Reasons for leaving previous job(s) 
 Personal, Family or Health Information 
 Reference names
 Folded Resumes
 Do I need an OBJECTIVE? 
 YES, it tells the reader why you are sending the resume, i.e.,
what position or type of position you are seeking.

 Use the objective to tell what you can do for the company, NOT
what you want the company to do for you.

 An objective is like the thesis statement of your resume.

Everything you include after it should support it!

 Ideally target your objective to include job title desired, position

level, field, industry, and/or company name. If you are sending
this resume for a specific position at a specific company.
 Summary of Qualifications
 This is where you showcase for the employer what you have to offer
- keeping in mind what the job entails.

 You won't put every single skill, experience, or attribute you possess
here, focus on what you can do to successfully perform the job.

 Tailor this section to reflect what the employer is seeking, different

positions will warrant that you create different qualifications sections.

 These are brief statements of your experience, training and/or

personal abilities which summarize your skills, abilities and
experience.
 Developing a Summary of
Qualifications
 Begin by identifying your strengths, skills, abilities gained
through past employment or campus organization or
classroom experience. 
 List job duties, one at a time, from past jobs and from
campus involvement, etc.
 From these duties, identify what transferable skills you
developed and write these.
 Identify Employer needs by thoroughly reading the job
description.
 Developing a Summary of
Qualifications
 Employer Skills Match - develop your Qualifications or
Skills section by matching up what the employer needs with
what you can provide.
 These are brief statements of your experience, training and/or
personal abilities.
 Highlight what you have to offer an employer based on what
the position requires.
 How Do I List Jobs Within the
Experience Section?  
 Job listing should be in reverse chronological order (that is, your most
recent job is listed first.)
 Listing must include name of company, city and state.
 Do not list street addresses, supervisors, telephone numbers or reason
for leaving.
  Dates of employment are required. Be sure to include month (or
term) and year, i.e., June 2003-present.
  You might list every job you've ever held or you might just list your
last 3 positions.
 Another approach might be to only include the relevant positions
you've had and name the section Related Experience or Relevant
Work History or something similar.
 How Do I List Jobs Within the
Experience Section?
 Another option is to isolate the related experience (including
internships) in one section (titled Related Experience or
Internships or ??) then follow with the unrelated (but still
valuable) experience in a Work History section.
 List a job title so the employer has an idea of the work you
performed. If you didn’t have an official title, choose one that
best describes what you actually did at this job.
 Typically job duties should not be included here unless they are
highly Relevant to your objective.
 Even then do not include duties which are Implied by your job
title or alluded to in the Summary of Qualifications or a Profile
section. However, job accomplishments SHOULD be listed as
bullet statements under each position as applicable.
 Where Do I Put My Activities and
Honors?
 We recommend that you put this section after your Employment
History.
 Include scholarships, honors, organizations, and memberships,
Community work, volunteer work, etc.
 You don't have to include everything you've been involved with if it
is overwhelming. Keep your goal in mind (getting that interview)
and give enough information to allow the potential employer what
s/he needs, to make that decision.
 Remember, don’t include anything from before college unless it is
truly an exceptional feat. 
 Rank these items from 'most impressive' or 'most relevant' to 'least
impressive' or 'least relevant' as it relates to your job target.
 Name this section what it is. If it is all community work –
Community Involvement – would be a good name; if it is all clubs
and organizations – call it Activities; if it is all honors – call it
Honors.
 Are There Activities That I
Shouldn’t List?
 Some activities we are involved in may be controversial. For
example: political affiliated groups or volunteer work or church
activities. We call these "hot buttons" and our advice is:

 IF that activity or membership is SO important to you that you

would not want to work somewhere that it wasn’t ‘ok’ then
include it on the resume.
What About Hobbies and
Interests? 
 As a general rule, we don’t recommend that you list hobbies or
interests unless they are
(1) organized, i.e., you belong to a club or
(2) relevant to the type of position you are seeking
 What About References?
 Who Can I Use As a Reference and How Do I Format the
Reference Page? 
 As stated earlier, reference names don’t go on the resume
itself. They are a separate document, using the same
header you did on your resume. Then list the reference
names and contact information in block (envelope) style.
Do not send to employer unless they request it.
What About References?
We recommend between 3 and 5 references.
 They should all be individuals who have direct knowledge of your
job abilities (supervisor, etc.) or a professor who teaches a major-
related class. 
 Ask the references permission before you use them. Also ask them if
they will give you a good reference. Make sure to ask where they
would like to be contacted, i.e., home or work and get the correct
contact information for each person.
 Afterward, follow up with your references by sending them a copy of
your completed resume. This will help them if/when they get a call
on you.
 Be sure to take copies of your references to all interviews. Most
employers will request them at that time.
 When &Why Do I Need a
Cover Letter?
 Any time you send your resume to an employer it should
be accompanied by a cover letter.
 It acts as an introduction for your resume.
 A cover letter also stands as a sample of your writing
skills, so be sure to make it the best possible sample you
can.
 If you are sending your resume via email - the cover letter
is the email message itself.
I Need My Resume to Distinguish Me
From Everyone Else, How Do I Do
That?
 Spend some time up front to determine what you have to
offer and what you are worth to an employer.
 DON'T use the resume wizard or template from your word
processing software or copy the samples from this
workshop! This document needs to be uniquely you.
 Answer the question, "Why am I more qualified than the
next guy?" Then develop your resume to reflect that.
 DON’T try to distinguish yourself by fancy fonts, clipart
or non-traditional papers.
What Are the Type/Design
Details I Most Need to Know
and Follow? 
 Use bold, italics, different font sizes, upper-case and small capitals
lettering for emphasis and to direct the reader's eye.
 Type should be between 10 & 12 pt.
 We suggest using a professional, readily-available font such as Times
New Roman, Arial, Bookman, Trebuchet, Lucida Sans, Garamond,
Verdana or Courier. 
 You can use a different font for the headers of your resume as well as
your contact information but don't use more than 2 types.
 Make sure your resume looks good! Don’t have all the text on the left
side of the page and lots of blank space on the right. Use white space,
but also spread out your information in an aesthetically pleasing way.
 Use bullets to draw the reader’s eye. But don’t bullet everything!
 Use them to highlight the strong points of your resume such as the
Qualifications or Profile statements.
 Be consistent with headings (size, boldness, etc.) and body text
(indented, not indented, tabs right-justified, tabs left-justified, etc.)
 What About Paper? 
 Use Executive Bond paper.
 Don’t get fancy – plain white or off-white (cream, ecru,
etc.) is your best bet.
 As noted earlier, don’t go with any bordered or themed
paper.
Good Luck For Writing
Your Resume !