CREATING AN EFFECTIVE RESUME

1. CREATING AN EFFECTIVE RESUME

2. How to Write an Effective Resume Title • Select a name that is memorable and professional • Goal is to get employer to keep reading your resume • Include resume objective and your strongest qualification • Ex. Years of experience, an industry credential desired job target or job-related skill

3. OVERVIEW OF BASICSECTIONS • THE OBJECTIVE SECTION • EDUCATION • EXPERIENCE • SKILLS • HONORS AND ACTIVITIES • CONTACT *NOT ALL SECTIONS ARE NEEDED

4. RESUME OBJECTIVE SECTION • A short section (1-3 lines), often in form of a sentence fragment, immediately below contact information. • What are you trying to accomplish, your career objective • Is this section needed, no, but information used here could be put somewhere else

5. Tips for writing objective statement • Focus on how you would benefit employer • Don’t be vague • Keep it concise and targeted • Emphasize key qualifications, skills and/or goals • Makes a good first impression • Relate company goals to personal goals

6. A good objective statement answers questions! • What position(s) are you applying for? • What are your main qualifications? • What are your career goals? • What is your professional identity? • How can you help the company?

7. “Instant Objective Statements” • For practice fill in the parts in brackets • An opportunity to [professional goal] in a [type of organization, work place or field] • [Position title] with emphasis in [areas of expertise] • To utilize my [qualifications, strengths, or skills] as a [position title] • A position as a [position title] for [company name] allowing me to develop my [qualifications, strengths, or skills]

8. CONTACT INFORMATION • Usually located at top of resume page • Info for prospective employer to contact you • Includes • Name • Address (city, state, zip) • Phone (home and/or cell) • Email • Web address • Any other means of contact

9. WRITING A WINNINGEMPLOYMENT HISTORY • TIPS: • Ditch the Job Description (its boring) • Prove Your Value • Emphasize your accomplishments • Provide proof of your potential value • Quantify Results • Include measurable results of your work • Use numbers and percents

10. . • Employment History cont. • Which statement had more impact? • Significantly increased revenues and grew client base between 2005 and 2008. • Increased revenues from $250,000 in 2005 to $1.5 million in 2008 and tripled client base from 2,500 to 7,000.

11. ARE YOU UP TO PAR? • Stands for-PROBLEM, ACTION, RESULTS • Think about your accomplishments • What type of challenges did you face? • What actions did you take to overcome it? • What were the results of your efforts? Did your accomplishments benefit the company? • Write down a list of your PAR outcomes • Incorporate the most impressive ones into your resume

12. LEAD WITH YOUR WORK’S OUTCOMES • Write the results of your work before listing the problems and action. This allows you to lead with the most compelling aspect of your accomplishment. For example: Reversed an annual $2 million decline in market share by streamlining the benchmark process and building a top-flight sales team.

13. MAKE IT READABLE • Use a combination of paragraphs and bullets • Provide brief paragraph that details your responsibilities • Then create a bulleted list of your top contributions • Use heading like: KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS OR SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTIONS

14. TARGET YOUR EXPERIENCE TO YOUR GOAL • RESUMES ARE MARKETING TOOLS • Employment history should market you for current job objective • Use accomplishments that relate to your goal • Remove job duties and etc that do not support your objective

15. USE POWER WORDS • Select your words carefully • Avoid dull or stale phrases like: • Responsible for • Duties included • BE HONEST • ALWAYS BE TRUTHFUL ABOUT YOUR BACKROUND!

16. EDUCATION SECTION • Use your education section to outshine your competition • Where to place education? • Place experience before education if 5 or more years related to your goal • Place education before experience if recent graduate or with less than 5 years work experience • Which is stronger? Education or experience?? • Place strongest closest to top of the page

17. THE GPA • STUDENT OR RECENT GRADUATE • List GPA if 3.0 or higher • Lower GPA if very challenging program • Add your Major GPA if higher than overall GPA • If scale is not standard 4.0, list the scale • e.g. GPA: 4.1/4.5

18. HONORS • Include academic honors to show you excelled • NEW GRADS • Students and new grads with little relate job experience make education the center piece of your resume • Showcase academic achievements • Extracurricular activities • Special projects and related courses (to job objective)

19. College Name– Payson, AZ • BA in Communications, concentration in advertising, anticipated graduation 2013 • Senior Project – Mock Advertising Campaign for Coca-Cola • Billboard/print/TV/radio ads, direct mail campaign and press releases • Related course work: Advertising, Ad writing, Direct mail, Media Plans in Advertising and Marketing, Public Relations

20. EXPERIENCED JOB SEEKERS • List basic facts regarding your degree: • Institution name • Location • Degree • Major and date • Ex. The College of New Jersey-Trenton, NJ • MA in Education May 1986

21. HIGH SCHOOL INFORMATION • Include all relevant HS information just like college info was entered • List related courses • Conferences or training • Professional development • If you have college credits, remove references to high school

22. “BARE BONES” EDUCATION SECTION • Schools you have attended, including universities, community colleges, technical schools, etc. • Location of schools • Date of graduation (actual or anticipated) • Degree(s) earned or pursued • GPA • Courses taken outside of typical major classes that may add to qualifications of job.

23. Example: M.A. in Education The College of New Jersey Trenton, New Jersey Graduation: 1986 GPA: 3.96 / 4.0

24. WHAT ELSE MAY BE INCLUDED? • EXTRA INFO ABOUT YOUR DEGREE • Major, minor, or selected GPAs, funding sources, honors,etc.) usually listed or included in ( ) • SPECIALIZATIONS AND SPECIAL PROJECTS – list or describe briefly • OTHER RELEVANT SKILLS AND TRAINING (relevant course work, computer skills, language proficiency, certificates etc.

25. Major or minor GPAs Any honors related to degree What are my areas of specialization, emphasis,or concentration What special course or degree-related projects may be relevant What courses have I taken that are related to my career goals? With what computer programs am I most familiar? What languages am I good in? Any certifications or licenses? Any on-job-training? QUESTIONS TO ANSWER

26. SHOWCASE MARKETABLE SKILLS IN YOUR RESUME SKILLS SECTION • Great opportunity to show employer you’ve got the right skills for the job. • Consider skills important for the job • Search job postings in newspaper or on-line employment sites • Find ideal requirements in the ads and list frequently repeated skills • Create list of your matching skills, put in your resume. Your skills can come from your work experience, education, hobbies, extracurricular activities, volunteer work and even self study.

27. 3 TYPES OF SKILLS • JOB RELATED SKILLS • Relevant to a specific job • TRANSFERABLE • Skills learned in one field that can be used in another, data( research, synthesize information) and people (instruct, manage, lead, negotiate) • ADAPTIVE • Adaptive skills include reliability, ability to get along with colleagues, honesty & productivity

28. ADDING YOUR SKILLS TO YOUR RESUME • Job relate and transferable are most desirable on your resume • Indicate your skill level and years of experience for each skill • Be honest • Guideline for skill level • Beginner- you have exposure but lack experience • Intermediate – between beginner and expert • Expert – Highly developed skill level. Solid experience and understand advanced concepts. You demonstrate proficiency and superior skill level

29. HOW MANY SKILLS DO I LIST? • Employers quickly scan resumes, so long lists are not likely to be read • Select 10 to 15 of strongest, most desirable • Short bulleted list more effective

30. ADDING ADDITIONAL INFORMATION • Ad information that supports and reinforces your qualifications • Honors and Awards • List or awards – add to Honors and Awards section • One or Two – list under corresponding job • Academic honors – Education section • Testimonials • Adds credibility and validate accomplishments and personal traits and area of expertise mentioned in resume

31. Publications • Career related articles, books, blogs • Shows you are an expert in your field • Demonstrates good written communication skill • Add to Career Highlights section • Speaking Engagements • Employers value good verbal communicators • Include: topic, where and when done • Add to Career Highlights section • Volunteerism • Demonstrates dedicationcommunity and reflects positively on your character • Include in Career Highlights section

32. Affiliations • Professional memberships – especially in career field • Make sure it is an active membership • Hobbies • Ask yourself if your hobby will help employers see you in a better light, if so include • Include in Interests and Hobbies section • All of these go into the last section of your resume • Can be omitted if there is a lack of space or relevant information

33. WHAT GOES INTO IT? • Draw three columns, one for each of the following • Titles or positions • Sponsors or affiliated organizations • Dates of involvement (M/Y _ M/Y or Y – Y) VISUAL DESIGN • Simple list, • Columns • List with bulleted descriptions • Coordinate with other sections

34. EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES • Can be used to show commitment • As important a component of your overall experience as any part-time job or internship • Look for skills developed in these activities that can relate to the job you want. • Look for leadership opportunities, employers love leadership experience

35. DESIGNING YOUR RESUME • USE DESIGN STRATEGIES • Picking fonts • Serif • Sans serif • Using layout • Alignment • Columns • Coordinate with the rest of the resume!!!

36. COORDINATE DESIGN STRATEGIES • Match design with rest of resume • Use same font types • Use consistent layout • AIM FOR A PROFESSIONAL PACKAGE

37. PROOFREAD WITH A MAGNIFIYING GLASS • TRIPLE-CHECK FOR ACCURACY • SPELL CHECK • ONE TYPO COULD COST YOU AN INTEVIEW!