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# Revising - A key to great resumes

* You know yourself as do your personal friends and family--the recruiter wi


ll be a stranger so a stranger's review of your resume every time you revise it
can provide valuable insights on their first impressions. Be sure to ask for an
honest evaluation every time you revise.
* Use sample resumes (web, Career Placement & Library, friends, family) to h
elp spark ideas of word choice, transferable skills, skill sets, challenges conv
erted into opportunities, etc.

# Keep Records - Everything you accomplish is important


* Keep a resume journal/log/list/ which contains ALL your experience. Then d
raw pertinent information from it for each new job application. (Don't fall into
the trap of believing you will remember or you don't have enough to write down.
)

Basic Resume Format


Our experience has found that interviewers prefer a reverse chronological format
resume over a functional or other formats. What is a chronological format resum
e? Don't worry, in the following information we will tell you exactly what your
resume should contain and provide you with an example resume to use as a guide.
When selecting paper, pick something white or ivory, these are standard and acce
ptable colors. Pages should be 8 1/2 inches by 11 inches. It is very acceptable
for your resume to be over one page. However, your resume should never exceed tw
o pages.
1. At the top of the page, put your name. On the next line place your mailing
address followed by city, state, and zip. To the right of your name and address
, place your home phone number. On the next line place your work phone number. N
ow you are ready to begin the body of your resume.
2. In the first section of information, list your educational background. Thi
s section should be titled "EDUCATION". List the Degree and the year you receive
d your degree on the first line. Second line should list the University your deg
ree was received from and the city and state in which the University is located.
If you received a Graduate Degree, you should list this prior to undergraduate
work on one full line and list it in the same manner. If you have not fully comp
leted your graduate work, list the amount you have completed.
3. The second section on your resume should be your military history. The gro
uping should be listed as "EXPERIENCE". Under experience you should list all mil
itary positions in reverse chronological order.
First you should list, on one line, the date you began active duty to "pre
sent" (If you have already left active duty then list that date in the place of
the word "present".) On that same line, place that branch of the service and loc
ation. Then, skip one full line.
4. Now, we want to explain the positions you have held. On the first line, li
st he dates when the positions were held and the title of the position. Then, in
paragraph form, list the responsibilities of the position you held, the number
of people you supervised and the type and amount of equipment for which you were
responsible. After you have briefly covered the data, you must then cover the m
ost important part of the paragraph. List the accomplishments, in a bullet forma
t.
Listing your accomplishments and the positive impact these accomplishments
made is important for an interviewer. An interviewer must know more about you t
han accomplishments you attain and the results and impact of those accomplishmen
ts. It is the results of you accomplishments, on which an interviewer will judge
your job performance and effectiveness. I'll stress this again, you must list y
our accomplishments, the results, and the impact of those accomplishments.
Repeat the above section for each position you held in military.
5. The third grouping on your resume should be special classes or training yo
u received. This section should be titled "SPECIAL TRAINING". To the right of th
e group title, list the name of the class / course and the date attended.
6. The fourth grouping on your resume should be involved honors / activities.
This section should be titled "HONORS". You should list all honors, organizatio
ns, community service, offices held, etc.
7. The fifth grouping on your resume should be any military awards you receiv
ed. This section should be titled "AWARDS". After the title, skip one line and l
ist all awards you received.
8. The sixth grouping should list additional information. This section should
be titled "ADDITIONAL INFORMATION". In this section you should list any importa
nt information that did not get mentioned in the previous sections of the resume
. Such as: computer skills, foreign language skills, college expenses earned, et
c.

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