Finding the career that’s right for you!!

•The very fact that you can imagine a goal- a new

job, a different career; or personal independence-
means that personal growth and improvements is
possible for you.
•Answer a few questions for yourself; like what do
you want out of life? Hope to become?
Contribution to society/world. How do you plan
to go about it?
•Set priorities and limits as you establish your goals.
•What's most important to you?
•What comes first? Your family? An education?
•You should be clear about your priorities and
establish limits on what you are willing to do to
achieve your goals, and what you are not willing to
do .
•Priorities in life might change with time.
•Finally ask yourself, what’s reasonable.
•Your goals should be reasonable reachable, rational.
Developing a Personal Profile

•Know thyself.

•Unless you know, who you are, you’ll never be all be

to sell yourself to an employer.

•A personal profile is the picture of you that emerges

after some careful thought and honest response to a
few personal questions.
Creating Resume’ that works!!

Resume’ is a brief document, usually no

more than one or two pages, that
summarizes your qualifications,
experience and preparation.

•It is a sales letter and the product is you and your

skills.
How is Resume’ used?
To determine the following:
•Level and extent of qualification, including academic
education, specialized training, recent work experience.
•General suitability for employment in a particular
industry/job/organization.
•Which specific functional are or division within a
company might be interested in this applicant.
•Potential as well as performance.
•Personal standards of neatness organization and self
expression in the job.
Consider the Kind of Work You Want to Do and With
Whom You Want to Work

•The difficulty with this part of the planning process is that you
must conduct extensive research on the organizations that
interest you.
• If you do your research on~ before you write your resume and
try to establish interview dates, you will come closer to
knowing precisely which companies you do and do not want to
work for.
• You will also prepare a better resume and will be better able to
ask and answer question during your interviews. As you
proceed, the kind of work you want to do and who you want to
work for should begin to emerge.
How Employers Use Résumé
Understanding how employers use résumés will help you
create a re résumés that works for you.
Employers use résumé’s do decide whom to interview.
Since résumé’ are used to screen out applicants, omit
anything that may create a negative impression.
Résumé’s are scanned or skimmed. At many companies,
résumé’s are scanned into an electronic job applicant
tracking system. Only résumés that match keywords are
skimmed by a human being. A human may give a résumé
3 to 30 seconds before deciding to keep or toss it. You
must design your résumé to pass both the “scan test” and
the “skim test”.
Employers assume that your letter and résumé
represent your best work. Neatness, accuracy, and
freedom from typographical errors are essential.

Interviews usually reread your résumé before the

interview to refresh their memories. Be ready to offer
fuller details about everything on your résumé.

After the search committee has chosen an applicant, it

submits the applicant’s résumé to people in the
organization who must approve the appointment. These
people may have different background and areas of
expertise. Spell out acronyms.
 Guidelines for Résumés
•Writing a résumé is not an exact science. If you skills
are in great demand, you can violate every guideline
here and still get a good job.

Length
•A one-page résumé is sufficient, but do fill the page.
•Less than a full page suggests that you do not have very
much to say for yourself.
•If you do use more than one page, the second page
should have at least 10 to 12 lines.
•Use a second sheet and staple it to the first so that
readers who skim see the staple and know there is more.
•Leave less important information for the second page.
Emphasis

•Emphasize the things you have done that (a) are most relevant
to the position for which you are applying, (b) show your
superiority to other applicants and (c) are recent.

•Show that you are qualified by giving details on relevant

course projects, activities, and jobs where you have done
similar work.

• Marketing recruiters responded more positively to résumés

giving details about course projects, especially when
candidates had little relevant work experience .
•You can emphasize material by putting it at the top or the
bottom of a page, by giving it more space, and by setting
it off with white space.

•The beginning and end – of a document, a page, and a list

– are positions of emphasis.

•When you have a choice (e.g. in a list of job duties), put

less important material in the middle, not at the end, to
avoid the impression of “fading out.”
Details

•Details provide evidence to support your claims, convince the

reader, and separate you from other applicants.

Writing Style

•Without sacrificing content, be as concise as possible.

•Resumes normally use phrases and sentence fragments.
•Complete sentences are acceptable if they are the briefest way to
present information.
•To save space and to avoid sounding arrogant, never use I in a
resume
•. Me and my are acceptable if they are unavoidable or if using
them reduces wordiness.
Layout, Printing and Paper

•Experiment with layout, fonts, and spacing to get an

attractive résumé.

•Consider creating a letterhead that you use for both your

résumé and your application letter.

•Use enough white space to make your résumé easy to

read, but not so much that you look as if you‘re padding.
•
•Even if you pay someone else to produce your résumé,
you must specify the exact layout: you cannot expect a
paid typist to care as much about your résumé as you do.
•Print your resume on standard 81/2 – by – 11 – inch paper
(never legal size). White paper standard; a very pale color is
also acceptable.

• If you have a two-page résumé, consider having it printed on

the front and left-inside page of a folded 11-by-17-inch page,
with your application letter on the right-inside page.
Selecting Appropriate Content

Resume’ Heading:

Include your Full name, current mailing address,

telephone number, fax number, email.
It is centered on the page or flush left.
Name with capital letters and boldface.

Objective Statement

A one sentence declaration strategically positioned in a

resume’, that clearly reveals to prospective employers,
your broad career interest, as well as specific position
interests.
•Your objective statement should mention keywords
related to your background, education, qualifications and
experience.

•Words such a marketing, sales, finance, help cue

recruiters.

•Limiting of choices/options should be observed in an

objective statement.
Describing Your Education
•Still a student or a recent graduate.
•Put your best foot forward, which one is the strongest
qualification – education or work experience.
•Education briefly list the schools, in reverse
chronological order, dates, degrees,
major/specialization should be mentioned.
•Could include C.GPA
•College related activities, scholarships, honors, awards
could be mentioned.
•Club offices.
Explaining Your Work Experience
•Begin with your current or most recent employer.
•Move backward in time, listing the various jobs you
have had.
•If the firms or organizations you worked for are
impressive, use the company name as a heading and
list your job title and a brief summary of achievements
beneath that, otherwise group work experience
together in functional areas.
Including Additional Information

•Most employers think this is a useful block to include on

your resume’,provided you list only information that is
relevant to your ability or potential to perform in the job
you are looking for.

•Include honors, awards, fluency in some other languages,

certification or special skills, elective offices or
appointments.
Listing Your References
•Make a separate sheet of paper with the names,
addresses, and telephone numbers of your references
– three or four people who can attest to your
intellectual abilities, work experience, character and
potential.
•These should be people such as former supervisor or
employer, current or former college professor.
•Contemporary résumé's do not typically include
references.
Selecting a Format That’s Right for You
•Your resume’ must reflect who you are, what are your
strengths, credentials, and qualifications are, and why
are you best suited for that job.

•The Chronological Format

•It is organized with time as the underlying theme.
•While you may lead with your educational background,
you do so in reverse order, starting with your most
recent educational experience and moving backward to
your schooling.
•Any work experience begins with your current or most
recent employer; moving back in time at least 5 years.

Functional Format
•An organizational pattern for résumé's that groups
information according to career patterns, job types, or
related experiences.
•These are particularly useful for people who have changed
careers or are moving from one line of work to another.
•In that way, an employer can easily see how much
experience an applicant has had in each career field and job
category.
Targeted Format
•An organizational pattern that carefully focuses each of the
entry categories on a specific career field or narrowly
defined employment specialty.
•Related aspects of vastly different jobs, can often be drawn
together to give focus to a resume’ when chronological,
topical or other organizational patterns would not do so.

Creative Alternatives
•If your are headed for advertising, or the graphic arts, a
creative alternative may be just the thing to get you notice,
otherwise stick to white paper, black ink.