Transcript WELCOME TO THE SWMSC (South West Multi Service Center)

Résumé Writing
for beginners
Résumé: Writing and Preparation
 A résumé is a document containing a
summary or listing of relevant job
experience and education, usually for the
purpose of securing a new job.
 An informational advertisement highlighting
pertinent, interesting, and factual
information to potential employers.
Résumé: Purpose
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To obtain an interview
To obtain employer interest
To advertise, persuade, and demonstrate
key abilities, skills, assets and experiences
relative to your chosen career.
Résumé : Overview
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Summary of your experiences and skills relevant to the
field of work you are entering.

Highlight your accomplishments to show a potential
employer that you are qualified for the work you want. It
is NOT a biography of everything you have done.

You should include extracurricular, volunteer and
leadership experiences.

Create separate resumes to fit each career field in which
you are job searching. Some people create slightly
different resumes tailored to each job opening.
STEP 1 - Make a list of your various
activities over the years
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You should list paid work, volunteer positions,
extracurricular activities (especially those in
which you had a leadership role) and internships.
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You should go as far back as four or five years.
Even graduating seniors will often have one or,
occasionally, two items from high school on their
résumé.
STEP 2 - Write a paragraph about each
important item in your list.
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"Important items" would include most paid work,
internships, extended volunteer activities, and
activities in which you had a leadership role.
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Don't worry about the wording of your
paragraphs at this point - for now, they don't
need to fit the standard "resume language."
STEP 3 - Pick the items that you will
highlight or emphasize on your résumé
1.
What are your greatest strengths and how can you demonstrate
those strengths through your experience.
2.
What are the requirements and needs of this particular industry,
this particular employer and this particular job?
3.
Your task, then, would be to demonstrate those qualities
through the activities described on your résumé.
NOTE: You may want to create somewhat different résumés for
different jobs.
STEP 4 - Creating the sections of
your résumé
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Name and Address
Objective/ Keywords/ Summary
Education
Experience
Activities/ Volunteer work/ Interest
Skills
References
Name and Address

Put your name in at least 14-point (font
size). Recruiters often must look through
stacks of résumés in search of a particular
one. Make it easy for them to see your
name.

Include your e-mail address.
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Avoid unnecessary personal information
such as marital status and date of birth.
Objective/ Keywords/ Summary

Focus on what you have to offer rather than
on what the job can offer you. This may sound
backwards, but employers are not so much
interested in what you hope to get out of a job
with them, so much as they want to know
whether you fit their needs.
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Example: OBJECTIVE: ”Editorial assistant
position in the publishing industry, utilizing my
academic background in literature and my three
years of experience writing for campus and local
newspapers. "
Education

This section always goes first on your résumé, as
long as you are in school.
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If you have graduated from college, your
education section goes first on your résumé from
one to three years after you graduate, depending
on such factors as to whether your education was
relevant to your career field and how impressive
your work experience has been in the intervening
years.
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If you have over five years of experience in
your profession, education should be last on your
résumé.
Experience

Don't feel that you must limit this section to paid
work experiences, especially if you are still in college
or a recent graduate. Employers understand that the
most valuable or most challenging experiences often
occur in internships, volunteer work or other
extracurricular activities.
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Nursing Clinical Experience - List placements in
reverse chronological order, including dates. Describe
type of setting, responsibilities, and knowledge gained.

Student Teaching Experience - Include name and
location of placements, dates involved, and grade level
of assignment. Major responsibilities in teaching area
should be emphasized.
Activities/ Volunteer work/ Interests
 If you choose to separate your work experience
from your extracurricular activities or volunteer
work, they can go in a separate section. BUT
they don't have to go in a separate section.
REMEMBER, some of these activities may
demonstrate your skills just as well or even
better than your paid work experience.
 You do not need to demote these activities to the
bottom of your resume. Employers spend an
average of 15 -30 seconds looking at each
resume. What's left at the bottom of your resume
may not get any attention.
Skills
Computer skills:
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You may wish to list the operating systems
(Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, etc.) and
applications (Microsoft Word, Excel,
PowerPoint, FileMaker Pro, etc.) with
which you are capable.
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If you know programming languages, list
those as well.
References
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Don't write "References Available On
Request" on your résumé. This went out of
style over a decade ago.
Do create a reference list and have it
available, in case an employer asks for
references.
NOTE: You should be prepared at your interview to
provide the names, addresses, and telephone
numbers of at least three good references.
STEP 5 - Format your résumé
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Leave plenty of white space on your résumé - don't make
your résumé look crowded.
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Emphasize job titles by boldfacing them (except where the
name of a prestigious organization you have worked for will
grab their attention first).
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Place the most important information closer to the top of
your résumé. (For example, if you are a student and your
paid work has been day-to-day, but you have great
computer skills or excellent extracurricular leadership
experience, then put the skills or the extracurricular near
the top of your résumé.)
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Leave blank space between the separate sections and items
on your résumé.
STEP 5 - Format your resume (cont.)
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Condense to one page.
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Center and balance your resume on the page, leaving
approximately 1 inch margins.
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Design your resume for easy skimming: emphasize by
boldfacing, capitalizing and italicizing.
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Use 8 1/2" x 11" white, off-white or very light-gray
bond paper. Do not use colored paper.
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Proofread carefully and review your final draft.
Public Training Classes
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Free demonstrations are given at Central
Library and select branches!
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Pick up the Houston Public Library’s
Calendar of Events.
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For more information Call (832) 393-1313,
or visit http://www.houstonlibrary.org