Resume Writing for College Graduates

It is usually written in four parts:

1. type of position desired;
2. kind of company, industry, or organization for which you want to work;
3. any special skills or abilities that you have and would like to use (optional);
4. strong geographic preference or restriction.

Many people like to add their desire to advance into management. This does not impress employers, however, unless you identify a specific management area compatible with your long range career goals. DO NOT imply that the position desired is to gain experience for your own long range career objectives. DO NOT mention graduate school plans.

The career objective must be condensed into one or two short simple phrases. Avoid the "shotgun" approach, i.e., using a very general career objective and sending it to numerous companies. Instead, prepare different resumes with different career objectives if you are looking for positions that are not similar in nature, such as sales or retail management trainee, or if you are looking for a similar position in two different types of companies, e.g., an accounting position in a public accounting firm or a corporation. Geographic desires can be mentioned here, but keep in mind that they might eliminate you from consideration.

Some examples of career objectives might include:

• Position as field service representative with national software corporation.
• Management trainee position with a specialty retailer. Willing to relocate and work long hours.
• Willing to relocate and work long hours.
• Technical sales with an energy related industry in the Southwest. Long range goals of regional sales management.

Following the career objective, order the major headings by importance to the career objective. If you are completing a degree that qualifies you for your career objective, start with Education. After you have been in a job for a year or more, experience will usually outweigh education, and should precede it. If you are applying to educational institutions, however, always show education first, regardless of date of degree(s).

Indicate the job title, employer, city, state, and dates of employment. The order of these entries depends upon what is being emphasized, i.e., if job titles are relevant to the career objective; put them first. If the employer is well known, however, the organization can be placed before the job title.

Describe your functional skills in short, snappy phrases starting with descriptive action verbs (see General Tips for a sample list of action verbs). Avoid the use of personal pronouns and complete sentences. Do not be wordy: be specific. Convey accomplishments and problem solving skills. Emphasize leadership potential; organizational ability; communication skills, both verbal and written; ingenuity; and teamwork. Include any promotions received, particularly if within a short time period. Indicate measurable results, e.g., "Increased productivity by 15 percent."

Do not start descriptions with "responsibilities were" or "duties included:" and avoid words like "assisted," "helped," and "worked;" instead, describe the tasks that were performed.

Use past tense for past jobs and present tense for present jobs. Describe skills, not duties. Vary the words used in descriptions of similar jobs.

Rank order the phrases by importance to the career objective; thus, if the employer only reads one phrase, he/she will get the most relevant one!

Write the year only once if both months fall within it, e.g., June-September, 19__ or use Summer 19__ or Fall Semester 19__. You may also use periods of time versus actual dates, e.g., "two years," "six months," and so forth. This is helpful when there are gaps in employment or no recent work experience.

If you have cooperative education experience, internships, or practicums, it is recommended that you use a major heading of "Co-op Experience," "Internship" or "Practicum Experience" for example and list the experiences in reverse chronological order. Then use the heading, "Other Experience," for other jobs.

Additional major headings for experience include, "Relevant Experience," "Professional Experience," "Teaching Experience," "Research Experience," and so forth. In a health field, the term "Clinical Experience" can also be used. You can choose only one of the suggested headings, such as "Experience," or use all that apply, depending upon whether you want to emphasize related experiences or a variety of positions and areas in which you have experience.

If you want to highlight only two or three jobs, but have had many others, you can include a "blanket" statement such as: "Have held various other part-time and summer positions since early high school".

Include unique experiences: they sometimes get attention. For example, a student who was a finance major reported that, after much deliberation, he included under Additional Information his tour of Europe with the Chattanooga Boys Choir when he was six years old. Every employer with whom he talked asked him about the experience and remembered him by it. Do not, however, include interests which would appear to be dangerous or negative, such as hang gliding or motorcycle racing.

Use professors, advisors, and employers as references. Do not use personal or family friends or clergy unless personal references are specifically requested.

Exception:

All majors in Architecture and Planning are advised by their school to include references on their resume. List three: include name, title, organization, complete business address with zip code, and area code with the telephone number. It is also appropriate to include an e-mail address.

Exceptions:

Include any of the above information if:

1. it is relevant to the job, e.g., the person's age if the job is in an establishment that serves liquor

2. it would support the career objective, e.g., a picture of the applicant if the job objective is for modeling or acting, or if

3. the writer has a disability and wants an employer to know about it before the interview, e.g., "Health: Legally blind but am completely independent, live alone, participate in social activities, use public transportation, and have successfully completed a bachelor's degree with a 'B' average." (Note that achievements have been stressed.)