Resume Writing

Introduction
A resume is a brief summary of your abilities, education, experience, and skills. Its main task is to convince prospective employers to contact you. A resume has one purpose: to get you a job interview. Resumes must do their work quickly. Employers or personnel officers may look through hundreds of applications and may spend only a few seconds reviewing your resume. To get someone to look at it longer, your resume must quickly convey that you are capable and competent enough to be worth interviewing. The more thoroughly you prepare your resume now, the more likely someone is to read it later. This guide, "Preparing a Resume," will be useful if you're writing your first resume or want to analyze the effectiveness of your current one.

Gather and Check All Necessary Information

Write down headings such as EDUCATION, EXPERIENCE, HONORS, SKILLS, ACTIVITIES.

EDUCATION usually means post-secondary and can include special seminars, summer school, or night school as well as college and university. If you are just starting college, you can include high school as well. List degrees and month/year obtained or expected; names and locations of schools; major and minor, if any; grade point average. A brief summary of important courses you've taken might also be helpful.

EXPERIENCE includes full-time paid jobs, academic research projects, internships or co-op positions, part-time jobs, or volunteer work. List the month/years you worked, position, name and location of employer or place, and responsibilities you had. As you describe your experiences, ask yourself questions like these:

• Have I invented, discovered, coordinated, organized, or directed anything professionally or for my community? 
• Do I meet deadlines consistently? 
• Am I a good communicator? 
• Do I enjoy teamwork?

Even if you're new to a field, you aren't necessarily starting from scratch. HONORS List any academic awards (scholarships, fellowships, honors list), professional awards or recognition, or community awards (i.e. for athletic skills).

SKILLS List computer languages and software, research, laboratory, teaching or tutoring, communication, leadership, or athletic, among others.

ACTIVITIES List academic, professional, or community organizations in which you hold office or are currently a member; list professional and community activities, including volunteer work. Listing extra-curricular activities or hobbies is optional.

After you have all this information down, check it for accuracy. You'll need full names, in some cases full addresses, correct and consistent dates, and correct spellings.

Match Your Skills and Experience with an Employer's Needs

POSITION: What kind of position do you want for this job-search? Make notes. Now match your wishes up with positions that are actually available. You can get this information through postings, ads, personal contacts, or your own research.

EMPLOYER: For a certain position, what aspects of your education, experience, or skills will be most attractive to that employer? List SPECIFIC coursework, areas of specialty, specific skills, or knowledge that you think would interest the employer.

Highlight Details That Demonstrate Your Capabilities Look over what you've written and try to select details of your education, experience, honors, skills, and activities that match an employer's needs in a few important areas.

Organize the Resume Effectively PERSONAL INFORMATION: Top center of first page. Name (no title); addresses; phone numbers; e-mail and/or fax addresses (optional); citizenship if applicable.

EDUCATION: Often comes first in student resumes, especially if it is a strong asset.

EXPERIENCE: Here, you can use one of two formats:;

Functional:To emphasize skills and talents, cluster your experience under headings that highlight these skills: for ex.: leadership, research, computers, etc. This format can be helpful if you have little relevant job experience.

Chronological: To emphasize work experience, list jobs beginning with the most recent. Some hints:

CREATING YOUR DRAFT: 

• Look at other resumes written for positions within your field. 
• TYPE each entry in a format close to the one you want to use for your resume. 

LENGTH: for many resumes, two pages is the maximum length (NOTE: an academic resume or "curriculum vita" is often at least five pages long).