THE RESUME

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

ObjectivesTo increase your working knowledge of the most contemporary information on resume writing.

Be able to write a resume that has a high probability of getting an interview.

Agenda

Resume: What is it?

How to develop it?

What should it look like?

Tailoring your resume to you and the employer.

Activity.

A summary of your educational background, employment experience, and skills.

A way to communicate your qualifications and market yourself to an employer.

A vehicle to get the interview, then the job.

What is a Resume? An interview… Great! When?

Developing a Quality Resume

Gather your information.

Consider the look.

Decide what to include.

Tailor it.

Questions to ask yourself:What are my employer’s needs and interests for the position?

What are my strengths for the job? How can I emphasize them?

What are my weaknesses as far as the position is concerned? How can I downplay them?

How can I use format, organization, and content to make the most of what I have to offer?

The LOOK… Clean

Neat

Professional

Free of grammatical & spelling errors

What to include in a Resume?

Heading

Make sure and use a PROFESSIONAL email address

Objective Statement (?)

To be used….

Hmmm… What do I include?

Education

Work Experience

Special CategoriesDemonstrate how you stand out from other applicants

ReferencesCreate a separate sheet for your list of references.

What to include in a Resume?

Tailoring The Resume

To YOUHybrid…

Functional…

Chronological…

Always Put Your Best Face Forward

Chronological resume

Functional resume

Hybrid resume

Tailoring Your Resume To The Employer

Pull out the words from the job description.

Research your employer and make sure to emphasize how your skills match the businesses values.

Save in .RTF format to create a Rich Text Format.

An electronic resume should be converted to PDF if at all possible.

Tailoring: Electronic Resume

Tailoring:Scannable Resume

Save in .TXT format to create plain text file.

Important Tips: Use words directly from the job announcement to explain your qualifications in your resume (NOT their synonyms).

In Scannable resumes use nouns instead of verbs because most applicant-tracking systems keywords are nouns.

Ex: “Management” instead of “Managed”

Criminal RecordLayoff/Fired Job hopping

Employment gapsNo work history No phone number

Tailoring To You:How To Handle Resume

Pitfalls

5 signs your resume screams I’m living in the 90’s!

You’ve forced it to fit onto one page.

You list an objective.

You write “references available upon request” at the bottom.

You attach it to your email as a Word document.

You list every job you’ve ever had in chronological order.

Activity

Cover Letter

Mention names.

Your cover letter is an opportunity.

Consider what you want to convey.

Promote your best selling accomplishments.

Perfection matters.

Questions?

Thanks!