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:
[email protected] 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
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