Job-Seeking Skills Resources: Résumé

Contents

• How much do you understand a résumé?
• Features of an effective résumé
• Sections in a résumé
• Layout
• Content 1: Relevant and specific content
• Content 2: Action verbs
• Improving a résumé
• Compiling your résumé
• Varying emphasis according to job nature
• Guidelines for résumé preparation
• Electronic résumés

How much do you understand a résumé?

What are the functions of a résumé? What are the characteristics of an effective résumé? Try the quiz here to find out how much you understand. Submit your answers and you will get feedback on your trial.
Start now.

Features of an effective résumé

The features listed in the table below are demonstrated in résumé 1 and résumé 2. You can click to view these examples.

Sections in a résumé

Common Sections

A résumé may provide essential information about:

• yourself
• your education
• your achievements
• your special skills
• your references
• your work experience
• your volunteer experience
• your projects
• your career objectives

Frequently Asked Questions about Sections:

Think about the questions below and try to come up with your answers. You can click the button for further feedback.

• Should all the common sections be included in your résumé?
  
• If not, which ones are more important?
  
  In what order should they be arranged?
  

Layout

Using ready-made templates

You can refer to the samples in MS Word. The advantage of using a ready-made template is that it is systematic and it is therefore easier to ensure attractiveness and consistency in format. You can find them when you open a new document (File – New). On the menu bar, choose Other Documents, and then double click Résumé Wizard.wiz. You can then write a résumé based on any of the three different styles.

But the problem is that your résumé and those of the other applicants’ may look very alike.

Designing your own résumé format

To stand out from the other applicants, you can design your own résumé layout to attract your prospective employer. You can therefore challenge yourself by modifying an existing template, adding an element of uniqueness.

Content 1: Relevant and Specific Content

The most challenging parts of writing a successful résumé are descriptions of your previous experiences in work and activities. Effective descriptions are those which are specific and can demonstrate how your experience has resulted in you ability that the present job requires.

Look at this entry in a résumé, how are you going to describe it?

Below are examples of how the candidate may vary the emphasis of the same experience to bring out different selling points:

Content 2: Action Verbs

Action verbs are verbs usually used in Résumés to describe duties or achievements. They are used instead of nouns or adjectives that are too vague. They can help enhance the responsibilities and importance of a job. They emphasise your vitality and help you stand out.

Examples:
For example, instead of saying:

you should use action verbs and define your duties in a more persuasive manner:

The words conducted and compiled give more details of the responsibilities and also help create strong images of your self-reliance to your prospective employer.

Here is another example:

can be rewritten as

Have you done the same with your résumé?

Commonly used action verbs: Here is a list of action verbs which could be used in your résumé to describe your duties or achievements. Choose the ones that suit your circumstances.

You can also look at the qualities that employers are looking for and match these action verbs with those qualities. E.g.‘can work well with others’ — co-operated, collaborated  

Using action verbs in your résumé: From the list of action verbs above, choose ten verbs to be used in your résumé, to describe your duties and/or achievements. One has been done for you.

Improving a résumé

Peter Leung has just written his résumé in reply to the advertisement follows.

Now, read Peter’s résumé. To make this task easier, you can first print out the résumé.

He has not clearly described and successfully promoted himself. Can you identify 6 areas which he can work on to make the résumé more impressive? Jot down these areas.

Compiling a résumé

When compiling your résumé, you can refer to the following suggestions on content and style. You should, however, bare in mind that modifications are necessary depending on the job nature and company style.

• Personal information
  Include details for easy contact:
  • name;
  • address;
  • telephone number;
  • recent photo (optional).

• Career objective (optional)
  State what you aim to achieve in your career.

• Education
  Describe your educational experience and qualifications:
  • duration, including date of graduation;
  • name of school;/li>
  • qualifications obtained (or expected);
  • major, or examination result. (depends on how much details the employer needs).

  Begin with the most recent.

• Relevant projects (optional)
  List all relevant or significant study, research or projects.
• Academic achievement and awards(optional)
  List awards or scholarships you have obtained. Briefly describe the criteria for the award.
• Professional achievements (optional)
  List all relevant:
  • professional achievements,
  • qualifications obtained in professional examinations,
  • membership of professional organisations, etc.

  Begin with the most significant.

• Work experience
  List all relevant work experience:
  • duration;
  • name of organisation;
  • department (division or section);
  • job title;
  • job duties (be relevant and specific).

  Begin with the most recent.
  Begin sentences using active action verbs.

• Extracurricular activities or Volunteer experience (optional)
  List all relevant experience that demonstrates leadership ability:
  • dates;
  • name of organisation;
  • position;
  • job duties (be relevant and specific).
• Skills
  List all special skills that may be relevant or useful to work:
  • language skills;
  • computer knowledge (software, operating languages, programming languages);
  • office skills.
• Reference
  Include information of at least two referees who can comment on your different abilities:
  • name;
  • title;
  • post;
  • organisation;
  • telephone number (or other contact method).

Varying emphasis according to job nature

When you apply for jobs in different fields, you need to use different résumés, each focussing the specific requirements of individual jobs. When computer science students apply for jobs, they should note that what is needed for a programmer varies greatly from that of a sales representative.

In the following, you can see the two résumés written by Cindy, résumé 1 and résumé 2. Compare them and think about these:

• What differences can you find in the content?
• Why does the applicant provide different information about herself in the 2 résumés?

To facilitate comparison, you can first print out the two résumés.

Guidelines for résumé preparation

• prepare 1 – 2 pages
• match accomplishments to job requirements
• place name, contact # and address in significant position
• use active voice
• use action verbs
• use attractive and consistent layout
• leave sufficient empty space for readers to rest their eyes
• use readable font size
• use simple easy-to-read font type
• check grammar
• use correct tenses
• check spelling

Electronic résumés

To send a résumé electronically, you should start off by preparing a good, clear résumé, which you can adapt to different positions that you apply for. To prepare an electronic version of this resume:

• Set margins so you have one inch on each side.

• Select all the text and put it in 12-point Courier font. This is a non-proportional font which will give you 65 characters per line, making it suitable for most e-mail programs.

• Remove special characters, like bullets and graphics. Bullets created in Word will appear as question marks in a lot of email programs.

• Save your resume as a “text only” file with line breaks.

• Cut-and-paste this ASCII resume into a text editor, such as SimpleText or Notepad, and review it. Special characters will appear as other, unwanted characters. Remove or replace them.

• Cut-and-paste the resume into the body of an email. You should send it to yourself, preferably at another email address, such as a yahoo or hotmail address, as well as your UST address, to check that it is readable. You may also want to send it to a friend who can proofread it again for spelling or grammar errors.

• If your resume looks good at this stage, cut-and-paste it into the body of the message you send to the prospective employer.

Further tips

• You can put headings and sub-headings in capitals to make them stand out.

• Anything that is on your keyboard can be used – so dashes (-) and asterixes (*) can be used to take the place of bullets. But just as with a paper resume, you should not use too many distracting features.

Electronic application letters
When you submit an electronic application, you should also submit an application letter. All the rules for formatting a resume for electronic submission apply equally to the letter. You should put the cover letter above the resume when you cut-and-paste into the body of the email.

REMEMBER
The rules for writing a good resume and application letter are just the same for electronic and conventional “hard copy” formats!

Resources on the web

You may find the following links helpful for more advice on submitting resumes and cover letters electronically:

• http://www.eresumes.com/tut_eresume.html
• http://www.reslady.com/electronic.html
• http://www.susanireland.com/eresumework.htm
• http://www.provenresumes.com/reswkshps/electronic/electrespg1.html
• http://www.careerperfect.com/CareerPerfect/resumes.htm
• http://www.oakton.edu/resource/stuserv/netjobs/resumes/index.html

Do remember that these sites are all US-based, and advice on job seeking is based on the US context.

Purdue University (Online Writing Lab) handouts on résumés Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute handout on résumés HKUST Career Centre handout on résumés