resume guide
TRANSCRIPT
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Resume Guide
Table of contents
Key Components of a Resume p.2-4
Different Types of Resumes & Examples of their
Templates p. 4-12
How to Format the ‘Header’ p.12-14
How to Organize your Resume p.14
Formatting tips p.14-19
Bullet points key words and examples p.19-24
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Key Components of a Resume
Contact Information o The header of your resume should include your name,
address, phone number, and email address (that your
regularly use)
Job Objective o This is optional to put on a resume
o A statement indicting in more detail what position you are
looking for and what skills you would bring to the position.
o Just a statement- about a sentence long
o Should be specific –can have (up to) four parts
Field of the desired position
Level of position
Skills you will bring to the position
The position itself if it is in response to a job ad
Summary of Qualifications o This section allows you to state your skills, values and
interests to gain the attention of the reader.
o It is an excellent place to include keywords and requirements
that have been stated in a job description.
o "Summary of Qualifications” means "Summary of
Qualifications for your job objective." Remember, your
resume is a marketing piece for your next job, not the story of
your whole life. So, rather than summing up your entire
career in your Summary of Qualifications, you just need to
write about how you qualify for the next step in your career:
your resume job objective.
o In this section, you can write about your experience,
credentials, expertise, personal values, work ethic,
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background, an accomplishment in the field, amount of years
spent doing this type of experience, statement that speaks
about your character or anything that qualifies you for the job
you're going for.
Education o Put degree(s) earned, including where and when you
graduated; date(s); major, minor, or concentration;
certification; and academic awards and honors.
o Make sure you use the official names for schools, degrees
and majors/minors, associates, certificates etc.
o Include GPA, if it is a strong GPA (3.0)
o If you have only attended some school you can put the title of
some completed coursework if it is relevant to the position
you are apply for
o It is not always necessary to put high school, don’t include if
you have other education beyond high school, consider
including if you don’t have education past high school and
want to have an education section
Employment History o This section lists in chronological order the positions you
have held, names and locations of employers, and dates
employed. You should also list responsibilities,
achievements, significant contributions and demonstrated
skills (usually in bullet point form)
o This can further be broken into different categories
depending on what position you are looking for
o Example: if you have had past jobs in retail/customer
service and had past jobs doing Administrative work and now
you want an administrative position you can put your
administrate experience first and retail experience second
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Skills and Abilities o This is the place to put important and/or interesting
information that does not fit anywhere else. With the advance
of technology, it is increasingly important to include a
section on computer skills
o If you have any other notable skills, such as foreign
languages, musical talents, or writing skills include these
here
Activities and Honors (Certificates) o If you have received any awards or honors, or been involved
in campus or community organizations, you should mention
them in this section
o Identify any leadership roles that you had in these
organizations.
References o Simply indicate that references are "available upon request"
in a paper version of your résumé
o You should know at least 3 people who can serve as your
references
Ask in advance for permission to use them as
references
Use faculty and employers as references, not personal
acquaintances
Do not include their names, address, or phone numbers
on the résumé.
Different Typed of Resumes & Examples of Templates
There are multiple types of resume and ways to organize
them as well
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Chronological Resume
o A chronological resume starts with the job objective,
education section, and/or summary of qualifications
These categories are up to you whether or not you put
them (most resumes have an education sections, some
have all three of these sections as well)
o Then you list your work history, with the most recent
position listed first. Your jobs are listed in reverse
chronological order with your current or most recent job,
first.
o Employers typically prefer this type of resume because it's
easy to see what jobs you have held and when you have
worked at them.
o You can have different sections within your resume and
different titles within each section but the jobs in
chronological order
For example if you wanted a position in the medical
field you can put ‘medical experience’ list those jobs in
chronological order as your first section
Then have ‘work experience’ as the next section
and list those jobs
This way if your list job was in fast food but you
want to highlight your work in the medical field
because you are looking for a job in that field-
your medical experience will be at the top and
highlighted
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Functional Resume/ Skills based resume
o A functional resume focuses on your skills and experience,
rather than on your chronological work history. It is used
most often by people who are changing careers or who have
gaps in their employment history.
o Mainly list your skills and bullet points to how you have
demonstrated accomplished those skills
o Have a list of work/volunteer history without descriptions
under each position
o Example below
o Also you don’t have to do it just like the example, you can
list more skills if you have less work experience, and if you
don’t have items to put in qualifications you can skip that
step
You can also add a certificates/awards section after
work history if that applies to you
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Combination Resume
o A combination resume lists your skills and experience first.
Your employment history is listed next.
o With this type of resume you can highlight the skills you
have that are relevant to the job you are applying for, and
also provide the chronological work history that employers
prefer.
o Describe some skills also describe some key responsibilities
under work experience
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Your Name Here
Street Address Email Address
City/State/Zip Phone Number
OBJECTIVE Career-minded professional seeking position in _____________, with
_______________.
SKILLS AND ABILITIES
CLERICAL Typing speed of 35 words per minute, accurate and efficient with filing, accurate
and timely message taking and delivery, strong receptionist skills, very organized,
excellent phone manner.
COMPUTER Proficient with QuickBooks, and Microsoft Outlook, Excel and Word. Familiar
with desktop publishing such as Quark Express and PageMaker.
CUSTOMER Excellent communication skills, and ability to remain calm in hectic
SERVICE environment, active listening skills, very personable, able to get along well with
diverse group of co-workers and customers, very professional in manner.
EDUCATION
Butte College Oroville, CA
BUSINESS MAJOR Currently Enrolled
Relevant Coursework
Business Writing Skills
Keyboard Speed/Accuracy
WORK EXPERIENCE
JOB TITLE, Company City/State
Briefly describe what you did at this job, especially as it relates to what you would be
doing at the new job. There is no need to use the pronoun “I” or full sentences. Highlight
skills and accomplishments that show what a good employee you were such as promotions,
employee awards, and milestones. Month/Year – Month/Year
JOB TITLE, Company City/State
Briefly describe duties and accomplishments at this job. Focus on duties and successes that
highlight the abilities you wrote in your skills section that might be meaningful to the
potential employer. Month/Year – Month/Year
JOB TITLE, Company City/State
Keep the descriptions to three or four lines ideally. Summarize duties unless they are
specifically related to the job in the objective. Month/Year – Month/Year
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Targeted Resume
o A targeted resume is a resume that is customized so that it
specifically highlights the experience and skills you have that
are relevant to the specific job you are applying for.
o It definitely takes work to write a targeted resume, then suing
a generic resume you have made in a previous job search.
However, it's well worth the effort, especially when applying
for jobs that are a perfect match for your qualifications and
experience.
o Make sure to be very specific in the objective and redo your
bullet points to highlight skills that are needed for specific
job/field you are targeting
o Below I am pasting a sample target resume for someone who
is looking for an administrative positions- she only listed one
professional experience (may only have one administrative
experience, but he highlighted all of her achievements and
skills in that role for the future employer to see.
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How to Form the Header
At the top of your resume you will have your header, which includes
your name and contact information. This is a very important part of your
resume and you want to make sure that your name stands out
Below are different examples of how you can format your header:
You can get creative, use one of these, or even combine some ideas
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Beth Schuck
508 E Church St. Champaign, IL 61820 | (217) 239-4872 | [email protected]
Beth Schuck
508 E Church St. Champaign, IL 61820 • (217) 239-4872 • [email protected]
Beth Schuck
508 E Church St. (217) 239-4872
Champaign, IL 61820 [email protected]
Beth Schuck
508 E Church St.
Champaign IL, 61820
(217) 239-4872 • [email protected]
Beth Schuck________________________________________________________
508 E Church St. Champaign, IL 61820
(217) 239-4872 | [email protected]
508 E Church St. Champaign, IL 61820 • (217) 239-4872 • [email protected]
Beth Schuck
508 E Church St. Champaign, IL 61820 • (217)239-4827 • [email protected]
Beth Schuck
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They way to retrieve the • symbol is to go under the insert tab, click the
arrow under symbols, click more symbols, put Times New Roman in the
font box, and scroll down till you see the • and select it
How to Organize your Resume
You want to make sure that you are highlighting experience
and accomplishments that you find important and that you
think your employer will find important.
You can do this by choosing to put a certain type of
experience before another type of experience
“administrative experience” then a section “employment”
with all the other jobs not related to administration
You can make a volunteer section “volunteer experience” if
a lot of your experience was volunteering
Leadership section “leadership experience” if you have
leadership experience in any club, group, community,
workforce etc.
Formatting tips
One thing that can be very challenging when it comes to writing
your resume (especially if you done have a lot of experience with
Microsoft word etc.) is the formatting of it
Resumes are supposed to be (about) one page and sometimes it
seems like it is impossible to fit all of the information on one page,
but if you format it is possible
I will list a couple of basic formatting tips and how to preform
them
Margins
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o The margins specify where the typing begins on your paper
(how far in on the side and how far down at the top) the
normal is 1 inch all around
o You can always change your margins and make them
smaller, this way your typing will take up more of the page On the Page Layout tab, in the Page Setup group, click Margins.
1. Click the margin type that you want. For the most common margin width, click Normal.
When you click the margin type that you want, your entire document automatically
changes to the margin type that you have selected.
2. You can also specify your own margin settings. Click Margins, click Custom Margins, and
then in the Top, Bottom, Left, and Right boxes, enter new values for the margins.
Symbols
o I briefly touched upon this when talking about adding the • in
your header, you may want to add other symbols as well
o When adding a symbol go to the INSERT tab (second tab)
then go all the way SYMBOL and click, from their click on
the more symbols option and you will have access to multiple
symbols
o o You may also want to add at TEXT BOX at some point
(maybe in the header or to feature some other section)
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o On the Insert tab, in the Text group, click Text Box.
o o Click in the worksheet, and then drag to draw the text box the
size that you want.
o To add text to a text box, click inside the text box, and then
type or paste text.
Font
o Changing font size, type, and style is crucial to adding an
element to your resume making it astatically pleasing
o Whenever changing anything with the font make sure to
highlight the typing that you want to change
You can do this by hold down the button on the mouse
while sliding it over the typing you have chosen
o Then you can change the front style under the HOME tab on
the left side some professional font choices include:
Times New Roman
Calibri
Ariel
o You can also change the size of the font by changing the
number in the box or click on the BIG and small A
o To make something bold, italicized, or underline just click
those buttons, they are right (B, I, U) under the font style
o
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Spacing
o Spacing is crucial when trying to get your resume to fit on
one page, you can change the spacing in between each line
on your page in two different ways
o To make multiple lines have no space in-between them (you
would want this for each job position etc. you were putting
on your resume) you would:
Highlight all of your typing
Click under the HOME tab on the little arrow next to
the word paragraph
Then change the spacing for before and after both into
“0” and check box that says don’t add space in-between
lines
o To make space in-between two different sections (or sub-
sections) press enter to add a full space
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While the cursor is still in that space make the font
smaller (using the small A under the home tab)
This will make the individual space as small as you
want
You should continue to make these spaces the same
size as you go through your resume
o If you would like to move the test to a certain side of the
page or into the middle of the page you can highlight the text
and select the area of the pager you would like it in
o This is located under the HOME TAB in the paragraph
section there is right side, center, left side, and entire page
option
You can always use the header and footer section of the page to
put your name an contact information and your statement that
references are available upon request
o This will help you utilize more space on the page if you
struggling to make everything fit, to do this:
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You go under the tab INSERT and click on either
Header or Footer and choose which style you want
One important tip to remember when formatting is you want your
resume to look symmetrical (astatically pleasing)
Bullet points: Key Words and Examples
Usually under each job title/experience there are bullet points
describes the skills used and gained from this experience
There should be about the same amount of bullet points for each
experience on your resume
The average amount of bullet points is 3
These bullet point are extremely important because they highlight
you many skills and shows how you preformed those skills in a
working environment
They also highlight your transferrable skills that you have
practiced and perfected and now can use in the job you are
currently apply to
This is why it is good to have very descriptive bullet points with
many different action words that describes what you did/do at each
job/experience (without them being too long)
It can be hard to come up with different ways to talk about you
skills are say something that is similar
Attached are multiple resources for you to look at to pick out new
words that describe your skills and tasks you have performed
before
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ACTION WORDS: For your resume and cover letter
The most effective resumes and cover letters illustrate transferable skills and
experiences described in words chosen to convey action. Action words enable the
potential employer to better picture your experience, envision its context, and see
the benefits of what you have to offer. Avoid using the same action word more
than once per document. Below are some examples separated by category:
Leadership
Administered Fostered
Advised Guided
Allocated Headed
Allowed Hired
Appointed Improved
Approved Incorporated
Assigned Increased
Authorized Influenced
Chaired Instructed
Delegated Instituted
Designated Judged
Educated Led
Elicited Managed
Employed Moderated
Empowered Motivated
Enabled Oversaw
Encouraged Presided
Endorsed Recommended
Enforced Recruited
Enhanced Sanctioned
Established Scheduled
Evaluated Strengthened
Executed Supervised
Facilitated Trained
Creativity
Acted Fashioned
Brainstormed Illustrated
Designed Modeled
Drew Preformed
Engineered Produced
Entertained Shaped
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envisioned Visualized
Communication
Addressed Lectured
Advertised Marketed
Apprised Mediated
Arbitrated Negotiated
Attested Officiated
Authored Persuaded
Clarified Presented
Communicated promoted
Composed Published
Condensed Queried
Contacted Recommended
Convinced Reconciled
Corresponded Referred
Counseled Reported
Defined Responded
Drafted Spoke
Edited Suggested
Explained Summarized
Expressed Synthesized
Informed Translated
Interpreted Wrote
Interviewed
Technical
Assembled Installed
Built Operated
Computed Programmed
Conserved Specialized
Constructed Upgrade
developed
Financial
Appraised Estimated
Audited Marketed
Balanced Purchased
Budgeted Projected
Calculated Reduced
Computed
Organization
Arranged Organized
Catalogued Oriented
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Categorized Planned
Centralized Prepared
Charted Prioritized
Classified Processed
Coded Provided
Complied Recorded
Correlated Regulated
Distributed Reviewed
Filed Scheduled
Generated Sorted
Indexed Submitted
Linked Standardized
Maintained Tabulated
Orchestrated Update
Teamwork
Accommodated Improvised
Adapted Instructed
Adjusted mediated
Aided Motivated
Altered Participated
Amended Partnered
Assisted Simulated
Collaborated Supported
Contributed Tailored
Cooperated Unified
Fostered
Problem-Solving
Alleviated Refined
Ameliorated Reformed
Augmented Rehabilitated
Customized Reinforced
Debugged Rejuvenated
Eased Relieved
Elevated Remedied
Enlarged Remodeled
Extended Repaired
Extracted Restored
Finalized Retrieved
Fulfilled Revitalized
Generated Revived
implemented Settled
interceded Solicited
Lightened Streamlined
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Polished Strengthened
Procured Supplemented
Rectified Transformed
Reduced
Research
Analyzed Gathered
Assessed Identified
Collected Integrated
Compared Invented
Conceptualized Located
Conducted Prioritized
Confirmed Projected
Critiqued Rated
Deciphered Researched
Deliberated Reviewed
Determined Solved
Evaluated Studied
Examined Surveyed
Forecasted Tested
Formulated Validated
Key Words For Resume and Cover Letter Construction
Action Verbs
accelerated activated adapted administered analyzed
approved assisted completed conceived conduced
controlled coordinated created delegated developed
directed eliminated established evaluated expanded
expedited experienced expanded facilitated generated
implemented improved increased influenced initiated
interpreted launched lead lectured maintained
managed mastered motivated organized originated
participated performed pinpointed planned prepared
programmed proposed proved recommended reduced
reinforced revamped reviewed revised scheduled
set-up simplified solved streamlined structured
supervised supported taught trained worked
removed reorganized repeated responsible
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Self-descriptive Words
accurately active adaptable adept aggressive
alert ambitious analytical assertive astute
attentive aware broad-minded challenging competent
conscientious consistent constructive contributor creative
dependable determined diplomatic disciplined discreet
diverse dynamic easily economical efficient
energetic enterprising enthusiastic exceptional experienced
expertise extensively extraverted facilitator fair
forceful foresight high-level honest imaginative
independent initiative innovative instrumental insightful
leading logical loyal mature methodical
objective optimistic participated perceptive personable
pioneering pleasant positive practical productive
readily realistic reliable repeatedly resourceful
responsible responsive self-reliant sensitive sincere
sophisticated strongly systematic tactful talented
unique versatile vigorous will travel will relocated