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Your Resume: General Concerns

What is a resume?
Some people think of a resume as their "life on a page," but how could anyone put everything important about herself on a single piece of paper (or two)? Actually, resumes are much more specific, including only relevant information about yourself for specific employers.

Like a life, however, a resume is always growing and changing. As your career goals shift or the job market changes--as you grow personally and professionally--chances are you will need to re-write your resume or at least create new versions. Writing a resume is a lifelong process.

How do you know what in your life--past, present, and future--is most relevant to prospective employers? How do you select which information to include? The quick answer to both these questions is "it depends." It depends on your individual career goals as well as on the professional goals of the companies hiring in your area or field of interest. In the end, only you, through research, planning, questioning and self-reflection, can determine the shape and content of your resume, but the strategies below along with those on the job search, can help you ask the right questions and begin exploring your options.

Why write a resume?
A silly question--to get a job of course! But why else?

to persuade your readers you are the best person for the job

to construct a professional image of yourself and establish your credibility

to provide a sample of your written communication skills

to convince prospective employers you deserve an interview

What kind of resume should you write?
This is a trick question. You will likely need to create more than one kind of resume. Moreover, your resume(s) will grow and change dramatically as you travel down your career paths. What are the most common kinds of resumes? Which ones are right for you given your career goals? To help answer these questions, you will need to think about your overall job search strategy and make some decisions about current resume technologies.

Tailoring for your audience
A tailored resume shines light on those qualifications a particular employer most wants to see. As you might expect, tailored resumes are most likely to get you an interview. To tailor your resume, though, you'll need to do some research into specific companies and positions. If you are unsure how to conduct research or what to look for, please see read more about the job search .

Regardless of the approach you take to writing your resume (generic or tailored), if you are creating a traditional print resume, you should write with two kinds of readers in mind:  

Skimmers: Resume readers are usually very busy and will probably not read every word. Especially on their first reading, busy readers will scan for desired information. Try to make such information easy to find "at a glance." Give your resume the 15-second test: What information stands out? What information gets lost in the rush

Skeptics: Once your resume has been skimmed, resume readers will look more closely and critically. Your resume may leave a good first impression on readers, but how will it look on closer inspection? Do you provide evidence and details for the careful reader? How can you make your resume look convincing "under the microscope"?

How can you write for both kinds of readers at once? A key strategy involves using organization and page design to create a resume that can be skimmed easily and read critically.

Developing your content
After completing a job search self-analysis and researching the company and position, you can begin identifying which of your experiences and goals are most relevant for your tailored resume. To help identify which of your credentials are most relevant, create two columns on a blank piece of paper. In one column list your general qualifications, skills, or experiences. In the other column, write down the qualifications most desired by the company that interests you.

  


The goal, of course, is to identify matches between the two columns. Once you have identified some matches, you can begin developing each of these qualifications in your resume. For example, if you listed good communication skills in both columns, then you'd start listing different experiences you've had that prove you have these skills. Maybe you worked as a customer service representative or took a class in business writing. In either case, you'll want to start listing the details of these experiences. Try to answer all the "journalistic questions" for each experience.

Use the journalistic questions

who?
write down position titles, names of your supervisors, leaders, etc.

what?
list your responsibilities and duties, special projects, etc.; describe the nature of your experience (volunteer, intern, academic, work, etc.)

where?
indicate place where you acquired such experience (the organization, program, department, division, etc.)

when?
write down important dates (starting date, ending date, dates of promotion, etc.)

why?
write down the goals--personal, professional, or organizational--you were trying to achieve

how?
itemize different procedures, techniques, technologies, etc. you used to achieve goals



Use the skills list

Another way to generate content for your resume is to look over the skills list. Go through the entire list of action words and put a checkmark next to all those that apply to you. Next go through the list again and check all those you think are most desired by employers hiring in your field. All those skills checked twice are the ones you want to develop and emphasize most in your resume. Apply the journalistic questions (above) to each skills word that was double-checked.

Organizing your sections
Now you can begin to cluster your experiences, skills, and goals into separate sections and begin to think about how to arrange your sections on your page. If you were simply to list all your various qualifications, nothing would stand out and readers would have a difficult time finding specific information.

To make your resume readers' job a little easier, you should consider developing a two-level text, using

headings to help skimmers find what they are looking for, and

details to convince skeptical readers you really have the qualifications you say you do.

Sample:


One of your first steps involves finding the right headings for your resume, those which will enable you to organize the content you've generated.

A common approach to organizing sections is to use the following scheme:  

Objective Statement (or Career Goal, Professional Objective, etc.)

Education

Work Experience (or Work History, Professional History, Experience, etc.)

Honors and Activities (or Activities, Hobbies, etc.)

However, what if you want to emphasize your extracurricular leadership activities, your language proficiency, volunteer work, publications, or technical skills? The above scheme doesn't leave a space for you to emphasize such qualifications. What should you do? Simply create your own headings to match the content of your resume and the job ad. You can do this by modifying, for example, Experience or Activities with descriptive adjectives that describe your skills more accurately (like Supervisory Experience, Leadership Activities, etc.).

Or you may use altogether different headings. Here are some others to consider:

Alternative Headings
honors and awards

publications

language proficiency

presentations

in-house seminars

achievements

internships

military experience

qualifications

career profile

community service

relevant coursework
continuing education

advanced career training

specialization

special projects

career-related skills

familiar computer applications

technical training

licenses and certification

accomplishments

skills summary

volunteer work

memberships


Your next step is to determine the right order for your sections. Generally speaking, for tailored resumes, the most important or impressive sections go closer to the top of the page. For example, if you have a great deal of relevant work experience, you might place work experience right below your objective statement; or, if your language proficiency will help your resume stand out from the crowd, place it closer to the top.

Designing your page
After you have developed some content for your resume and begun organizing your sections, you'll want to start experimenting with page design to help draw the eye to the right places and make your resume easy to read.

By force of habit, most readers begin reading in the top left corner of a page. So how can you improve the chances that something on your resume will be seen? Simply place it toward the top and/or left of your page (or of a specific section of your page).