CV/RESUME WRITING

1. CV/RESUME WRITING SESSION 10

2. Resume • Purpose • Is to get an interview/land up with a job • Resume should be user-centered and persuasive. • Always consider and think about your audience • Readers’ expectations (what can be provided to them) • Readers’ characteristics (are they stakeholders, decision-makers or shadow readers?; their organizational position) • Readers’ goals (what they want to accomplish) • Readers’ context (for what type of situation is the document demanded)

3. Types of Resume • General: fits a number of companies and jobs • Personalized: fits one company and one job

4. Things to be Considered • Selection of background facts • Arrangement by groups • Wording of the headings • Presentation of the data • Other vital information • Some points on wording • Attractive physical layout

5. Selection of Background Facts • Review your list of background facts • Select all the facts that will help the reader evaluate you • Provide everything that is in the application letter along with additional supporting details

6. Arrangement by Groups • Organize the facts into logical groups (not limited to): • Contact • Education • Experience • Personal Qualities • References

7. Wording of the Headings • Provide heading for every information groups such as “Work Experience”, “References” etc. • These are called topic heading • General heading would be “Resume” or “Curriculum Vitae”

8. Presentation of the Data • List the facts under each heading • List everything that is important

9. Other Vital Information • Statement of career goals/objective • Contact details

10. Some Point on Wordings • Avoid the use of pronouns (I, you) • Use the same grammatical form for all equal level headings and for the elements listed under each heading

11. Attractive Physical Layout • Make the resume attractive to the eye • Do consider font, space and margins

12. Sections of a Resume • Contact • Objective • Education • Experience • Honors, Activities and Outreach • References

13. Contact • Doesn’t have any special heading • Things to include are: • Your full name • Your email address • Your permanent address • Your local or campus address (if applicable) • Your phone number(s) , fax etc. • Your web address (URL)

14. Contact • Make sure that the contact section is noticeable • You can put the letters in bold, center them and then section off with horizontal line

15. Objective • Objective is optional • However, if you have a clearly targeted job objective, then definitely include it • Avoid pronouns and flowery language • Focus on what you have to offer • E.g. Editorial Assistant position in publishing industry, utilizing my background in literature and my three years of experience writing for campus and local newspapers

16. Education • Highlights your schooling and relevant academic training • If you have substantial work experience, then this section will be very brief • If you are a currently enrolled college student or a recent graduate, you may want to build this section substantially • Placed in the middle of a resume (in between the objective statement and honors/activities section) • However, if your educational background is your strongest qualification, then you want to put it near the top

17. Education • Things to include are: • Universities/4 – year colleges/technical and professional schools (if relevant) • Location of schools • Date of graduation (actual or anticipated) • Degrees earned • GPA (if greater than 3.0) • You don’t have to include high schools or below

18. How to build your education section? • List schooling in chronological order with the recent one being first • Based on your career goals, you may want to include/omit information..e.g. Focus Purbanchal University, Biratnagar, Nepal. Candidate for MBA degree in Finance. GPA 3.5. Focus: Corporate Finance; International Finance. Expected to graduate in May 2012 Purbanchal University, Biratnagar, Nepal. MBA degree in Finance. GPA 3.5. Focus: Corporate Finance; International Finance. May 2012

19. Experience • Can be titled as Work Experience/Work History/Employment History etc. • List your experiences in reverse chronological order • Things to include are: • Name of the companies you worked for • City and country for each company • Title/positions you held • Your employment dates for each job • Duties you performed

20. How to build your experience section • Use of bulleted list is most common • Bullets must be in parallel form • Put each item in active voice and use powerful action verbs • E.g. Wrote, Managed, Researched, Planned etc. • Cite numbers to make a point • E.g. number of people supervised, size of event, budget you oversaw etc.) • You can separate your extracurricular activities and volunteer work from the experience section. However, it is not necessary. • Avoid the use of pronouns

21. Other sections • Activities/Volunteer work/Interests • Leadership activities, community involvement • Skills (computer, technical) • References • Can be included in the resume or • Just write “Will be provided upon request” • Select references that cover your background • Three – six references can be provided • Include their name, job title, company, mailing address and other contact details

22. Always remember Please proofread your CV/Resume time and again and make sure you update it regularly