Instructions for completing the résumé assignment

The purpose of the résumé assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to take an inventory
of your skills and experiences as you begin to think about your professional career.

Most students completing this exercise walk will away with two major benefits. First, I expect that
most of you do not realize the wealth of professional experience you have already gained in your
undergraduate education. Even if you have not yet held a “real” job, your college courses and
opportunities to become involve in your community are helping you to develop many skills that
will have application beyond the classroom. Second, many of you—especially those of you who are
in your first years of college—will find that there are holes in your skill set that can be easily filled
with careful course and internship selection in the coming semesters.

The main goal of any résumé is to highlight your skills and experiences in an elegant way that
draws immediate attention to your ability to organize and communicate with the highest degree
of clarity. Your grammar in this document should be flawless, although résumés often omit
subject nouns as you will see in the example entries I provide below. Your résumé formatting—
font use, font size, bolding, italicization, and use of bullets—should be absolutely consistent. You
want your formatting to show your prowess with word processing software by subtle acts of
elegance that draw the reader’s attention to key points in your document. Put page numbers on all
pages except for the first (you format for this option when you use the “insert page” command).
Keep in mind that most first-time student résumés error in the direction of format overkill rather
than being excessively subtle. The most important thing with formatting is to make sure that your
document draws your reader’s attention to the many skills and experiences that distinguish you
from other candidates.

The library and various on-line sources (using any major search engine type in “resume,”
“college,” and “active verbs”) will give you much more additional information if you need help in
completing this assignment.

As a loose guide, most of your résumés should have the following sections:

EDUCATION
There is no need to indicate your high school unless it is relevant to your future plans
(either because of its location—e.g., you went to high school in Michigan and want a
job/internship there—or because of the important awards you received while
enrolled).
You will list your major and minor here. If other coursework is relevant, you should
note this:

Lewis and Clark College. B.A. in Political Science, minor in Communications

(expected May 2004). Significant additional coursework in International Affairs,
Spanish, and Economics. Designated a Dean’s scholar (four-year academic merit
scholarship) at admission; repeated appearances on the Dean’s list (for
outstanding academic performance).

If you have studied abroad, list the institution as a separate line on your résumé to
draw attention to this (most college students do not study abroad and this experience
speaks to your adaptability). If you have advanced language skills, you may note them
here:
Lewis and Clark College Study Abroad Program: Quito, Ecuador.
Studies in Spanish Language and Latin American History, Geography, and
Culture. Attained limited in fluency in Spanish by living with an Ecuadorian
family, which complemented three years of college-level language coursework.
 List your senior thesis topic if your research has begun:

Senior Thesis. Slavery, Segregation, and Social Movements: Comparing the

Ideological Foundations of Black Civil Rights in Brazil and the United States.
Thesis explores the political experiences of African-descendent peoples in two
different countries.

If you have one or two awards, you may place them here (e.g., “Repeated appearances
on the Dean’s list”), but make sure to very briefly explain awards that have no
meaning for those outside of the university. If you have several prestigious awards,
you should list them in a section at the end of the resume along with any publications
or public presentations.

WORK EXPERIENCE
Positions are typically listed in temporal order, starting with your most recent job.
List positions by title, followed by a brief description that emphasizes the relevant
skills you obtained. I have provided a list of sought-after skills on the following page
of this document. You want your descriptions of positions to be interesting, accurate,
and articulate. Where possible, you should focus your descriptions on the skills that
related to those called for in the position listings for which you are applying. Do not
overplay your hand by going over the top in describing the skills imparted by a
position. You don’t want to sound silly if you are asked in an interview to explain
some trivial experience that you have highlighted in your résumé. If you had summer
jobs like I had when I was in college, your résumé might list something like the
following:

Car Washing Attendant. Bob’s Carwash. Boise, Idaho, Summer

2002. Washed vehicles to meet company quality standards.
Communicated directly with customers, handled cash, represented
company professionally on the telephone, balanced tills, and
successfully followed complicated directions on a daily basis.

OTHER PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

For many of you, this will be your most important section because it highlights the
types of skills that will be most useful for the jobs you are most interested in.
Volunteer work, class experiences, and college involvement can go in this section. If
you don’t have any work experience, label this section “Professional experience.” In
this section, you will want to list skills that you have obtained outside of employment
situations:

Secretary and Founder. Future Political Scientists of

America. Lewis and Clark College, Fall 2000-Spring 2002.
Founded and secured funding for this ten-member university
club. Scheduled and led meetings, invited outside speakers, and
met regularly with the club’s faculty advisor. Kept and submitted
financial records. Ensured club policies and practices conformed
to university regulations.

You might also list relevant experience gained in skills-based classes:

Research Assistant. Political Science Research Methods Course. Lewis

and Clark College, Spring 2003. For a major class project, conducted survey
research on college students. Undertook basic quantitative analyses using
SPSS statistical software. Presented quantitative findings using Excel charts
and graphs. Independently designed an empirical research project.
Completed many projects in small groups whose success depended on
collaboration and consensus building.

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 For this assignment, you must list computer skills. This is a good section in which do
this (if you have many different sets of skills, you may instead want to create a skills
section of your résumé):

Basic Computer Skills. Extensive proficiency with PCs; limited experience

working with Macintosh computers. Have strong command of most
Microsoft Office applications, including Word, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint,
and Access. Extensive experience with various web browsers and library
databases. Limited experience with statistical analysis software (SPSS). Am
computer savvy and learn new programs easily.

Obviously, your résumé will not list every pertinent experience you have for every job
or internship for which you are applying. I recommend that you begin any job or
intern position search by compiling a several page long document (you don’t need
this for the present assignment) so that you can selectively draw the most appropriate
experiences for your résumé depending on the type of position for which you are
applying. As you obtain internships and more professional job experiences over time,
you will want drop out references to school positions and experiences gained in
college courses because the other positions will be more substantial in scope.
Nevertheless, getting a job or internship that will give you better professional
experience generally requires that you first demonstrate your capabilities.

AWARDS, PUBLIC PRESENTATIONS, AND PUBLICATIONS

If these are not especially impressive or do not speak to your ability to perform on the
job, don’t put them on your résumé. Most employers care more about what you can
do than about the degree to which you have received public recognition. If you have
impressive accomplishments, explain awards whose meaning is not self-evident in a
very short sentence and place this section towards the very end of your résumé.

REFERENCES
If you are using a one-page résumé (some places will ask for this), list “References
Available Upon Request” at the bottom of your résumé. With a longer document that
lists contacts, you should have complete contact information—including telephone
numbers, addresses, and e-mail addresses—for each of your references. Provide a title
for your references are so that your would-be employer knows who they will be
contacting. Usually you want to include an academic reference as well as a previous
employer or volunteer service directors. Ask references for permission before you put
them on your résumé and provide your references with a copy of your résumé so that
they are familiar with your skills and experience.

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 A list of action verbs that you may find useful in using your résumé to
highlight skills and experiences you have gained in previous employment,
volunteering, and in school (Source: University of Oregon Student
Placement Office):

Communication evaluated advised

Skills examined clarified
addressed gathered coached
arbitrated identified communicated
arranged inspected coordinated
authored interpreted developed
controlled interviewed drafted letters
conceptualized problems investigated enabled
corresponded organized encouraged
debated presented evaluated
delivered proved explained
developed restored facilitated
developed a consensus reviewed guided
directed selected informed
distinguished structured initiated
drafted summarized instructed
edited surveyed orchestrated
energetic systematized persuaded
enlisted transformed stimulated
focused uncovered taught
formulated
influenced Technical and Quantitative Skills
interpreted Computer achieved
logical Skills administered
mediated assembled allocated
moderated designed analyzed
motivated devised appraised
negotiated engineered audited
persuaded extracted balanced
presented fabricated budgeted
promoted installed calculated
publicized maintained computed
reconciled operated earned
recruited overhauled expanded
spearheaded programmed forecast
suggested remodeled interpreted data
summarized findings repaired managed
translated reversed marketed
worked in teams simplified modeled
wrote solidified netted
solved planned
Research trained projected
Skills upgraded qualified
analyzed widened quantitatively analyzed
clarified worked reduced
collected researched
critiqued Teaching and submitted financial reports
diagnosed Leadership tracked
discovered Skills
drafted reports adapted

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Creative Skills tabulated Powerpoint
composed updated Statistically analyzed
conceptualized validate SPSS (advanced statistical
created software)
designed Management
developed Skills
directed administered
established advanced
fashioned analyzed
counseled assigned
demonstrated attained
diagnosed chaired
expedited conducted
facilitated contracted
familiarized contributed
guided consolidated
joined coordinated
led delegated
participated directed
provided diversified
referred eliminated
rehabilitated evaluated
represented executed
schooled headed-up
honed
Clerical and Detail improved
Skills increased
accomplished launched
arranged organized
catalogued oversaw
classified placed
collected planned
compiled prioritized
completed produced
communicated proposed
generated recommended
handled regulated
implemented restructured
indexed reviewed
inspected scheduled
kept secured funding
located streamlined
monitored strengthened
opened supervised
operated verified
organized
prepared Computer
processed Skills
purchased Access
received Database management
recorded Data entry
retrieved Excel
revised Internet search engines
saved Macintosh
screened Most Microsoft applications
specified MS Word
systematized PC

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