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Education Information

List in reverse chronological order (most recent first) the degree or degrees you have received with completion dates and names of institutions granting the degree(s). If you have attended or are attending college, eliminate high school information. Also include special licenses, certificates, or training you have obtained, along with honors or awards received during your schooling (i.e. Dean’s List, Semester Honors) if they are appropriate and relate to your job objective.

Work Experience

Your resume will need to contain some type of information about your work history and/or volunteer activities you have participated in. How this information is presented on your resume will vary greatly, depending on your job objective and selling points you want to emphasize. In general, you should list, in reverse chronological order, the jobs you have held in the last 10 years with company name, job title, and dates of employment.

Then, for each position listed, talk about the skills you utilized and what you accomplished in order to illustrate your selling points. The information appearing in this section was determined largely by the selling points exercise you did earlier. Try to stay away from simply providing a “laundry list” of tasks you completed each day. Instead, focus on things like: special training you received, large projects you were involved in, technological innovations you implemented, work processes you developed or improved, ideas you generated, extra responsibilities you took on, and recognition you received.

Employers care less about what you did day-to-day in a particular position than about what skills you used, what you accomplished, and how you contributed to the overall success of the organization.

Affiliations/Interests/Activities

Information of this sort is completely optional, and any information included should be carefully chosen, and only included if it relates to or illustrates any of your selling points. Be aware, though, that your affiliations/interests/activities may be used to eliminate you from, rather than help your chances in, the running for a position. For instance, it is fine to say you are President of the Young Republican Society, but what if the person reading your resume is a staunch Democrat? You probably just eliminated yourself from consideration before even being given a fair chance.

Generally, it is a good idea to include any memberships or offices held in organizations specifically relating to the position in question. Especially if you lack practical experience in your desired field, personal interests and/or hobbies may be included in this section along with club affiliations.

Other Pertinent Information

Depending on your life situation and the type of position for which you are applying, you may want to include some or all of the following information as it pertains to you:

Military History                  Foreign Languages Spoken/Travel
Computer Literacy              Percent of College Education Paid For
Patents/Publications           By You and How You Earned Money

Now you are ready to put your resume together.

Putting Your Resume Together

Many resume writers fall into the trap of thinking there is one “best” way to write a resume. While there are definitely some general rules to follow, there really is no “standard” resume format. Remember, the most important function of a resume is to convey to the reader the best possible image of the writer.

There are three basic methods to use when formatting your resume. Your choice depends on what you want to emphasize/de-emphasize and what your personal experiences are.

Chronological Resume

The chronological resume emphasizes your dates of employment and titles of positions held. Use this format if you have a solid work history involving upward movement within a company or positions with impressive titles.

A chronological resume is generally (but not always) best for people with several years of related work experience or for those who have been with the same company for many years with increasing levels of responsibility.

The main difference between this format and the functional resume (listed below) is it specifically lists skills and accomplishments under each job held.

Functional (or Skills-Based) Resume

The functional resume emphasizes specific skills and abilities that have arisen from work experience and de-emphasizes career progression and dates of employment.

A functional resume should generally be used if you have held many types of positions not related to your current career goals, have a choppy work history with many short-term jobs, or have worked primarily part-time jobs mainly for the money.

In contrast to a chronological resume, the functional resume group accomplishments under specific transferable skills which are applicable to the stated job objective or position desired.

Combination Resume

The combination resume is, as the name implies, a combination of both the chronological and functional resumes. The majority of resumes fall into this category, utilizing features from both the chronological and functional formats.

Many very effective resumes do not fit clearly into any format. Resumes are, and should be, as unique as the people who write them.

Other Important Tips

• Use phrases beginning with action verbs to describe your skills and accomplishments. Expressing yourself in this way indicates to an employer that you are a person who wants to get things done. Avoid using “I,” and write in short, concise phrases rather than complete sentences. Most readers will scan a resume for approximately 25 seconds before deciding whether or not to pursue a candidate further. This means each word in a resume is very important and should be carefully chosen.

• Back up your claims by using numbers, quantities, and specific examples as much as possible. For instance, don’t write “Worked cash register,” but rather “Processed approximately $5,000 in customer transactions daily.” Also, instead of writing “Bagged groceries,” write “assembled and packed grocery orders, lifted, loaded, organized, delivered, worked as a team, and dealt with the public.”

• Do not include reasons for leaving jobs or salary information. This information is much more likely to be used as a reason to eliminate you from the pool of potential candidates than to help you get an interview. These are topics which should be covered in an interview, not in your resume.

• You generally should not include specific reference information (names, addresses, phone numbers) on your resume for two main reasons. First, the potential employer who receives your resume will most likely not check references until he/she has interviewed you. Checking references is a very timeconsuming and difficult process, and most employers will not take this step until they know they are interested in hiring, or have actually hired you. Secondly, you probably won’t have room on your resume for this information. Resume space is limited, and your pertinent information should be more than enough to fill up this space.

You may include the phrase “References Available Upon Request” at the bottom of your resume, but this phrase is redundant and not necessary if you don’t have room.

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