Resumes
At this stage in the game, you want to write a functional-chronological resume. Why? Because these are the type of resume that make an "argument" for your abilities and are especially useful when beginning a career or transitioning between careers. Essentially, this type of resume captures both your work history and experience, as well as the work qualities that you bring to the position. It is organized in reverse chronological order (from newest to oldest) with the following basic headings: Education, Certification, Work/Volunteer/Research Experience (use one, two, or three as needed), Organizations, Skills, Interests, Honors/Awards. Certification, interests, skills, interests and awards are optional -- if you've got them, use them.
Format
The format of a resume is perhaps the most important single aspect that you can manipulate in your favor. The visual impact is critical, and you want to make the most of highlighting resources. However, you MAY NOT use a template of any kind!!! Gee, did I get sort of emphatic with that? Contrary to what you may think, hiring committees dislike templates; they are considered a kind of lazy shorthand -- as though you may not really know enough to construct your own resume. Yikes! Not the first impression you want to make. So, you will create this from scratch, so to speak, using your favorite word processing document. Consider this resume a basic template for applying to jobs, for scholarships, for internships and other academically oriented positions. You are going for a clean, balanced look showcasing your academic and work history.
Stylistic Considerations
- Use dynamic, interesting verbs to emphazise the skills that you've acquired and responsibilities you've had: 100 Action Words.
- Remember that experiences that are current are written in the present; all others are written in the past tense.
Begin with contact information, keeping in mind this is for professional purposes...that may mean creating a "professional" self with its own conservative email address and respectful/respectable answering message. Use lines, bolding, underlining and bullets to create clearly separate sections of the document. Include spaces between entries in a category -- the resume may be longer than one page, so err on the side of readability. Remember, the personnel manager is only spending 20-30 seconds looking at this in order to make an initial decision.
The template below is just one suggestion -- there are other ways to format your resume. For example, some students choose to put dates lined up on the right side, some will put lines between each category.
Other Resume Resources -- Resume Edge Resumania Writing a Resume Masterpiece Resumes -- PurdueOWL
Local Contact (11 pt) Permanent Contact (11 pt)
Education (12 or 13 pt font, bold -- may use small caps, but avoid too much emphasis)
Second Major
minor, thesis title, etc (each on a separate line)
Certification (12 or 13 pt. font, bold)
Name of certification, expiration date
Experience (12 or 13 pt. font, bold)
Position, Organization, Location, Date (11 pt. font)
bulleted list of action oriented phrases detailing your duties, qualities
and again
Organizations (12 or 13 pt. font, bold)
Name of org., location, dates (11 pt. font)
membership duties
activities
Skills (12 or 13 pt. font, bold)
Interests (12 or 13 pt. font, bold)
Honors/Awards (12 or 13 pt. font, bold)
