Fine Tuning
Your Resume
and Cover Letter
What is a resume?
An individually designed document
A sales presentation of yourself
Not a place for modesty
A marketing tool for opening the doors of prospective
employers
A screening device for selecting candidates for
interviews
Purpose of a resume
To state the type of employment desired
To present your academic training
To describe your work experience
related and unrelated
To show involvement in activities
campus, civic, volunteer, etc.
To show awards, honors, and/or special recognition /
certifications
Goal of writing a resume
To get an
INTERVIEW!
Common resume problems
Content
Format
Objective statement
Problem
Not having a clear, concise objective
Example
To gain full-time employment with a growing
organization where I can utilize my skills and
educational background.
Appropriate objectives
Solution:
State your current objective.
Why are you writing this resume?
What do you want to do?
To obtain a position in information technology;
special interest in programming and database
development
To obtain an internship utilizing my technical
language skills.
Where do you go to school?
Problem
• Virginia Polytechnical Institute
• Virginia Tech University
• VA Tech
Solution
• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University
• Virginia Tech
QCA / GPA
GPA - to list or not to list?
Career Services recommends that you
DO list your GPA on your resume for
On-Campus Interviewing and for
Career Fairs
List in-major, overall or both
Related courses
Problem
•Listing every class you’ve had in your major
Solution
•Remember that this is optional
•List 4-6 classes that are advanced or show
diversity in your background.
•Make sure they support your objective
Writing style
Problem
• Writing in complete sentences
• Being too formal
Example
I was responsible for the professional enhancement of
new employees.
Solution
Trained five new employees.
Order of resume sections
Problem
Listing items as you think of them
Listing jobs by order of importance to you instead
of reverse chronological order
Solution
Have all sections in order of priority as they
support your objective.
Create additional headings if you need to
highlight items out of chronological order.
Being unique
Problem
Attempting to make your resume stand out from
the rest by using artistic fonts, graphics or a very
unusual format
Solution
Make your resume stand out by the incredible
information you include about your experience
and skills
Templates
Problems
May not provide best set-up
e.g. May find address information at bottom of page
Tend to be date driven
Solution
Create your resume on a blank document
using tables
(See sample in Career Planning Guide)
Relevant information
Problem
No relevant experience?
Solution
Emphasize projects!
Include research projects, design
projects, or other types of work you
have done
List specifics about what you
researched or did during your projects
Stating Accomplishments
How to Write Action-Benefit Statements
An Action-Benefit Statement is a strong and clear description
of an action you took, which resulted in a
Tangible
Measurable
Benefit to your organization
Action-Benefit Statements demonstrate how your abilities
and experience have made a positive impact on a company’s
bottom line.
Action - Benefit
A specific action that you took that enabled
you to achieve a positive result.
when faced with a
Situation
Problem
Opportunity
Job responsibility
Action - Benefit
The positive result or benefit to the
organization, such as
an increase in revenue
a reduction in costs
streamlined processes or systems
Improved morale.
“Analyzed declining sales and developed a
campaign to increase orders by 30% in less than
one month.”
The situation or challenge you faced
• declining sales
The Action you took
• developed a campaign
The Benefit of your actions
• a 30% increase in orders
Always Quantify or Qualify accomplishments and
achievements
Quantify
Consider the impact of your work in measurable
terms and include
the numbers
Percentages
Dollars
Values
other measurements of success that represent your
experience in the best possible light
Example of Quantify Action-Benefit
Good: Supervised a large staff of retail
employees covering multiple territories.
Effectively managed business unit P&L and
consistently grew profits.
Better: Ten years experience managing 15
employees across multiple territories on the
East coast. Effectively managed P&L of $10
million business unit. Consistently generated
30%-35% gross profit.
Qualify
Consider describing the
Process
Depicting the environment
Including the personal characteristics that
a future employer would consider
valuable in that role
Example of Qualify Action-Benefit
Good: Increased sales through cold-calling,
follow-up and account management.
Better: Consistently grew revenue and profits
in a rapidly changing environment through
aggressive cold-calling, persistent follow-up,
and relationship-focused account
management.
Tips
Focus on the benefits of your actions, instead
of the actions themselves.
Save the specific details on how you achieved
your success for the interview.
Add comparative information that puts your
accomplishments into prospective.
• “Increased sales by 50% in market that declined by
10%”
Tips
Describe accomplishments with phrases that begin
with powerful Action Verbs, such as
• Designed
• Negotiated
• Managed
• Implemented
Try rewording tired, boring phrases that describe dull
job duties
“Responsible for …”
“Assisted with …”
“Directed…”
“Coordinated the efforts of…”
Ethics
Be honest
Don’t undersell yourself, but don’t
exaggerate
Graduation date should be the only
“projected” item on your resume
Check and re-check
Read and re-read all of your job search
correspondence to check for errors
Have faculty review technical sections of your
resume or letters
Use Career Services’ walk-in critique service to
have an advisor review your documents
10:00am - 4:00pm M-F
Computer Science 3604 Resume Evaluation Form
______ Format and Organization (75 points)
Résumé:
______/5 Personal information
______/5 Objective(s)
______/5 Education
______/10 Experience, etc.
______/5 Length (one page)
______/5 Easy to glean in 20 seconds (headings, bullets, indents, etc.)
______/5 Other format (margins, centered on page, use of space)
Cover letter:
______/5 Why you are writing - 1st paragraph
______/5 Summary of your skills - 2nd paragraph
______/5 Contact information - 3rd paragraph
______/5 Writer will contact company
______/5 Resume enclosed (2nd or 3rd paragraph)
______/5 Length (one page only)
______/5 Appearance (must "look good", with address, salutation, etc.)
______ Style and Tone (25 points)
______/15 Resume should be crisp. Avoid long paragraphs, wordy descriptions, repetition, undefined acronyms.
______/10 Cover letter should also be crisp, to the point, first paragraph no more than 6 lines, second 10 lines, third 6 lines . Good business writing.
- ______ Mechanics Deductions (20 point possible DEDUCTION)
______/5 Misspelling or typos
______/5 Slang, clichés
______/5 Bad grammar
______/5 Unexplained/inappropriate abbreviations
______/5 proofread by (must be signed by the proofreaders in order to get credit)
______/5 thorough proofreading marks by your proofreaders
- ______ Other Deductions (40 point possible DEDUCTION)
______/5
Missing cover sheet
______/5
Missing proofreaders
______/20
Late penalty per class time
______/10
Missing marked up first draft
______
Other
______ Total Points (100 points)
Proofreaders
Name (signed): _______________________________________________
Relationship:
_________________________________________
Name (signed): _______________________________________________
Relationship:
_________________________________________
Did you have someone proofread this writing and then revise it based on their comments?
_______________________________________________
If so, did your proofreader make substantial revision marks throughout the paper?
_______________________________________________
Or did they just read it over and make some general suggestions?
_______________________________________________
Did you consult with the Career Services, Writing Center, or other service organization on this assignment? ___________
If so, please comment on what happened: