McGraw-Hill/Irwin ©2009 The McGraw-Hill Companies, All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2010 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. McGraw-Hill/Irwin

Chapter 11 Building Résumés

Definition

Job Hunting

Guidelines

Kinds of Résumés

Résumés Information

Electronic Résumés

Social Networking

Sites

Honesty

Résumé Definition

Persuasive summary of qualifications

for employment

Makes you look well organized, prepared

Highlights your unique qualifications

Helps you try for an even better job

Shows you how to prepare for job market

11-3

Job Hunting

Check services of career

placement office

Join extracurricular organizations

Find jobs/internships that give you

experience

Note which courses you like

11-4

Job Hunting, continued…

Conduct a self-assessment

Take personality and aptitude tests

Ask yourself some questions:

What skills and strengths do I have?

What achievements have given satisfaction?

What work conditions do I like?

Do I prefer firm deadlines or flexibility?

What kind of work/life balance do I want?

Where do I want to live?

Use the Internet to research jobs 11-5

How Employers Use Résumés

To decide whom to interview

To screen applicants by scanning or

skimming

To assess what they assume is your

best work

To prepare for job interviews

To get final approval for selected

applicants

11-6

Guidelines: Length

Fill at least one page

Average résumé these

days: 2 pages

Put most important

information on page 1

Put at least 10 lines on

page 2

Include Name and Page 2

11-7

Guidelines: Emphasis

Emphasize your achievements

That are most relevant to position applied for

That show superiority to other applicants

That are recent

11-8

Guidelines: Emphasis, continued…

To emphasize information:

Put it at top or bottom of page

Set it off with white space

Give it in a vertical and/or bulleted list

Include it in an informative heading

11-9

Guidelines: Details

Give evidence to support your claims

Convince reader

Separate you from other applicants

Use numbers and descriptions

Omit details that add no value

11-10

Guidelines: Writing Style

Be concise (brief, but complete)

Use phrases and sentence fragments

Never use I; use me or my if you must

Use more action verbs than nouns

List items in parallel form

11-11

Guidelines: Layout and Design

Experiment with layout,

fonts, and spacing

Consider creating

letterhead to use for

your résumé and

application letter

Use headings for

reading ease

11-12

Guidelines: Layout and Design, continued…

Work with fonts, bullets, and spacing

to highlight information

Use more than one but less than three

fonts

Use color sparingly

Use at least 10-pt type

Use white space to group items

Select good quality 8½ x 11 paper

11-13

Kinds of Résumés: Chronological

Summarizes what you did in time line

Starts with most recent events:

reverse chronology

Includes degrees, job titles, dates

11-14

Kinds of Résumés: Chronological, continued…

When to use—

Your education, experience closely

related to job for which you’re applying

You have impressive job titles, offices, or

honors

11-15

Kinds of Résumés: Skills

Emphasizes skills you’ve used, rather

than the job in which you used them or

the date

De-emphasizes job titles, employment

history, dates

a.k.a. functional résumé

11-16

Kinds of Résumé: Skills, continued…

When to use—

Your education and experience not usual

route to applied job

You’re changing fields

You want to show broad experience from

Paid jobs

Volunteer work

Extracurricular activities

College courses

11-17

Résumé Information

Essential

Name and contact information

Education

Experience

Omit unfavorable information

Always separate categories

For over 7 items,

use subheading

11-18

Résumé Information, continued…

Optional

Career Objective

Summary of

Qualifications

Honors and Awards

Activities

References

Portfolio

11-19

Résumé Information: Contact Info

Use full name, even if you have a

nickname

Center one address; type two side by

side

Provide professional e-mail address

Provide phone (cell or land) where you

can be reached during the day

Omit age, marital status, race, sex, and

health 11-20

Résumé Information: Career Objective

Make it sound like employers’ job

descriptions

Make it brief—2 lines at most

Tell what you want to do, level of

responsibility you want

Targeted to a job at a specific company

11-21

Résumé Information: Summary of Qualifications

Show knowledge of specialized

technology in your field

List accomplishments

Be specific; include numbers and

amounts

Include as many keywords as you can

11-22

Résumé Information: Education

First main category in these cases—

Earn new degree

Need degree for job you’re seeking

Can present the information briefly

Put it later in these cases—

Need page 1 for another category

Lack degree that other applicants may

have

11-23

Résumés Information: Education, continued…

Cover 4-year and graduate degrees

Include junior college if it gave you other

expertise

Include study abroad, even non-credit

courses

Give degrees, dates, schools, and cities

May list short, descriptive course titles

Include GPA—if it’s good—and what

it’s based on: 3.4/4.0 11-24

Résumé Information: Honors and Awards

New college graduates put on page 1

Include Honors and Awards if listing

more than three items

Use Honors and Activities if listing

fewer than three items

11-25

Résumé Information: Honors and Awards, continued…

Include entries that add to your

professional image

Listings in recognition books (Who’s Who)

Awards from professional societies

Major awards from civic groups

Academic honor societies

Varsity letters

11-26

Résumé Information: Experience

Use heading that works best for you

Include this information for each job

held—

Position or job title

Organization

City and state

Dates of employment

Job duties; other details

11-27

Résumé Information: Activities

Critical for new college graduates

Include this kind of information—

Volunteer work and student

organizations

Professional associations

Activities involving talent or responsibility

Varsity or intramural athletics

Leadership roles

11-28

Résumé Information: References

May omit to make résumé fit one page

Omit “References Available Upon Request”

List 3 to 5 persons

New graduates include 1 professor, 1 employer

or adviser—minimum

Choose persons who can comment on work

habits, leadership skills

Don’t list relatives even if you worked for them

Omit personal or character references

11-29

Résumé Information: References, continued…

Ask the person’s permission

Jog their memory of your work

Keep list up-to-date

List this information—

Name and title

Organization

City and state

E-mail and phone number

11-30

Résumé Information: What to Omit

Personal information

Controversial activities or

associations

High school facts

Trivial items

11-31

Electronic Résumés: Scannable

To help résumé scan correctly

Use a standard 12-point typeface

Use a ragged right margin

Don’t italicize or underline words

Don’t bold text

Don’t use bullets or tabs

Use as many pages as you need

11-32

Electronic Résumés: Scannable, continued…

To help résumé scan correctly

Use keywords (noun or adj.)

Print on high-quality paper

Don’t fold or staple pages

Mail paper copies in flat page-sized

envelope

11-33

Electronic Résumés: E-mail

Make good first impression with

simple subject line

Don’t use current employer’s e-mail

for job search

Set up free, Internet-based e-mail

account

Understand that e-mail isn’t confidential

Avoid cryptic or silly e-mail addresses:

cutiepi@yahoo.com 11-34

Electronic Résumés: E-mail, continued…

Heed specific directions

of employers for proper

format for submission

Include brief cover letter

in e-mail; mention

attachment

E-mail it to yourself to

see how it will look

11-35

Electronic Résumés: Web

Include e-mail link at top of résumé

under your name

Omit addresses and phone numbers

Insert links to various parts of résumé

May link to Web pages that give

information about you

List of courses or documents you wrote

11-36

Electronic Résumés, Web continued…

Remove all dates; replace employer

names with generic descriptions

Make small changes at least every two

weeks

Remove résumé when you have a job

11-37

Social Networking Sites

Remove unprofessional material such as

Pictures of beer at your computer

Descriptions of last party

Remove negative comments about

current or past employers and teachers

Remove political and social rants

Remove any personal information that will

embarrass you on the job

Check your blog for writing aptitude 11-38

Honesty

ALWAYS BE

HONEST ON

YOUR RÉSUMÉ !!!

11-39