More on Resumes (General)

Your resume may be reviewed by people who know absolutely nothing about you. Your resume creates an instant impression of you.

Employers often review resumes and cover letters in less than four minutes.

They have to determine - based solely on what they see in your resume - whether it makes business sense to interview you.

Create a list of your skills, abilities, strengths, accomplishments, work history, campus activities, and involvement with student and community organizations.
Select items from your list which relate closely to the job you seek and write your resume so an employer can clearly see what you offer in terms of your skills.

Most new college graduates use a one-page resume format to outline their background in reverse chronological order, emphasizing skills demonstrated through their education and experience. Experienced candidates may use one of two pages and focus more on their experience than academic background.

The objective tells the employer what you want to do, either by stating a job title or the type of job you currently seek.

Education: List the school name, city, state, your degree, major, concentration, and graduation date by month and year. List your most recent college education first.

Experience: List career-related jobs on resume (full time, part time). You may include experience unrelated to your career area, if the job description focus is on transferable skills such as: communication, problem solving, project management, customer service, teamwork, and leadership skills. It is not necessary to list every job. Descriptions for relevant experiences should be longer than those not directly related to the work being sought. Highlight skills and accomplishments.

Identify accomplishments and successes from past experiences, and the skills used in each situation. Emphasize role, focus on skills used, and describe benefit to organization and results of work. Highlight achievements and difference made. List of accomplishments could include situations where a project was initiated, a goal set, time and/or money saved, leadership demonstrated, problem solved, or solution created.

Use KEYWORD nouns to indicate skills and experience (research, customer service, quality assurance, reconciliation, general ledger, spread sheets, diversity training, CPA, BA, MBA, IRS, taxation, statistical analysis, asset valuation, promotions, sales representative, strategic planning, project management . . . .

Use ACTION WORDS, like: analyze, appraise, audited, budget, consolidate, coordinate, decrease, develop, directed, evaluate, facilitate, financed, forecast, implement, initiated, manage, negotiate, persuade, programmed, reconcile, research.

List employer's name, position, city, state, and dates of employment. Avoid writing in full sentences and leave out pronouns (I, me; my). Write job descriptions in short, concise phrases in a paragraph format or bulleted list:

Employers want to know that you are interested in what you can do for them-not just what your own interests are. (Don't express love for the firm's products or service instead of an interest in contributing to the firm's success.)

If your college major does not match your job choice, you need to explain why you are a serious candidate despite your choice of major.

Don't fail to explain a potentially important fact in your resume, such as why you need six years to graduate or have a gap in dates of employment.

Don't state skills on your resume without showing how they were attained.

The best your experience section can say about you is that you've held a position similar to the one you're seeking.

When describing your experience on a resume, don't forget to include activities you did for free.

Start each sentence of the resume with a verb that conveys the skill you want to present.

Organize experience section so that strongest experience comes first, even if it isn't the most recent.

Be explicit: If you want to show that you're a hard worker and mature, create a statement that delivers that message.

Soft skills, such as team building, oral and written communications and tact, are as important to many recruiters as technical skills. Show where you have demonstrated, achieved, or learned those abilities to earn a second look.