Basic Features of Résumés

Mary McCall :: WAC for ANSC 481 :: Fall 2015Adapted from Emily Legg’s and the Purdue OWL’s PowerPoints on Resumes and the Purdue OWL resources on Résumés and Vitas

Short informative document that lists credentials

Education, work experience, job objective, technical skills, etc.

Size/length?

Job versus internship versus grad school app

While you want your résumé to generally meet the conventional requirements for the résumé, you want to make sure that your resume is distinctive.

The Rhetoric of the Résumé

You should always tailor your résumé as closely as you can to the position you’re applying to Thus, having multiple versions of your résumé is

often a good strategy

Your résumé should reflect relevant professional experience you have, but you should also think about communicating transferable skills through previous positions that may not seem directly applicable Your cover letter can serve as a way of making

these connections more apparent to a recruiter

Important Takeaways

Sections

Contact Information

Include:

Name Permanent and/or campus addresses Permanent and/or campus phone

numbers Email address

Objective Statements

Two different approaches to objective statements Brief and to the point Detailed description of desired position and

qualifications

You must decide which approach is best

First Approach: Brief

To obtain a summer internship insales/marketing at Owens Corning

A full-time position as a system analyst

A summer internship as a project engineer

A summer internship in a sales/marketing position at Owens Corning where I can employ my team building skills and versatility to create new ideas

A full-time position as a systems analyst which will allow me to use my programming, technical writing, and supervisory skills to lead a group of dynamic employees

A summer internship as a project engineer with a construction company that will utilize my experience in field engineering, cost controlling, and estimating

Second Approach: Descriptive

Education

Beginning with the highest level ofeducational achievement, include:

University attended Major/Minors GPA (if 3.0 or above) Date of program completion

information

Work Experience

Include positions you have held which are related, in some way, to the job you are seeking Can be both paid and volunteer positions

Be creative with this section of your résumé by describing and emphasizing your experiences in the most relevant way possible.

Action Verb List (Power Verbs)

Handout List of Action Verbs

Action phrases will help you avoid being too brief and from understating your qualifications.

Example: Before: Planned activities After: Planned arts and crafts activities for

preschool aged children

Parallelism with Action Verbs

All of your verbs should be parallel (have the same tense and plurality)

Generally, use present tense for present jobs, past tense for past jobs

Tip: Place an invisible “I” before the bullet point to see if a) there is a verb and b) if the verb tense is consistent

Example 1: Library Information Assistant

• Develop and organize individual projects for library patrons• Make decisions regarding addition of and removing library materials• FileMaker Pro used extensively to track circulation• Responsible for cataloging and processing books, videos, and CDs

Purdue Equestrian Team Women in BusinessBeta Gamma Sigma Honor Society Alpha Lambda Delta Phi Eta

SigmaBoiler Gold Rush Team Leader School of Management Peer

Mentor

Activities, Honors, Volunteer Experience

• Include relevant activities, honors, and

volunteer experiences

Scanability/readability first

Uniqueness second (but it helps)

Often you will want numerous versions For different jobs (or types of applications) For different situations (more unique for a job fair or

F2F meeting, standard for email submission, no frills for a text entry website submission, etc.)

Résumé Design

The Quadrant Test

Divide your résumé into four quadrants. Each one of your quadrants should have an equal amount of text and white space.

When your page is balanced, the reader will typically read anything in quadrant 1 first. So, you should put your most important information—anything you want the employer to see first—in this quadrant.

Serif and Sans-Serif Fonts

By manipulating the fonts used in your résumé, you can easily create a hierarchy of information.

American audiences are used to reading serif fonts, so these fonts tend to keep the eye reading along the text. Sans-serif fonts, on the other hand, make the eye stop.

Therefore, sans-serif fonts are typically used for headings and titles, allowing the reader to quickly locate information, while serif fonts are used for descriptions.

San-Serifs

Serifs

20 Second Test

How do you know when you have successfully created aneasily read résumé that allows employers to processinformation quickly?

Try having someone read your résumé for 20 seconds. What all did he or she learn about you? If your reader noticed within twenty seconds what you

want employers to learn about you, then most likely you have created an effective résumé.

If not, try moving important information to the first quadrant, checking that you have used sans serif and serif fonts consistently, and limiting the tools for emphasis you use in your document.

Résumés and CVs

A résumé is a 1 page document that highlights the necessary skills and experience you have for a particular job/internship to get you an interview Usually for non-academic jobs in fields like marketing,

accounting, communications, engineering, etc.

A CV is a longer document that reflects your research and academic work (e.g. work you presented at conferences and/or published, classes you taught, etc.) Usually for faculty positions and/or grants, fellowships, and

research positions in industry, academia, and the government

Résumés and CVs (cont.)

Examples of résumé design: Organization: Headline, Objective (if applicable),

Education, Experience, Awards, and Skills https://www.cco.purdue.edu/students/resume-cv.aspx#resu

me-rotation

Examples of CV design: Organization: Headline, Objective (if applicable),

Education, Teaching Experience, Research Experience, Postdoctoral Work, Internships, Publications, Presentations, Skills, Awards

https://www.cco.purdue.edu/students/resume-cv.aspx#cv-section

Resources

Purdue OWL resources on resumes: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/719/01/