Résumés
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What is a résumé?
Not just an informative document, but
instead a persuasive summary of your
qualifications
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Before you start: Assess your
strengths
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Technical skills
Communication skills
Interpersonal skills
Team skills
Leadership experience
Computer skills
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Résumés must contain
• Name, address, & phone
• Education
• Experience
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Résumés may contain
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Career objective
Summary of qualifications
Special skills
Honors
Activities
Volunteer activities
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Résumés may contain, continued
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Presentations
Publications
Certifications and licenses
References
Any other category you need
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Guidelines for Résumés
• Fill at least 1 page
– Longer is OK if you have diverse
background or several years experience
– Put most important information on first
page
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Guidelines for Résumés, continued
• Emphasize information that
– Is relevant to the job you want
– Is recent (last three years)
– Shows your superiority to other applicants
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Guidelines for Résumés, continued
• Stress key points by
– Putting them in headings
– Putting them in vertical lists
– Providing details
– Using emphatic order
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Guidelines for Résumés, continued
• Use concise, dynamic language
– Use sentence fragments punctuated like
sentences
– Use “action verbs”
– Use “-ing” verb forms
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Guidelines for Résumés, continued
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Create good visual impact
Condense long sections
Eliminate complete sentences
Consider using lists
Change format to maximize white space
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Guidelines for Résumés, continued
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Emphasize achievements
Quantify whenever possible
Emphasize transferable skills
Make “Career Objective” specific or eliminate
Be consistent in punctuation, abbreviation,
etc.
• Use parallelism in lists and descriptions of job
responsibilities
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