Another Look At Your Resume

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Another Look At Your Resume

• Prepared by Ralph Bell

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Resume Building
The Resume is not your biography. It is a
prospectus for the future! The Resume has one
purposeto get you a job interview.

• Your resume should
• Be eye-appealing
• Highlight strengths and minimize weaknesses
• Be logically displayed for a brief 30-second
  review

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Step 1 PREPARING A RESUME

• Analyze yourself and your background
• Identify those to whom you will submit your
  resume ( your readers)
• Organize and prepare the resume

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Preparing a Resume Analyze your Background

• Experience
• Education Training
• Profession Personal Skills
• Personal Traits

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Preparing a ResumeExperience Comes in Many
Forms

• Paid jobs
• Part-time and seasonal work
• Volunteer activities
• Research
• Applied
• Unique offices held
• Community project

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Preparing a ResumeAsk Yourself

• What did I do on that particular job?
• What experience did I gain?
• Why was I hired for the job?
• What special skill did I learn on that job?
• Was I promoted or given more responsibility?
• What special traits were required? (initiative,
  leadership, ability to work with details, ability
  to work with people)

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Preparing a ResumeAnalyzing Educational
Background

• Colleges and dates attended
• Degree and dates awarded
• Major and minor subjects
• Courses taken or skills pertinent to the job you
  are applying for
• Internships, work-study programs, co-op
• Extracurricular activities
• Scholarships/Awards
• Special training courses

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Step2 ORGANIZING THE RESUMEBegin Your Resume
with

• Formal Name Centered or at the far left margin,
  in Capital letters or bold type
• Address campus and permanent
• Telephone number campus and permanent
• Email Address

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Organizing the ResumeObjective

• Objective - concise statement of the work you
  want to do ( This section in not necessary if you
  include a cover letter)
• Example
• Obtain a summer internship in the engineering
  technology field to utilize my technical
  management and organizational skills.

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Organizing the ResumeWhere To Go After
Objective?

• Choice one Education
• This is done if you have little or no
  relevant work experience
• Choice two Work Experience
• If you have relevant work experience, you
  should chose to lead with this

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Organizing the ResumeEducation Section

• Name of school, city, state, degree,
  major/concentration, date of graduation, GPA (if
  above 3.0 on a 4.0 scale)
• Relevant Courses
• Example Thermodynamics, Statistics, Physics,
  AutoCAD, Process Planning, Technical Writing
• Honors Award
• Example Deans list 19xx-20xx, Scholarship
  Awards, etc.

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Organizing the ResumeWork Experience

• List full-time, part-time, Co-Op, Internships,
  Volunteer Jobs, Summer, etc.
• Include
• - company name,
• -city, state,
• -job title,
• - beginning/ending dates of employment,
• - responsibilities/ accomplishment

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Organizing the ResumeCommunity Campus
Activities

• Prove to the employer that you can play hard as
  well as work hard!
• Examples
• Special Olympics Youth Basketball Coach
• 1996 to present- Northwest Special Recreation
  Association
• Participate in Softball Basketball leagues

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Organizing the ResumeSpecial Skills Reference

• Special Skills what separate you from the pack?
  
• Foreign language skills, computer skills etc.
• References Available Upon Request? ?
• Leave it off. Takes up precious room where you
  can sell yourself. We all know you have
  references who will put in a good word.

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Step 3. Resume Writing Checklist

• Do
• Prepare and edit resume on a computer-
• Be concise, keep it to one page (with few
  exceptions)
• Write with your audience in mind
• Be positive, emphasize strengths
• Be creative but keep it professional
• Spell out everything, omit abbreviations
• Relate information to career objective. Does your
  resume have a definite focus?

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Resume Writing Checklist(Contd)

• Do
• Use active language
• Is your resume easy to read?
• EDIT and PROOFREAD. Check for misspellings, verb
  tense, punctuation and grammar
• Did you give it to someone else to critique and
  proofread? Be open-minded about constructive
  criticism
• Use an attractive layout. Make sure it is
  visually appealing and has adequate white space
• Be consistent with spacing patterns,
  capitalization, punctuation, order of information
  presented and format of highlighting
• Use laser or jet printer on quality paper

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Resume Writing Checklist(Contd)

• Dont
• Dont use the pronoun I.
• Dont include age or date of birth, height,
  weight, marital status, race religion, or
  political affiliations.
• Dont explain why you left your jobs.
• Dont include salary information unless
  specifically requested.
• Dont include references on the resume itself. If
  submitting, provide on separate paper with
  persons name, title, employer, address, phone
  number, and e-mail address

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Putting IT All Together! ?

• To See Sample Resumes
• Click here