Writing Resumes that Work

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Writing Resumes that Work

The role of the resume

Describing your experiences

Other resume parts

Effective cover letters

Questions

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

A targeted document

sent to a decision-making individual

highlighting essential qualifications

for a specific type of position

for the purpose of getting an

interview

What is a Resume?

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Connects your background with the job you’re applying for

With cover letter, supports the case for why you should get an interview

Frames questions for the interview

Should NOT be the first expression of your interest

The Role of the Resume

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Two Stages of

Writing a Resume

1. Basic “core” resume– Gather all key elements

– Describe all experiences

fully

2. Custom resume– Emphasize most relevant

background

– Mimic the style of the field

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Think Like the Employer

Position requirements are

organized in three categories

– Content Knowledge

– Skills

– Qualities

Your resume should address their

expectations in all three dimensions

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

NAME & CONTACT INFO

EDUCATION

RELEVANT EXPERIENCE

OTHER INFO

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Content: What to Include in

Experience Descriptions

Context – description of employer (products, services); scope of project

Your Role – responsibilities (not tasks); relationship to others

Results or Outcomes – what was accomplished; your contributions

Skills Acquired – content, transferable, or technical skills gained

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Student Supervisor

Wilson Hall, Michigan State University

February 2007-present

Monitor other workers.

Open/close cafeteria.

Serve food.

Student Supervisor

Wilson Hall, Michigan State University

February 2007-present

• Trained and managed 20 student employees to

provide high quality service

• Served an average of 600 customers per 4-hour

lunch shift

• Created student employee work schedules

• Resolved conflicts between employees and with

customers

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Analyst Intern Reams Asset Management Co., Albany, NY Jun-Aug 2008

• Analyzed client inquiries for a mid-sized investment firm to detect trends.

• Created a multiple-option model to explain findings.

• Presented report to a panel of traders and the Marketing Manager.

• Results contributed to a restructured method of fielding inquiries. Client

satisfaction with help line services improved by 25% over 6 months.

• Enhanced knowledge of SPSS and PowerPoint.

Reams Asset Management Company, Albany, NY 2008

Assisted the firm with various projects. Helped write a report for

improving client service. Worked directly with the Marketing Manager.

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

Paradyme Management Greenbelt, MD Jun 2013 – Aug 2013

Business Intelligence Intern

Developed workflows using the Pentaho Business Intelligence tool.

Created complex and optimized queries to generate reports.

Researched Dozer mapper implementation for a project requiring massive ETL

Loads. Work to be utilized in March 2013.

eClerx Services Ltd., India 2006 - 2013 Associate Process Manager, Pune & Mumbai, India (November 2010 – January 2013)

Managed processing and reconciliation of Derivatives, leading multiple teams with more

than 15 employees

Facilitated execution of UAT based on business requirements to obtain client sign off

Worked as a liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze and validate

requirements for changes to IT systems

Developed business and user requirement documentation- improving efficiency and

streamlining business

Communicated effectively between Morgan Stanley and development team to deliver

functional requirements such as screen, interface and UI designs

Critically analyzed information gathered from multiple sources and decomposed high

level information into detailed requirements reconciling conflicts

Translated client requirements into process flow diagrams and Agile user stories

Translated business requirements into functional and non-functional specifications

Goldman Sachs & Co – Enterprise Architecture Department of Technology Division Jersey City, NJ Project Manager / Business Analyst – Summer Internship May 2013 – Aug 2013

Cooperated with internal technical and business teams to evaluate company’s overall enterprise architecture competence as well as technologies linked to business operations; assessed, identified and recommended potential enhancements in technical and business processes and performance.

Lead an IT software development project aiming to optimize company’s performance around the globe; made sure the project stayed within the defined budget, goals, deadlines, and met stakeholders’ expectations. Effectively collaborated with system users to ensure the project met business requirements and needs; managed co-ordination of the partners and working groups engaged in project work (i.e. successfully linked and oversaw business and technical teams from London, NY, and NJ to assess final product’s business/functional requirements; documented business/functional requirements using Microsoft Excel and JIRA for further use in the system designing process).

o Monitored and made decisions concerning project progress and performance (i.e. recorded and managed project issues and escalated where necessary; effectively communicated and submitted project status reports to the assigned supervisor and the project sponsors/stakeholders).

o Prepared and supervised project related training activities within the defined budget (i.e. prepared an informative presentation to educate internal clients about the requirements gathering process, its purpose, and benefits; trained clients on using JIRA tool).

o Planned User Acceptance Testing (UAT) strategy and prepared UAT kick-off deck further used in UAT execution (i.e. successfully collaborated with 12 internal business and tech geographically dispersed teams to identify UAT scope, plan, diagram flow, execution timeline, resource commitments, day-to- day/escalation contacts of the involved in the project systems).

o Scheduled and lead UAT discussions (i.e. agenda/minutes, discussion-guiding docs, follow-ups) as well as addressed all open questions in regard to the UAT planning and execution processes.

o Prepared and distributed questionnaire to identify systems Go-Live dependencies of 26 internal business units; successfully documented identified Go-Live dependencies; addressed all open Go-Live questions and issues.

Bishop Career Services Network

2010

The Hierarchy of VerbsLeader Created Founded Initiated

Proposed Managed Directed

Associate Coordinated Implemented Executed

Conducted Analyzed Researched

Assistant Fielded Handled Responded

Insured Maintained Ordered

Helper Participated Covered Served

Answered Routed Counted

Other Resume Parts

Contact info

Activities/Awards

Education

Objective

References

Final Check

Best content takes lead

Consistent format & font throughout

Accurate alignment

No typos

Good use of space

Logical breaks

Cover Letter Template

1st Who I am, what I seek, how I got

your name

2nd Why I’m interested in the job,

company, industry

3rd What I offer (skills & experience

relevant to requirements)

4th What action I will take next

Questions?

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