Transcript CREATING AN EFFECTIVE RESUME

CREATING AN
EFFECTIVE
RESUME
How to Write an Effective
Resume Title
 Select a name that is memorable and
professional
 Goal is to get employer to keep reading your
resume
 Include resume objective and your strongest
qualification
 Ex. Years of experience, an industry
credential desired job target or job-related
skill
OVERVIEW OF BASIC
SECTIONS
 THE OBJECTIVE SECTION
 EDUCATION
 EXPERIENCE
 SKILLS
 HONORS AND ACTIVITIES
 CONTACT
*NOT ALL SECTIONS ARE NEEDED
RESUME OBJECTIVE
SECTION
 A short section (1-3 lines), often in form of a
sentence fragment, immediately below
contact information.
 What are you trying to accomplish, your
career objective
 Is this section needed, no, but information
used here could be put somewhere else
Tips for writing objective statement
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Focus on how you would benefit employer
Don’t be vague
Keep it concise and targeted
Emphasize key qualifications, skills and/or
goals
 Makes a good first impression
 Relate company goals to personal goals
A good objective statement answers
questions!
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What position(s) are you applying for?
What are your main qualifications?
What are your career goals?
What is your professional identity?
How can you help the company?
“Instant Objective Statements”
 For practice fill in the parts in brackets
 An opportunity to [professional goal] in a [type of
organization, work place or field]
 [Position title] with emphasis in [areas of expertise]
 To utilize my [qualifications, strengths, or skills] as
a [position title]
 A position as a [position title] for [company name]
allowing me to develop my [qualifications,
strengths, or skills]
CONTACT INFORMATION
 Usually located at top of resume page
 Info for prospective employer to contact you
 Includes
– Name
– Address (city, state, zip)
– Phone (home and/or cell)
– Email
– Web address
– Any other means of contact
WRITING A WINNING
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
 TIPS:
 Ditch the Job Description (its boring)
 Prove Your Value
– Emphasize your accomplishments
– Provide proof of your potential value
 Quantify Results
– Include measurable results of your work
 Use numbers and percents
Employment History cont.
.
A.Which statement had more impact?
B.Significantly increased revenues and grew
client base between 2005 and 2008.
C.Increased revenues from $250,000 in 2005
to $1.5 million in 2008 and tripled client base
from 2,500 to 7,000.
ARE YOU UP TO PAR?
 Stands for-PROBLEM, ACTION, RESULTS
 Think about your accomplishments
– What type of challenges did you face?
– What actions did you take to overcome it?
– What were the results of your efforts? Did your
accomplishments benefit the company?
 Write down a list of your PAR outcomes
– Incorporate the most impressive ones into your
resume
LEAD WITH YOUR WORK’S
OUTCOMES
 Write the results of your work before listing
the problems and action. This allows you to
lead with the most compelling aspect of your
accomplishment.
For example: Reversed an annual $2 million
decline in market share by streamlining the
benchmark process and building a top-flight
sales team.
MAKE IT READABLE
 Use a combination of paragraphs and
bullets
 Provide brief paragraph that details your
responsibilities
– Then create a bulleted list of your top
contributions
 Use heading like: KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS OR
SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS
TARGET YOUR EXPERIENCE TO
YOUR GOAL
 RESUMES ARE MARKETING TOOLS
 Employment history should market you for
current job objective
– Use accomplishments that relate to your goal
– Remove job duties and etc that do not support
your objective
USE POWER WORDS
 Select your words carefully
 Avoid dull or stale phrases like:
– Responsible for
– Duties included
BE HONEST
•ALWAYS BE TRUTHFUL ABOUT YOUR
BACKROUND!
EDUCATION SECTION
 Use your education section to outshine your
competition
 Where to place education?
– Place experience before education if 5 or more years
related to your goal
– Place education before experience if recent graduate or
with less than 5 years work experience
– Which is stronger? Education or experience??
 Place strongest closest to top of the page
THE GPA
 STUDENT OR RECENT GRADUATE
– List GPA if 3.0 or higher
– Lower GPA if very challenging program
– Add your Major GPA if higher than overall GPA
– If scale is not standard 4.0, list the scale
 e.g. GPA: 4.1/4.5
HONORS
 Include academic honors to show you
excelled
NEW GRADS
• Students and new grads with little relate job experience
make education the center piece of your resume
• Showcase academic achievements
• Extracurricular activities
• Special projects and related courses (to job objective)
• College Name– Payson, AZ
• BA in Communications, concentration in
advertising, anticipated graduation 2013
• Senior Project – Mock Advertising
Campaign for Coca-Cola
• Billboard/print/TV/radio ads, direct mail
campaign and press releases
• Related course work: Advertising, Ad
writing, Direct mail, Media Plans in
Advertising and Marketing, Public Relations
EXPERIENCED JOB SEEKERS
 List basic facts regarding your degree:
– Institution name
– Location
– Degree
– Major and date
 Ex. The College of New Jersey-Trenton, NJ
– MA in Education May 1986
HIGH SCHOOL INFORMATION
 Include all relevant HS information just like
college info was entered
– List related courses
– Conferences or training
– Professional development
 If you have college credits, remove
references to high school
“BARE BONES” EDUCATION
SECTION
 Schools you have attended, including
universities, community colleges, technical
schools, etc.
 Location of schools
 Date of graduation (actual or anticipated)
 Degree(s) earned or pursued
 GPA
 Courses taken outside of typical major
classes that may add to qualifications of job.
 Example:
M.A. in Education
The College of New Jersey
Trenton, New Jersey
Graduation: 1986
GPA: 3.96 / 4.0
WHAT ELSE MAY BE
INCLUDED?
 EXTRA INFO ABOUT YOUR DEGREE
– Major, minor, or selected GPAs, funding
sources, honors,etc.) usually listed or included
in ( )
 SPECIALIZATIONS AND SPECIAL
PROJECTS – list or describe briefly
 OTHER RELEVANT SKILLS AND
TRAINING (relevant course work, computer
skills, language proficiency, certificates etc.
QUESTIONS TO ANSWER
 Major or minor GPAs
 Any honors related to
degree
 What are my areas of
specialization,
emphasis,or
concentration
 What special course or
degree-related projects
may be relevant
 What courses have I
taken that are related
to my career goals?
 With what computer
programs am I most
familiar?
 What languages am I
good in?
 Any certifications or
licenses?
 Any on-job-training?
SHOWCASE MARKETABLE
SKILLS IN YOUR RESUME SKILLS
SECTION
 Great opportunity to show employer you’ve got
the right skills for the job.
 Consider skills important for the job
 Search job postings in newspaper or on-line
employment sites
– Find ideal requirements in the ads and list frequently
repeated skills
– Create list of your matching skills, put in your resume.
Your skills can come from your work experience,
education, hobbies, extracurricular activities, volunteer
work and even self study.
3 TYPES OF SKILLS
 JOB RELATED SKILLS
– Relevant to a specific job
 TRANSFERABLE
– Skills learned in one field that can be used in
another, data( research, synthesize information)
and people (instruct, manage, lead, negotiate)
 ADAPTIVE
– Adaptive skills include reliability, ability to get
along with colleagues, honesty & productivity
ADDING YOUR SKILLS TO YOUR
RESUME
 Job relate and transferable are most desirable on
your resume
 Indicate your skill level and years of experience for
each skill
– Be honest
 Guideline for skill level
– Beginner- you have exposure but lack experience
– Intermediate – between beginner and expert
– Expert – Highly developed skill level. Solid experience
and understand advanced concepts. You demonstrate
proficiency and superior skill level
HOW MANY SKILLS DO I LIST?
 Employers quickly scan resumes, so long
lists are not likely to be read
– Select 10 to 15 of strongest, most desirable
– Short bulleted list more effective
ADDING ADDITIONAL
INFORMATION
 Ad information that supports and reinforces your
qualifications
 Honors and Awards
– List or awards – add to Honors and Awards section
– One or Two – list under corresponding job
– Academic honors – Education section
 Testimonials
– Adds credibility and validate accomplishments and
personal traits and area of expertise mentioned in resume
 Publications
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Career related articles, books, blogs
Shows you are an expert in your field
Demonstrates good written communication skill
Add to Career Highlights section
 Speaking Engagements
– Employers value good verbal communicators
– Include: topic, where and when done
– Add to Career Highlights section
 Volunteerism
– Demonstrates dedication community and reflects
positively on your character
– Include in Career Highlights section
 Affiliations
– Professional memberships – especially in career field
– Make sure it is an active membership
 Hobbies
– Ask yourself if your hobby will help employers see you
in a better light, if so include
– Include in Interests and Hobbies section
 All of these go into the last section of your resume
 Can be omitted if there is a lack of space or relevant
information
WHAT GOES INTO IT?
 Draw three columns, one for each of the following
– Titles or positions
– Sponsors or affiliated organizations
– Dates of involvement (M/Y _ M/Y or Y – Y)
VISUAL DESIGN
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Simple list,
Columns
List with bulleted descriptions
Coordinate with other sections
EXTRACURRICULAR
ACTIVITIES
 Can be used to show commitment
 As important a component of your overall
experience as any part-time job or internship
 Look for skills developed in these activities
that can relate to the job you want.
 Look for leadership opportunities, employers
love leadership experience
DESIGNING YOUR RESUME
 USE DESIGN STRATEGIES
 Picking fonts
– Serif
– Sans serif
 Using layout
– Alignment
– Columns
 Coordinate with the rest of the resume!!!
COORDINATE DESIGN
STRATEGIES
 Match design with rest of resume
– Use same font types
– Use consistent layout
 AIM FOR A PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE
PROOFREAD WITH A
MAGNIFIYING GLASS
 TRIPLE-CHECK FOR ACCURACY
 SPELL CHECK
 ONE TYPO COULD COST YOU AN
INTEVIEW!