Basic Features of Résumés
Mary McCall :: WAC for ANSC 481 :: Fall 2015
Adapted from Emily Legg’s and the Purdue OWL’s PowerPoints on
Resumes and the Purdue OWL resources on Résumés and Vitas
The Rhetoric of the Résumé


Short informative document that lists credentials
Education, work experience, job objective,
technical skills, etc.

Size/length?

Job versus internship versus grad school app

While you want your résumé to generally meet the
conventional requirements for the résumé, you
want to make sure that your resume is distinctive.
Important Takeaways

You should always tailor your résumé as closely as
you can to the position you’re applying to


Thus, having multiple versions of your résumé is often a
good strategy
Your résumé should reflect relevant professional
experience you have, but you should also think
about communicating transferable skills through
previous positions that may not seem directly
applicable

Your cover letter can serve as a way of making these
connections more apparent to a recruiter
Sections
Contact Information
Include:
Name
Permanent and/or campus addresses
Permanent and/or campus phone
numbers
Email address
Objective Statements
 Two different approaches to objective
statements
 Brief and to the point
 Detailed description of desired position and
qualifications
 You must decide which approach is best
First Approach: Brief
To obtain a summer internship in
sales/marketing at Owens Corning
A full-time position as a system analyst
A summer internship as a project engineer
Second Approach: Descriptive
A summer internship in a sales/marketing position
at Owens Corning where I can employ my team
building skills and versatility to create new ideas
A full-time position as a systems analyst which will
allow me to use my programming, technical writing,
and supervisory skills to lead a group of dynamic
employees
A summer internship as a project engineer with a
construction company that will utilize my experience
in field engineering, cost controlling, and estimating
Education
Beginning with the highest level of
educational achievement, include:
University attended
Major/Minors
GPA (if 3.0 or above)
Date of program completion
information
Work Experience
Include positions you have held which are
related, in some way, to the job you are
seeking
 Can be both paid and volunteer positions
Be creative with this section of your résumé
by describing and emphasizing your
experiences in the most relevant way
possible.
Action Verb List (Power Verbs)
Handout
 List of Action Verbs
Action phrases will help you avoid being too
brief and from understating your
qualifications.
Example:
 Before: Planned activities
 After: Planned arts and crafts activities for preschool
aged children
Parallelism with Action Verbs
 All of your verbs should be parallel (have the same tense and
plurality)
 Generally, use present tense for present jobs, past tense for past
jobs
 Tip: Place an invisible “I” before the bullet point to see if a)
there is a verb and b) if the verb tense is consistent
Example 1: Library Information Assistant
• Develop and organize individual projects for library patrons
• Make decisions regarding addition of and removing library
materials
• FileMaker Pro used extensively to track circulation
• Responsible for cataloging and processing books, videos,
and CDs
Activities, Honors, Volunteer
Experience
Purdue Equestrian Team
Beta Gamma Sigma Honor Society
Boiler Gold Rush Team Leader
•
Women in Business
Alpha Lambda Delta Phi Eta Sigma
School of Management Peer Mentor
Include relevant activities, honors, and
volunteer experiences
Résumé Design

Scanability/readability first

Uniqueness second (but it helps)

Often you will want numerous versions


For different jobs (or types of applications)
For different situations (more unique for a job fair or F2F
meeting, standard for email submission, no frills for a
text entry website submission, etc.)
The Quadrant Test
 Divide your résumé into four
quadrants. Each one of
your quadrants should have
an equal amount of text
and white space.
 When your page is
balanced, the reader will
typically read anything in
quadrant 1 first. So, you
should put your most
important information—
anything you want the
employer to see first—in this
quadrant.
Serif and Sans-Serif Fonts
 By manipulating the fonts used in
your résumé, you can easily create
a hierarchy of information.
 American audiences are used to
reading serif fonts, so these fonts
tend to keep the eye reading
along the text. Sans-serif fonts, on
the other hand, make the eye
stop.
 Therefore, sans-serif fonts are
typically used for headings and
titles, allowing the reader to quickly
locate information, while serif fonts
are used for descriptions.
Serifs
San-Serifs
20 Second Test
How do you know when you have successfully created an
easily read résumé that allows employers to process
information quickly?
 Try having someone read your résumé for 20 seconds.
What all did he or she learn about you?
 If your reader noticed within twenty seconds what you want
employers to learn about you, then most likely you have
created an effective résumé.
 If not, try moving important information to the first quadrant,
checking that you have used sans serif and serif fonts
consistently, and limiting the tools for emphasis you use in
your document.
Résumés and CVs
 A résumé is a 1 page document that highlights the
necessary skills and experience you have for a
particular job/internship to get you an interview
 Usually for non-academic jobs in fields like marketing,
accounting, communications, engineering, etc.
 A CV is a longer document that reflects your research
and academic work (e.g. work you presented at
conferences and/or published, classes you taught, etc.)
 Usually for faculty positions and/or grants, fellowships, and
research positions in industry, academia, and the government
Résumés and CVs (cont.)
 Examples of résumé design:
 Organization: Headline, Objective (if applicable), Education,
Experience, Awards, and Skills
 https://www.cco.purdue.edu/students/resumecv.aspx#resume-rotation
 Examples of CV design:
 Organization: Headline, Objective (if applicable), Education,
Teaching Experience, Research Experience, Postdoctoral
Work, Internships, Publications, Presentations, Skills, Awards
 https://www.cco.purdue.edu/students/resume-cv.aspx#cvsection
Resources
 Purdue OWL resources on resumes:
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/719/01/