Resume Overview:

Writing a resume requires that you think like an employer instead of a potential hire. Pretend for a moment that you're looking at 100 applications for a entry level job, and you have 100 people who have met the minimum requirements for the job requirements--they all have some relevant experience, the right education, and you need to decide amongst them. The excellent applicants make sure to indicate that they have the technical expertise. Employers want to know that you can do the job with a minimal amount of training. The excellent applicants also include proof of the ability to communicate, manage time, and have management skills. Employers are looking for these skills along with an extensive ability to interact with a variety of people. You really need to think about all that you've done and how you can describe your experiences so that you focus on the above desired qualifications.

As you look at your course work and your experience, think about accomplishments. Paul Anderson suggests that you should "describe any projects you worked on, problems you addressed, goals you pursued, and reports you helped write. Where possible, emphasize specific results--numbers of dollars saved, additional units produced, or extra customers served." Anderson also argues that you can emphasize knowledge gained: "realizing that her duties of stacking ice cream packages neatly in supermarket freezers might not seem relevant to a job in marketing, Jeannie describes the insight she gained in that job: "Learned to see consumer marketing from the perspectives of both the manufacturer and the retailer" (32).

1. Brainstorming Resume Material:

If you're having trouble filling out a resume, try the following:

• list out all the activities you've participated in at college (and at home) (and at church) (and on teams)
• list all the courses you've taken that you believe are relevant
• list any projects you've completed for courses of which you are particularly proud
• what exactly did you do in your course, at your job, at your activity on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis. Start with the tasks that you think are most important and try to come up with at least five for each course/job/activity.
  • Did any of your accomplishments ever result in a promotion, raise or other type of recognition? (try to quantify with numbers)
  • Did you manage the work of one or more employees (or other group members?) If so, how many and at what level?
  • What are some of the most important projects that you worked on? 
  • Describe their purpose and your role.  Did you meet or exceed expectations?
  • Did you suggest an idea that was successfully implemented by your boss, by your organization, by your professor?  Please describe what it involved, your role in making it work, and any credit or compliments you received as a result.
  • Did you train one or more employees to do something you know how to do well?  Describe the nature of the task and how successful you were at training others.
  • What have you done that has made you feel satisfied or won praise from others?

2. Choosing a format

Once you have a good amount of brainstorming, decide on a layout for your resume.  Some word processing programs have templates that can help you decide on a layout, but you also want to see as many examples as you can find. 

You may want to ask Career Services for examples of different kinds of resumes; you may want to ask friends in your profession for a copy of their resume, or for examples that they think are particularly good; you may want to develop the skill of surfing the web, looking for different ideas on how people have written their resumes.

Templates for Resumes in Word: If you don't want to create your own columns and design lay out, you can find resume templates in Word: Open up the program, and within the category "File" choose "new."  You will see different kinds of categories: choose the tab Other Documents, and you'll find resume templates.

Templates for Resumes in WordPerfect: In Wordperfect, you open the program, choose within the category "File" "New from project."  Once there, select resume, and then when the document comes up, select "choose a look" from the left hand column to play with the document layout.

3. Work with language

Once you have a draft, Circle all the verbs you chose.  Look for repetitions and eliminate them as much as is feasible.  Remember that you don't want to use a word that you don't know, so only choose verbs that you've at least used in sentences before.

4.  Revise for detail. 

Look to see that you have put all the periods in the right place, all the work information in the right places, all the dates are done the same way, etc.  This is a very detail oriented document, so you need to pay attention to the details.

5. Seek others' advice:

Take your document to the Writing Center, to any willing professors, to friends, to the career center, to professionals in the field and gather advice.  Revise the document.

The Cover Letter 

When employers read cover letters, they want to know why you would want to work for their company and not some other company. IN your cover letter, you should explain why you want to work for this company, so you'll need to investigate the company, and come up with reasons. In addition, employers aren't as concerned with how the job will be good for you as they are concerned with how you'll be good for them. Tell them how your qualifications meet the company's needs

Brainstorming:

1. Answer the following questions

• What are the key functions performed or managed by this position?
• What are the key problems that you would need to know how to solve?
• What technical knowledge is required to solve these problems and achieve the expected results?
  • fields
  • disciplines
  • laws/principles/theories
  • functions
  • methods/procedures
  • technology
  • equipment
  • processes
• What specific knowledge did you acquire that should help you solve the key problems and achieve the results required of this position?
• Beyond your formal education, what additional training courses or seminars have you attended that have provided you with job relevant knowledge in those areas previously identified as critical to successful job performance?  what key knowledge did you acquire?  (answer questions for each additional area of training).

2.  Read through Purdue's OWL information on Cover Letters:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/workshops/hypertext/Coverletter/index.html  (You might also find their resume workshops helpful.)  In addition to working through Purdue's on-line site, you can search for additional resources on-line.  Becoming good at searching for information about what to include in resumes/cover letters is an important skill, as requirements will change over the course of your career, and you need to keep current on trends/issues.
 

Advice for writing the letter

As you write from your brainstorming, make sure to follow conventional letter formats.  Have an brief introductory paragraph in which you establish the agenda for the next paragraphs.  Make sure that your subsequent paragraphs have a unified purpose that fits with the overall purpose you established in the introductory paragraph.  In addition, have specific examples.

Read what Paul Anderson says:

"when drafting your letter, think of it as having three parts: introduction, qualifications, and closing. THe major thing to accomplish in your introduction is to indicate the job you want and why. Here's a week, but very common way to do that:

I wish to apply for a position as ____. I am a senior at ____ majoring in _____."

"You can begin your letter much more effectively by using the reader-centered facts you've discovered" ANderson suggests praising an accomplishment, project, or activity you've learned about, and stating that you want to work for the company so that you can contribute to similar efforts:

While reading the August issue of Automotive Week, I learned that you needed to shut down your assembly line for only 45 minutes when switching from making last year's car model to this year's model. This 500 percent reduction in shutdown time over last year is a remarkable accomplishment. As a senior in manufacturing engeinnering at Western University. I would welcome a chance to contribute to further improvements in the production processes at your plant. Please consider me for the opening in the production Design Group that you advertised through the University's Career Services Center. (45).

When you move to the body paragraphs, make sure to discuss your qualifications in terms of how they will contribute to the employer's company. YOu can organize these body paragraphs by skill or by experience and education.

Revise the letter

Additional Resources/Information

Visit the Career Services Center on campus or at least visit their web site. 
          visit the career center site 
Interview one of your professors in your major, asking him or her for suggestions on where to find good internships and good jobs. 

To find ads, surf the net, read the job ads in the Sunday newspaper, and find out what resources the university has for job placement. 
                   http://www.occ.com/ 
Look at various university's career services; find the names of the companies that will be visiting their campuses, and then look at those companies' web sites.  They may have internship announcements or job ads on their sites.

Research any company you find interesting in order to discover any significant information both about its successes/failures and about the characteristics they look for in employees 

You may find the library's data bases and search engines on the web useful.