RESUME PREPARATION TIPS

The purpose of your resume is to stimulate the interest of the reader in order to gain an interview. It is a picture of you, your accomplishments and abilities. It gives the employer a preview of you. While no resume can get you a job, a poor resume can harm your chances of getting an interview.

GUIDELINES

• List all jobs in previous ten years
• Your resume should be completely honest
• Keep your resume short, organized and easy to understand
• Highlight your skills and accomplishments
• Include a clearly articulated objective, substantiated by reasons you are uniquely qualified for that type of work
• Emphasize the aspects of your background that relate to that particular position

RESUME LANGUAGE

• Use "descriptors"...words that draw a clear picture of your experience, skills, abilities and accomplishments...action words

DO NOT

• Use the pronoun "I"
• Include personal data, i.e. height, weight, etc.
• Tell your personal life story
• Use highly technical language unless appropriate for specific position for which you are making an application
• Use gimmicks, pictures or rambling, flowery language
• Have a long or poorly typed or duplicated resume
• Look unprofessional or amateurish

RESUME FORMAT

Two resume formats have proven most successful: chronological and a combination chronological/functional. Functional is satisfactory, although not widely used.

Chronological

The most familiar to employers, it lists jobs in chronological order beginning with the most recent. It lists dates of employment first, then job title and name of employer. A new paragraph is used for each position held, with a brief description of your accomplishments. Use where there are few gaps in your employment history and an upward career progression is shown.

Functional

This type categorizes your experience into three to five job functions that you wish to emphasize for a specific job target. It emphasizes job capabilities and de-emphasizes dates, names and places. It shows your knowledge and experience in job areas such as leadership, organization, planning, problem solving, etc.

The Combination

This utilizes the functional format and indicates titles held, company name and dates of employment and emphasizes skills and abilities.

NAME
ADDRESS
CITY, STATE ZIP
PHONE NUMBER
(email if available)

OBJECTIVE:		
_________________________________________________________________

		
EDUCATION:		
_________________________________________________________________


(LIST ALL EMPLOYMENT IN LAST 10 YEARS)
 
		
EXPERIENCE:		_________________________________________________________________
			(Position, Name of Company, Address of Company)
__/__/__ to __/__/__	Duties:  ________________________________________________________
(Dates of Employment)
			_________________________________________________________________

			_________________________________________________________________

			_________________________________________________________________

REFERENCES FURNISHED UPON REQUEST