Resume

HELPING STUDENTS, EXTERNS AND GRADUATES PREPARE A WINNING RESUME IS CRITICAL FOR SUCCESSFUL JOB PLACEMENT

Resume Structure/Format
Contact Info

Always use Word

Summary of Qualifications
Education/Certifications Professional

Associations/Awards Work/Employment History Computer & Application Skills

Cover Letter Reference List

document In Word, search Resume Templates

Resume Contact Info

Contact Info:
Full, legal name Mailing Address Cell Phone/Message Use a professional email

Phone Email Address LinkedIn address new trend

address not cutesy or crude. Charter soon to have gmail student accounts Use professional voice mail no music greetings No MySpace or Facebook for professional contact

Resume - Objective

Objective:
Optional Should be fairly specific Not flowery or wordy Not too general Not too limiting Be honest and

Can include job title,

industry, but not potential employer by company name (use cover letter for the specific or personalized)

straightforward and not 0ver promise

Resume Education & Certifications

Education & Certifications:
Listed before work history

when entry level Listed after work history when approximately 5+ years experienced in career High School if college grad AA or higher, do not include Do not list dates, unless current or pending (future grad) Reverse chronological List GPA if 3.5 or higher

Review examples:

Resume Employment History

Work/Employment History:

Use verbs & action words

Employer / Company name Job title Dates (mm/yyyy is best) Brief description of company

Assist, Support, Manage, Participate, Write, Process, Suggest, Attend, Help, Train Assisted, Supported, Managed, Participated, Wrote, Processed, Suggested, Attended, Helped, Trained

Local, regional, national, international Public or private Size revenues/sales, # of physicians, hospital # beds, etc. Industry Website Smaller font/italics

Verb tenses present & past

Duties (use job desc) Accomplishments (2-8)

jobs with proper tense of verb Do not list references Do not list company phone numbers Explain gaps if more than 3 months Confidential Employer

Resume Last but not Least

Computer Skills,

Technical Skills or Application Skills:

Professional

Associations/Awards:
Volunteer work, networking and clubs professional only Associations - Encourage graduates to join associations of their specialty as membership in professional associations has many benefits: looks good on a resume, indicating initiative, dedication to ones profession and commitment to continuing education Awards Employee of the Month or Make a Difference, special recognition If limited, or specific to education such as deans list/honors, perfect attendance - can be listed under education or if specific to work history accomplishments, qualifications

MSOffice: Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint List other programs and software/hardware skills If limited (1-4 applications) technical system skills, make mention in Qualifications Summary instead

Note if anything listed at the bottom of the resume is significant move it to the top!

Resumes dos and donts

DO
Start sentences with verbs Quantify accomplishments: use Identify your goal: have a clear job
target and gear the resume toward goal present to past, top to bottom numbers to highlight significant successes

DONT
Use Personal Pronouns: (I or my
or me)

Use Articles: (an and the) Include any personal information

age, date of birth, marital status, height and weight, # of children, etc.

List chronologically backward: from Use 1-2 pages: depending on years of

experience, occupation, industry, scope of accomplishments and education.

Include any irrelevant information

hobbies (unless directly related to the job)

Dont forget references! separate Ramble on with self-inflating

Indicate part time & seasonal work Explain gaps in employment

page, professional references (prior sups)

Use Keywords: review job description

Use References Upon Request as

statements that arent backed up by fact in the same resume

the last line of the resume

Describe yourself as loyal, but have never held a job longer than 6 months State you are experienced in bookkeeping, but have no accounting based work experience to back it up

Resumes dos and donts

DO
Think Time show how you saved time,
managed time, met deadlines, etc.

DONT
Use fancy paper, fonts or graphics:
exception photographers, graphic artists, etc. White, ivory or gray paper only.
Suggested procedures that decreased processing time from 15 minutes to 5 minutes Assisted with twice-monthly payroll activities, ensuring employees were paid as expected and on time

Be sloppy with formatting: dates,

fonts, columns, bullets, etc. must all line up & be consistent attention to detail is key. Bold company names, titles and use different size font. Use underline and italics sparingly.

Think Money show how you saved

money, earned money or managed money

Managed a student organization budget of more than $7,000 Wrote prospect letter that has brought in more than $25,000 in donations so far

Use fancy fonts: Times New Roman &

Arial are recommended

Think Amounts quantify your

accomplishments

Forget to spell check! And be wary

Trained 5 new employees on restaurant operations procedures Recruited 25 members for a new student study group

of homonyms: there/their, accept/except, capital/capitol Forget to ask someone else you trust to proof read for you!

Resumes References & Cover Letters

Separate pages for references

& cover letters References should always be prior bosses, peers and subordinates (when work history includes management experience) no personal references or family references** Call references first and ask permission to list him/her verify their contact info, cell & email Give reference list only upon request

Include description of

business relationship (i.e. boss, supervisor, peer, subordinate)

Reference sheet example:

References1EntryLevel.doc
Cover letter examples:

CvrLtr1Chrono.doc CvrLtr2EntryLevel.doc

Resumes For Life of Your Career

Update every 6 months, otherwise may forget all the accomplishments! Dont be afraid to delete information that is no longer relevant Progressive experience
The average person will have 10

careers in his/her lifetime! Knowing how to update ones resume through out the life of a career is critical to success! their resources and use them!

Have several versions: short, long and on-line searchable

No more than 5 jobs or 10 years experience on ANY resume Use other or prior work history for over 15 years, if relevant to report

Encourage our students to know

Remind students & graduates to

contact Charter College Career Services at any time in their career for guidance alums get preferential treatment!