Houghton College Career Services
What Is A Resume?
A resume is a concise description of your education, accomplishments and abilities as they relate to your employment objective. The purpose of the resume is to stimulate the interest of a prospective employer, enough so that you are invited to interview for a position.
As such, your resume is a marketing tool for selling a very important product - YOU. To make the sale, you must show that you have the abilities, education, experiences, and accomplishments to do the job for which you are applying.
Following are guidelines for creating the resume that reflects who you are and what you offer to the company you are applying to.
Steps for Developing a Resume
Skills Evaluation
Career Objectives
Resume Content
Preparing Resumes
to be Scanned
Steps For Developing A Resume
Create A Professional Appearance. Use a heavy bond paper; white, ivory, beige, or gray colored paper is typically the most professional looking.
Organize A Concise and Clear Structure. People generally skim resumes before they thoroughly read them. If your resume is sloppy and disorganized, the content will never be given a chance. Use margins and good spacing to emphasize important points. Place the most important things near the beginning of your resume. When listing work experience, record the information in reverse chronological order.
Use Appropriate Resume Language. Resume sentences are short phrases or clauses with no subject; most begin with action verbs. Do not use personal pronouns. Avoid phrases such “duties include:” or “responsibilities are:” Language use is different for resumes that will be scanned. See appropriate section in this information for advice.
Heed Resume Layout Advice. Keep your resume to one page; two pages maximum. Boldface or italic type, underlining, and the use of all upper case letters can aid in drawing attention to key resume points.
Select An Appropriate Resume Format. Your qualifications can be presented in several different formats. For advice on which to use, consult with someone in the Career Development Center. Resume samples are provided to give you an idea of each of these formats. Resume templates are also available in Microsoft Word
Chronological - Here job history is organized with the most recent experience listed first. Employers and job titles are emphasized; duties and accomplishments are described in detail. This format is best used when your work history shows progress in a chosen field.
Functional - Here your skills and accomplishments developed through your education, work, and co-curricular activities is highlighted.
Combination - Here you combine the best elements of both the functional and the chronological resume through the development of a section or heading entitled “Qualifications” or “Profile.
Assistance
with resume development and resume critiquing is provided
by Career Services through workshops and personal appointments.
Through your educational and work experiences, you have developed several different types of skills. Resumes (and interviews) focus on the skills you have to offer an employer. Take some time to identify those skills that are most applicable to the job you wish to do. Career Services offers you TypeFocus, a free, on-line assessment tool to help you determine some of your skills and strengths. Visit the Testing Resources page and follow the instructions there to log on and complete the inventory.
A skill is an ability to perform an activity in a competent manner. Typically, skills fall into one of three categories:
Transferable or Functional Skills. These skills can be applied to a variety of work settings. The following groups of skills are considered to be transferable: Communication, Humanitarian, Leadership/Management, Mental/Creative, Mental/Analytical, Physical/Manual, and Creative Expression. Each of these general categories have specific skills associated with them.
Self-Management Skills. These skills include strengths of your personality and temperament; they determine how you will perform tasks on the job. Self management skills may include the ability to work under pressure, willingness to take initiative, self-confidence, orderliness, tact/diplomacy, enthusiasm, cooperation, assertiveness, etc.
Work Content Skills. These skills relate to specific knowledge needed to perform a job. Some examples are word processing, editing, desktop publishing, languages, accounting, interior decorating, etc.
It is important that you learn how to
demonstrate
specific examples of the skills you possess.
Take some time to jot down past experiences
where you used these skills effectively. This is known as the
"prove it" principle. If you state it, then prove it.
Practice talking about them before others by
taking advantage
of the mock interview service provided by Career Services.
What Is A Career Objective?
A career objective defines for the employer the career interests that you have and the setting(s) in which you would like to use your experience and education.
Three Types of Career Objective Statements
Position Oriented: This is a statement that focuses on a specific job title.
Field Oriented: This
is a statement that indicates the career field desired, not a
specific job.
Skill Oriented: This
is a statement which specifies skills you possess which you
want to
perform in your job.
Sample Professional Objectives
Seeking a position in the marketing field focusing on planning, promotion, and development of new products.
Seeking management trainee position in the retail industry.
Industrial Sales Representative. Seeking position that utilizes technical background in physics, chemistry, and biological sciences.
Reporter or Copy Editor.
To teach science in a public school setting.
Desire to join a market research firm or market research department as an analyst.
Looking to begin a career in family counseling in an urban social service setting. Interests in program planning and community development responsibilities.
Seeking staff position with a medium to large public accounting firm.
Lab Assistant in an industrial chemical facility.
What To Avoid When Writing A Career Objective
Avoid excessive verbage like “...with a progressive company”, “...utilizing my strongest skills”, “...with an opportunity for advancement”.
Consult the
resume examples in Career Services for ways to write
your resume without using the standard Career Objective heading.
A resume is a very flexible document that can be adapted to a specific job or organization you are targeting. The content categories you choose for your resume and the order in which you place them may vary from resume to resume. The following list provides an overview of the typical information categories found on resumes.
Identification Data: Name, current address, telephone number. You may choose to place an e-mail or fax #, but do so only if you regularly access these services.
Career Objective: Note section on Writing Career Objectives.
Education: List your most recent degree or experience first; follow with other educational experiences; include degree, college, location of college, graduation date. Additional information that is typically a part of this section includes your major, minor, GPA, honors. You may include areas of research, study abroad, or internships, too, though usually this information will be contained in a separate category.
Work Experience: This section can include paid, volunteer, and part-time positions. For each position list your job title, name of organization, city and state where the organization is located and the dates that you worked there. Briefly describe your responsibilities, skills, and achievements for each position. Typically your work experiences are listed in reverse chronological order. Sometimes it is best to separate your work experiences into several categories to distinguish between those experiences that are related to what you wish to do and those that are not. Category headings often used when separating work experiences include: Related Experience, Volunteer, Community Service.
Skills: Computer knowledge, languages, certifications are some of the skills often recorded in this section
Activities: These can be things you have participated in at college or in the community or church you attend.
Optional categories or other headings often used include: Student Teaching, Profile, Awards, Qualifications, Military, Accomplishments, Achievements, Strengths.
Never list the names of your references on your resume. Include your references on a separate page that you send with your resume. Include a heading similar to your resume and the word "References" centered beneath that. Include each individual’s name, title, address, city/state/zip, telephone number(s). Other appropriate ways to handle this section are as follows:
References available upon request.
References
available from: Career Services, Houghton College, Houghton , NY
14744
Phone: 585-567-9622
(You
may only use this version if you set up a credential file)
Preparing A Resume To Be Scanned
Many companies are using scanning technology to read your resume, particularly if they receive a large number of resumes. By using resume scanning, employers can identify potential candidates for a position by searching their resume database for qualifications using keywords. Candidates whose resumes closely match the keyword specifications appear as potential matches for the employer.
Key Points To Remember When Preparing A Resume For Scanning
►Use white paper.
►Do not fold or staple.
►Faxing
a resume can cause problems; send an original resume to the
organization.
►Use standard typefaces and a font size between 10 and 14 points.
►Avoid
italics, underlining, or anything that condenses the spacing between
letters.
►Use bold type or all upper case letters for emphasis, particularly on headings.
►Avoid vertical and horizontal lines, graphics, shading, or shadowing.
►Submit an original resume, printed with a laser printer
►Place your name at the top of the resume on a line by itself
►Use
standard address format below your name; list each phone number on
separate line.
►Use
key words to define your skills, experience, and education. Be
concrete.
Focus on nouns, not verbs
►Use
common headings such as : Objective, Experience, Work History,
Skills, Education, Publications, Certifications, Honors, Memberships,
etc.
►The
order in which you place your information is not as important, as your
resume will be scanned for keywords.
The Career Services staff regularly critiques resumes and cover letters for students and alumni. You can also get help writing grad school essays. Simply bring your documents in or email them. For a specific appointment, please contact the office. This information is also available as a hand-out in the Career Services Office or hallway kiosk.
Career Services also provides resume writing guidelines and a large volume of resume samples illustrating various layouts, methods of construction, type size and font for student use. Good on-line sources for resume construction and samples can be found at StudentCenter or College Grad Hunter.
Some organizations charge a fee for this service, so we
suggest you check all your possibilities before you agree to use one of
them.
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