Writing Your Own Résumé: A Comprehensive Guide for Job Seekers

1. Writing your own Résumé Lecture 12

2. Yesterday • Résumés • What is a résumé? • Preparing your résumé • Type of résumés • What to include/omit

3. Today • Making your own résumé • Sections to include • How to write each section • Print and e- résumés • Editing and finishing your résumé

4. Today • Structured written summary of experiences, skills, education and activities that make you qualified for a job • Think of it like a sales message.

5. Format • There is no perfect résumé format • What we will learn today are guidelines and one successful approach • Don’t take these as rules!

6. Résumés • We are going to create an entry level résumé • Entry level = lowest level • Use this résumé style to get your first job

7. Sections • Name • Address • Objective • Summary • Education • Experience • Activities/skills/awards

9. Name • This is the first thing on your résumé • Think of it as your title • It is usually centered • May be emphasized with big font, bold font, or underlines.

11. Address • The next thing on your résumé. • For employers to contact you • What to include:

12. Address • Full street address (city, country, and postal code) • Phone number (home and cell) • Email (professional)

13. Address • For students, include: • Temporary address (school) • Permanent address (home)

16. Objective • This is where you list exactly what you want • What kind of job? • Where? • When? • What kind of company? Big? Small? • Change this section for each different job

17. Objective • This is where you list exactly what you want • What kind of job? • Where? • When? • What kind of company? Big? Small? • Change this section for each different job

19. Objective • “Accounting position at a large company in Beijing” • “Assistant manager job at a small bank in Shanghai” • “Teller position at a large bank in Zhumadian”

20. Summary • 2-4 lines stating your most impressive qualifications for the specific job • Academic achievements, jobs held, awards won, positions held, skills, etc. • Use this to grab the reader’s attention

22. Summary • ``Banking internship at City Bank” • “Fluent written and spoken English” • “Proficient in MSOffice, Java, HTML” • “2 years of student council”

23. Summary • Have no more than 4 and no less than 2 statements • Otherwise, leave it out!

24. Education • Include degree name, university name, location, expected graduation date, GPA, honours and awards • You may include a list of relevant courses

25. Education • GPA = grade point average. The average grade of all classes you have taken. • In the United States, it is based on a 4 point scale in the following way

26. Grade Point Average • A = 4.0 • A- = 3.7 • B+ = 3.3 • B = 3.0 • B - = 2.7 • C+ = 2.3 • C = 2.0 • C - = 1.7 • D + = 1.3 • D = 1.0 • D- = 0.7 • F = 0

27. Education • You can calculate your GPA on this scale. • 75% = 3.0 • Only include the GPA if it is above 3.0 • If you leave it off, employers will assume it is below 3.0

28. Education • You may also include any other formal courses and test scores • IELTS, TOEFL, etc.

31. Education • If your degree is not completed, simply say “expected graduation date” Bachelor of Business Administration in Accounting, Expected Graduation: June 2011 Huang Huai University, Zhumadian, China Current GPA: 3.4/4.0

32. Experience • In this section include any jobs, volunteer work, or clubs that are relevant for the desired position • You may have one heading “experience” or more: “related experience”, “volunteer experience”, “other experience”, “organizations”

34. Experience • Write all the details of the job (position, company, dates, location) • Then a brief description of the job, followed by specific accomplishments

35. Experience • Job title, dates held, company name, location • Brief description of job • Accomplishment 1 • Accomplishment 2

36. Experience • Lecturer, Sep. 2009 – present, HHU, Zhumadian, China • Teach business communications to 2nd year students • Won teacher of the week award twice

37. Experience • List your most recent job in each category first, then move chronologically • Use past tense verbs for jobs held previously • Use present tense for jobs currently held

38. Experience • Use action verbs for emphasis • Created, assisted, developed, managed, directed, launched, raised, solved, saved, etc. • Avoid weak statements by using these and other action verbs

39. Experience • List specific accomplishments • Whenever possible, quantify your accomplishments (use numbers) • Don`t use personal pronouns (I, we, me) TOO WORDY

40. Activities/skills/awards • On this, the final section, list any activities, awards or skills that could not fit into the experience section • Language skills, computer skills, clubs, activities, community awards etc.

42. Activities/skills/awards • For activities, list position, group, and years • “President, Student Council, 2008-2009” • “Member, Accounting Club, 2007-2009”

43. Activities/skills/awards • For skills, simply list them: • “Fluent Korean” • “MSOffice, Java, HTML” • “Piano virtuoso”

44. Activities/skills/awards • For awards, list the award and the date: • “Cochrane Award for Business Communications, 2009” • “Lewis Award for Community Service, 2007”

45. Activities/skills/awards • You may list all these together by including all three in the heading

46. Completing your résumé • You want your résumé in two forms: • Printed résumé – to drop off in person and to send in emails • Text only résumé – to post on websites and job boards

47. Printed Resume • Use plenty of white space • Use lists to make it more readable • Use one kind of bullet points (-, *, etc) • Use headings for sections

48. Printed Resume • Use one kind of font • Use a traditional font • 10-12 font size for résumé (slightly bigger for name) • Align text properly

49. Printed Resume • Print on high quality paper • Print with a high quality printer • Never fold your résumé

50. Printed Resume • For emails, use a standard format • PDF is the best • Word Document is also good