Preparing Your Résumé: Career Center: Adelphi University

The following instructions for writing your résumé, along with the printed Job Search Guide available at the Center for Career Development, are designed to help you prepare a résumé that is informative, attractive, and easy to read. Please read this thoroughly and prepare your résumé accordingly before bringing your résumé to be reviewed by a counselor. Be sure to look at all of the sample résumés, even those in other fields.

The résumé should be a brief but informative summary of your education, employment or volunteer experience, and special skills. The layout should be attractive and easy to read or scan. It should generate the kinds of questions you want to answer during an interview.

We have prepared a collection of sample résumés tailored to different industries.

RÉSUMÉ FORMATS

Chronological: As the most popular format, it lists education history and work experience in reverse chronological order, i.e., with the most recent items first. This format is best for most candidates, especially those entering the job market or changing jobs within a career field.

Functional: This format organizes your experience into skill areas, regardless of the specific job in which the skill was demonstrated. Employment history is then briefly summarized in reverse chronological order. Functional résumés are occasionally helpful for candidates with complex work histories or those who are changing careers or re-entering the job market. Most employers regard functional résumés as hard to decipher, and they suspect the writer is hiding or exaggerating things. We recommend the more straightforward chronological format.

1) How long should my résumé be?
Most recent graduates should confine their résumés to one page. Those with extensive professional experience, especially in education, nursing, or social work, may need to use part of a second page. If your résumé goes to a second page, make sure your margins are not too wide (no more than 1" left and right and as little as 1/2" top and bottom). If the headings are on the left, stack the words (e.g. "Teaching" with "Experience" under it, rather than next to it). If your résumé runs over a little bit, don't worry – your counselor will be able to help you reduce it to one page without losing anything important.

2) What should I include?
a. Name: Start with your NAME (we suggest upper case bold for name only), and complete contact information (address, phone, and email address).
b. Certifications: List professional certifications or licenses with dates received.
c. Education: Summarize your education in reverse order, starting with your last degree or the one you are working on now. Include school name, city, state, degree, major, date degree was – or will be – conferred, and honors. Include GPA only if 3.0 or higher.
d. Courses: To tailor your résumé to a specific job, you may include a list of "relevant courses." This also fills space if you have little experience.
e. Honors/Awards/Activities: Use one or more categories as appropriate, highlighting achievements such as scholarships, Dean's List, leadership roles in clubs, campus/community organizations, sports, etc.
f. Research: If applicable, you may include special projects or research, highlighting significant relevant classroom learning experiences: research projects, independent study, special presentations and major papers.
g. Experience: Your experience, regardless of how you acquired it (full time or part time jobs, internships, community or college service) is usually of the greatest interest to the reader. For each position, include the following: job title with dates of employment, employer, city, state. You can emphasize (put first) either the employers or the job titles, but be consistent. Describe your responsibilities, duties and accomplishments, preferably using a list format with bullets.
h. Skills: Special skills are also of great interest to employers. Indicate computer hardware and software knowledge, foreign languages fluency or technical skills. If you have several of each, use separate categories.
i. Interests: List interests only if you are very knowledgeable in that area.
j. Affiliations: List professional or volunteer affiliations/memberships (if applicable). Include any offices held.

3) How do I name the sections?
The headings on your résumé function like the headlines in the newspaper. They can focus the reader on where certain information is located, give a summary of content, and catch the reader's interest. If you glance at a résumé with a section heading Honors and Awards, you will reasonably assume this candidate has received honors and awards and that may motivate you to read this résumé. Since almost every employer wants people with computer skills, some may scan a pile of résumés for those with Computer Skills in bold headline type.

The exact heading you choose is important and allows you to tailor your résumé, placing the most important experiences first. If you have worked in your field, name the field in your heading (e.g., Social Work Experience or Marketing Experience). Work in related fields can be headed Related Experience. If the work is not related to your objective but you want to include it, call it Other Experience or use the name of that field. Fieldwork, Volunteer Activities, Summer Employment, or Internships are other possible headings. If you include only some of your jobs, you can call it Selected Experience. Place the major categories so that the most relevant information is placed early on the résumé (top two-thirds of the first page).

4) How do I make my résumé look professional?
·Include no personal information: age, health, marital status, height, weight, religion.
·Never use the first person "I" nor should you use any sentences. Eliminate all unneeded words (a, the).
·Never lie or exaggerate.
·Add to the eye appeal of your résumé by varying the typeface for emphasis: bold, underline, italic, UPPER CASE, etc. (Use italics for emphasis only (perhaps your job title), never for the entire résumé.) Use an attractive legible typeface such as Times or Arial, not an old-fashioned font such as Courier.
·Use "bullets" (·, -) for listing items under a heading description, such as Experience.
·Proofread carefully. Grammatical, content and typographical errors may eliminate you immediately from consideration for an interview. Ask others to proofread the résumé as well.
·The successful résumé is one that results in interviews. Does yours present you as an accomplished person? Is it easy to read, pleasing to the eye, devoid of all errors, current, honest?

5) Do I need an objective?
Most recent graduates don't need one. Include an objective only if it is very specific, unique, or necessary to clarify your job target. The objective is already clear with certifications (e.g., teachers) or majors (e.g., nursing). Some candidates may want to tailor the job objective for a specific job application. Be sure your objective addresses what you can do for the employer, not what the employer can do for you. Employers will not be impressed with "entry level," and most will not care that you want a "challenging" position or one that "provides career growth." They do care about additional skills or experience beyond the basic qualifications. Remember that your job target will be addressed very specifically in your cover letter. Candidates with several years of professional experience and skills related to the job may prefer to use a Summary or Profile in place of an objective.

6) What is the most important feature of a successful résumé?
Usually, most applicants for a particular job have the same degrees and similar work histories. The people who get the interviews are those who convey on their résumés that they have personally done many of the things that need to be done and have demonstrated the needed skills. Claiming that you have a skill is not as convincing as demonstrating how you have used the skill.

Use action verbs to describe your duties and accomplishments, depicting yourself as someone who gets the job done: one who "created... published... solved" - not one who merely "participated in" or was "responsible for." Avoid using "assisted" - say what you did. Vary the vocabulary. (See list of action verbs below.) For present jobs use present tense verbs and for past jobs use past tense.

7) Can you type this for me?
ABSOLUTELY NOT. We believe that you should do your own résumé on a word processing program so that you can make frequent updates and tailor it to specific jobs. We do not advocate having anyone else do it for you and you should not waste your money on a "professional" résumé typing service. Avoid using résumé templates that are included with software - they limit the ways you can lay out your résumé. Using a standard word processing program will give you the greatest flexibility and usefulness.

8) What color paper should I use?
Using a laser or printer of similar quality, print your résumé on 8.5" x 11" heavy (22-25lb) white, light gray or ivory paper with some cotton content. Order extra paper for cover letters and thank you letters.

9) What if my résumé is scanned by a computer?
An increasing number of employers are now scanning résumés into their databases so they can search for candidates with the right skills and experience. For résumés that may be scanned by computers, do not use hollow bullets, columns, italics, borders, shading or underlining. Use standard fonts, plain white paper and laser printers. Be sure to use key words related to the field. To maximize "hits" (matches of your résumé to job vacancies), the New York City Board of Education, which now scans all résumés, suggests you describe your experience in very concrete, rather than vague, terms; be concise; use more than one page if needed; use terms and acronyms specific to your field (but spell out acronyms too); be specific with software and programs.

10) How do I use the Internet to send out my résumé?
Most job searches today will include applying for a job online.
· You can prepare your résumé using a word processing program (e.g., Microsoft Word or WordPerfect) as we have described above. You can then paste it into the body of an email which serves as a cover letter or you can send it as an attachment to the email. However, many people will not open unsolicited attachments for fear of viruses. Employers may also provide special instructions on their Web sites for sending your résumé in response to the posted opportunities.

Another method used by some organizations is an online application, which may be called a "résumé," but bears little resemblance to the professional résumé we have described and will not substitute for a professional résumé for other uses. These are generally "read" by their computers to select candidates based on their key words, so their appearance is not important. You will probably have to re-enter all needed information each time you respond to one of these applications.

There are also résumé databases on the Internet where you can upload your word-processed résumé for employers to review. Employers will be able to view your résumé in the format that meets their needs and if they print it out, it will look attractive. The Center for Career Development will make this service available to you through MonsterTRAK.

11) Got a minute to look over my résumé?
Résumés will be reviewed by a counselor at the Center for Career Development by appointment, after you have typed your résumé according to the guidelines in Job Search Series resume guide.

12) What's the difference between a résumé and a curriculum vitae?
A CV is a special type of résumé traditionally used within the academic community and sometimes in the medical and legal fields. It is useful not only for a job search, but also for tenure review, grant applications, fellowships or consulting. Academic hiring is frequently a long process done by a committee. Thus the CV may be reviewed by many individuals.

The CV need not be confined to one page, like the typical business résumé, nor does it have to be any longer than necessary to highlight your strengths and achievements. It generally includes degrees, teaching and research experience, publications, presentations and related activities. When applying for positions outside of academia, a résumé will represent you better than a CV. The details of your teaching and research will probably be of less interest to the reader. Converting your CV to a résumé will usually require major revisions.

Like your résumé, your CV is a work in progress. Instead of merely keeping it current, you should delete things that no longer relate to your objective, create new categories to show your achievements and reorganize sections to emphasize strengths related to the job you seek.

Begin each description of your activities and accomplishments using an action verb. There are many occupation-specific verbs not mentioned here, but the list should help you vary your vocabulary. Remember to use present tense for present jobs and past tense for past jobs.

PHONE REFERENCES: Many employers want to be able to check your references by phone. Job seekers should prepare a typed list of references like the one above. Ask three or four people who know your work - professors, supervisors, officials, etc. Include full name, title, organization, address, phone numbers and email addresses. Always get permission before putting anyone on the list and prepare them for potential calls from employers. (Send them a thank-you letter for being a reference, update them on your job search and enclose a résumé.)

WRITTEN REFERENCES: In addition to asking for permission to list someone as a reference, you may ask for a letter from the individual. If you wish, you can establish a credentials file at the Center for Career Development where letters will be held and forwarded to employers upon request. Pick up a registration packet and reference forms at the Center for Career Development.

When you are asked for references, you can use your list and/or any letters you believe are relevant. Offer them at an interview or include them with your résumé IF references are requested in the job posting. This is what we mean by "References furnished upon request." Including this phrase on your résumé is not necessary and you can probably use the space for something much more informative.

If you have a credentials file, you may want to put at the bottom of the résumé something like... References available at the Center for Career Development, Adelphi University.

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