If youre planning on job-hunting, you will almost certainly need a résumé. A résumé is just a written
summary of what you have to offer to your potential employeryour education, work experience, and
special skills. You should prepare a résumé before you make contact with a potential employer, so you
have one ready to give if youre asked.
A résumé should be designed to achieve one goal: to motivate an employer to invite you to an interview.
And once youre invited to an interview with an employer, your résumé should serve as a guide for both
of you while youre discussing your qualifications and skills. To be successful, your résumé should be
an organized, complete, clear, and accurate description of your life in the world of work.
Parts of a résumé
Although there are lots of different résumé styles to choose from, every résumé has certain basic
components. Your résumé should provide answers to these questions:
repar
ng a
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Contact InformationWho are you and how can
you be reached?
Include your name, address, phone number, and
email address if you have one. If youre a student
away from home, you should include both your
school address and a permanent address so
employers can reach you easily.
ObjectiveWhat do you want to do?
Including a job objective or career goal is optional,
but it can be a good way to show the employer
where you want to go in your career and the type
of position youre looking for now. If youre looking
for jobs in a number of different fields, you should
have a different job objective for each position.
Dont write an objective thats vagueif you cant
write something specific, dont include one. Your
job objective may include (1) the level of position
youre looking forsuch as entry level, internship,
supervisory, or executive; (2) the skills you hope to
bring to the position; (3) the actual title of the job
youre applying for; and (4) the field or industry in
which you hope to worksuch as health care,
education, or banking.
EducationWhat have you learned?
In this section, you should include any information
about your degree(s), including when and where
you graduated; your major, minor, or concentration;
and any academic awards or honors youve earned.
Make sure you use the official names for schools,
degrees, and majors/minors.
ExperienceWhat have you done and what can
you do?
The way you structure your experience section
will depend on what youre looking for and what
youve done. This section lists the positions youve
held, names and locations of employers, and dates
you were employed. Include any volunteer work or
independent study that youve done if its relevant
to the job youre seeking. You should list
responsibilities and achievements for each position
youve held. In some instances, you may want to
divide your experience into sub-sections. For
example, if youre seeking a teaching job, and you
have had both a teaching and a business
background, two separate headingsTeaching
Experience and Additional Experience may have
more impact than a single heading. Try to describe
your experience in the most brief and interesting
way possible. However, dont sacrifice important
details just to be brief. Be hard on yourself, and if
necessary, discard good material that wont have
any meaning to an employer.
Descriptions dont need to be phrased in complete
sentences. For example, instead of writing My
responsibilities included serving customers, you
can write served customers. Remember, the
question in the employers mind is Why should I
speak with this person? How is this person different
from all the other applicants? Try to answer those
questions in each of your descriptions.