What Information Belongs in a Resume? | Putting Information into Resume Format | Quick Tips for Great Resumes | Electronic Resumes (for Email & Web) | Scannable Resumes

What Information Belongs in a Resume?

The first task in writing a resume is to assemble all the information, which you can then reorganize and restate to build a strong resume. Take time to think about each of the following categories and jot down any ideas that come to mind. If you can't think of something for an item, move on to the next category and come back to it.

Education & Training: List all academic degrees with their dates and the names and locations (city, state) of the schools. If you have not yet received your degree, state "Degree Expected month/year". Also list certifications (examples: CPR certification, teaching certification). List your GPA (both Overall GPA, and GPA in your major if it is above a 3.0.) Your Overall GPA is listed on your Advising Transcript. You will need to compute your major GPA.

Academic Courses: List courses that are relevant to the type of work you desire – usually courses in your major, although there may also be other courses.

Skills: List computer skills (software applications you can use, languages, & operating systems), foreign languages in which you are proficient, and any other special skills - especially skills you have related to the job you want (example: for an aspiring photographer - developing your own black and white photographs).

Extracurricular Activities & Professional Organizations: List sports, music groups, clubs & campus organizations (including offices held in them), and memberships (including student memberships) in professional organizations related to the type of work you desire.

Paid Employment and Volunteer Work: For paid employment, list the employer, job title, beginning and ending date of employment (month and year is sufficient). For volunteer work, list the organization for which you volunteered, a descriptive title for your responsibilities, and the beginning and ending date of your volunteer work there.

Honors & Achievements: List honors, awards, scholarships, and unusual problems or challenges you faced and what you did to overcome them. If you paid for over half your college education through work and scholarships state that fact – it shows time management skills.

Hobbies & Community Activities: List hobbies in which you are proficient, travel (if extensive), and community activities in which you have participated.

People who can be references: List at least three job supervisors, professors, or others who are familiar with your work. Be sure to contact them to ask them if they will serve as references, and it is a good idea to give them a copy of your resume when it is completed.

Putting Information into Resume Format

Take the information you have jotted down in those categories listed in What Information Belongs in my Resume, and put it into this format. There are other formats that can also be used. Whatever format you use, it should be the one that shows off your skills to the best advantage.

YOUR NAME (UPPERCASE)
Street Address
City, State Zip CodeDaytime Area code-Phone number (or number where you have a working answering machine)
Email address that you check regularly

OBJECTIVE Specify entry-level position or field desired.

EDUCATION Degree (BA, etc.), list Institution, City, ST, month and year of completion.
Major: G.P.A.____ in major, ____ Overall GPA (if over 3.0)
List courses related to job objective if there is room.
Do not list high school unless you are applying for a high school teaching or administrative position.

EXPERIENCE List most recent job first and other jobs going back in time (reverse chronological order). Keep the format the same for each experience and include job title, company, city, state, dates, and duties. You should also include volunteer experience that is related to the job objective (simply indicate that the position was 'volunteer'. Use computer bold and underline commands to highlight key words unless your resume must be scannable.

You should list transferable skills acquired with each job except those skills listed below in the separate SKILLS category.

Dates are best kept in the same place for each entry; i.e., at end, at right, or at left. Year and/or Month/Year is specific enough. What you can do for the employer is more important than the exact date you worked or volunteered.

If no experience is related to your objective, indicate other things you are proud of that required dedication, perseverance, energy, tenacity, drive, interpersonal relations, communication skills, and other qualities.

SKILLS Specify professional skills you have, such as computer software familiarity - especially software related to the position you are seeking, certifications (CPR, teaching certification, etc.)

ACTIVITIES List your activities & honors. Include offices, events you planned or assisted, etc. Can list in HONORS two columns. College graduates list high school activities only when they have a direct relationship to the job objective.

INTERESTS (Optional) Identify those personal interests, hobbies, qualities that will have a positive impact on the potential employer.

(On a Separate Page with your Name on it)
REFERENCES Use only references that know your work - not personal friends, family, or clergy, unless you worked for them. Work supervisors and faculty are good references. References should be listed on a separate page with your name at the top in case the page becomes separated from the main page of your resume. List the reference’s name, title, company, current work address, & current daytime phone number. Following the reference's name, in parentheses, state how the reference has come to know you and your work (ex. "Current supervisor," "Supervisor at 'No Frills Supermarket,' "Major advisor" etc.)

Bring your resume draft into Career Services and we will help you strengthen it.

Quick Tips for Great Resumes

The one who gets the jobs is not always the one who can do the job best, but the one who knows best how to get the job.

• Each detail of this process should have your meticulous attention since people are often screened OUT on the basis of a poor letter and resume.
• Employers skim resumes in less than 30 seconds; they don’t read them. So, think of your resume more as a piece of advertising than as a comprehensive data sheet. Use margins, lists, and good spacing, which make it easily skimmed. Use underlining, capitals, indenting, and bold type to highlight important information (unless you are preparing a resume to be scanned or copied into an email message. See other information about that in The Scannable Resume.
• Don’t use a lot of dates or numbers that make it hard to skim. Place dates at the END of the description of experience or in the left margin.
• Use action verbs, like “Developed, Supervised, Managed, Instructed, Counseled, Maintained, Initiated, Increased, Created, Negotiated,” etc. Try not to use the same word twice – use a synonym.
• Emphasize skills, especially those that transfer from one situation to another. The fact that you coordinated a project for a student organization is evidence that you could coordinate other things as well.
• Be positive; stress your strengths. Leave out negative or neutral words. Don’t mention any lack of experience of weaknesses.
• A resume should be ONE page in length for most people just beginning their professional careers. Exceptions are teachers and social workers. However long your resume is, it should be packed with information, rather than fluff.
• Expound on your relevant experiences; condense jobs and other experiences that are not directly related. This means that you SLANT your resume to the type of job you are seeking. If you are applying for different types of jobs, you will need more than one resume. Example: If you are applying for a Child Care Counselor job, devote more space to your experience with children and youth and highlight the transferable skills from your experience as a camp counselor, etc. But if you’re applying for a job as a Manager Trainee, emphasize your organizational and supervisory abilities.
• Carefully consider your professional objective or job objective. It helps the employer make sure that they consider your resume for the right position, so it is a good idea to indicate what kind of work you are seeking (examples: "the field of public relations," "accounting," "a position as a social worker," etc. ALWAYS state your objective in terms of what YOU can do for the EMPLOYER, never what the employer can provide for you.
• Proofread carefully. Have at least two others proofread also. Poor spelling and grammar can eliminate you immediately. Experiment with type styles and use of simple line or shading graphics. Print your resume on the best printer available; a laser printer is recommended. We have a laser printer in Career Services for your use. Use a good quality paper (white, cream,light beige, light gray) which will copy well.
• Expect a phone call if they are interested. Most employers call to make an appointment for you to come to an interview. Having a working answering machine insures you get the message. If an employer can't reach you, they will have to interview the next person on their list instead of you. Employers no longer call job applicants to let them know they have received their resumes, so it's a good idea to call the employer about a week after you think they have received your resume to show your interest and offer to answer any questions they may have, and to find out when they plan to begin interviewing for the position.

Bring your resume into Career Services for feedback and improvement.

Electronic Resumes for Email and Website Submissions

When you email your resume to an employer or submit your resume to an employer’s website, it will need to be read by a variety of software. During this process the formatting of your resume and cover letter may be completely changed. This may result in an unreadable document unless you convert your resume and cover letter into text files. Here are some simple instructions for converting these documents into text files:

• Open your document.
• Save it as “Resume text file” or some other name which will differentiate it from your regular resume or cover letter.
• Remove all bolding, all italics, all underlining, all ruled lines, all shading.
• Use 11-14 point size type – a standard typefaces (Arial, Courier, Times Roman, Univers)
• Remove all bullets. You may substitute *, ~, or – for bullets. A general rule of thumb is that you cannot use any character unless it can be accessed directly from the regular computer keyboard without any commands.
• Remove all tabs, both indents at the beginning of the line and tabs within the line – all text should begin at the left margin.
• You don’t need to worry about keeping an email resume to one page – when you remove the formatting, it will probably become longer than one page.
• Save the document again, this time as a Text File – in Files of Type at the bottom of the dialogue box, click on “Text File (*.txt)”. It may give you a message that some of the formatting may be lost in your document. Say “OK.”
• Now you have a text file which you can submit electronically.

Scannable Resumes

When you submit your resume to a large company, they may scan your resume into a database and access your qualifications by searching for keywords through their database. To make sure that you “turn up” in their database searches, you will have to put plenty of keywords into your resume to describe your education and skills.

• Be sure to use familiar industry jargon in telling about your qualifications. Examples might be “HTML Programming”, “results oriented,” “professional sales experience.”
• Use common abbreviations such as BA for Bachelor of Arts. When you are in doubt do both: spell it out, and use the jargon, such as “CAD, Computer Assisted Design.”
• To develop a list of keywords for your resume, look carefully at a number of advertisements for positions in your field and compare them for words that are repeated in several ads. Those are the words that you will want to incorporate into your resume and cover letter.