Career Development Center

Length and Style

• One-page resumés are best, but a two-page resumé may be desirable if you have extensive experience.
• When writing your resumé:
  • Use phrases instead of complete sentences, beginning with action verbs rather than pronouns, e.g. assisted, facilitated, designed (a list of action verbs is available on our website or in the Career Development Center)
  • Describe situations, actions and results in concrete terms
  • Leave subjective information for your cover letter (e.g., “wonderful people person”)
  • Be consistent with capitalization, punctuation, tense usage, and abbreviations
  • Make sure you carefully proofread your resumé – a misspelled word can take you out of the running

Formats

• The chronological resumé is the most common style. It is used by job seekers who have consistent employment, and/or a progressive history within a particular field. Chronological resumés list past jobs in reverse chronological order.
• The functional resumé is a skill-based resumé and is primarily used for job seekers who have great transferable skills but little direct experience in the area in which they are targeting their search. Functional resumés are great for career-changers, those with gaps in their work experience, or who lack direct experience in a particular field. With this resume, all forms of transferable experience are listed.
• The combination resumé maximizes the benefits of both the functional and the chronological resumé. A combined resumé contains a heading for skills and accomplishments, followed by a reverse chronology of work experience. It is important for the candidate to choose the resumé format that best suits his or her needs.
• Scanned resumés are preferred when employers put resumé in a computer database and search for candidates based on key words. If you sure the resumé will be scanned, any of the above three formats may be used. However, all italics, boldface or lines should be deleted.
• Keywords can be added to any resumé that will be electronically scanned. Keywords are labels that can be used to describe you. They can encompass technical skills, degrees you hold, job titles, personal traits and other buzzwords. One technique that can be used is to place at the bottom of your resumé a box filled with applicable keywords that might not appear in the body.
• An example for a human resources professional:
• Talents: team leader, people and communication skills, hardware needs evaluation, database management, client orientation, word-processing, arbitration, union negotiation, downsizing.

Education

• This section includes degrees, majors, minors, graduation dates, name of school, city and state of school, certificates, awards and academic honors. University and college experience should be listed in reverse chronological order (don’t include high school education on your resumé). Relevant course work may be added following each university or college. Resumé for accounting majors should include your GPA. For all other resumés, include your GPA if it is high and you are proud of it.

Experience

• For each position, briefly state job title, dates, organization name and location. Skills and responsibilities should be described using action verbs in the past tense. Whenever possible, use concrete results and data to maximize your accomplishments. List each position in reverse chronological order. Functional resumés can include all transferable experience gained through volunteer and school experience.

Additional Headings

• You may want to add specific headings such as “honors,” “professional affiliations,” “certifications,” “extracurricular activities,” etc. Never include remarks about your physical appearance, hobbies or other personal data. Only list items that are pertinent to your objective.

Length and Style

• Cover letters should be limited to one page of three to four paragraphs in length. Block style is popular for business letters — all information is typed flush to the left margin. It should be printed on the same high-quality bond paper as your resumé.

Salary Inquiries

• When an employment posting asks applicants to include salary requirements or salary history, you may address this in the cover letter with a comment such as, “An acceptable salary range for me would be $25,000 to $30,000 and I would be willing to discuss my salary requirements with you further upon learning more about the specific responsibilities for this position.” If posting doesn’t ask for salary history, don’t mention salary until an offer is on the table.

Opening Paragraph

• The opening paragraph should state why you are writing and why you are interested in the organization. If you are writing about a job opening, you should name the specific position for which you are applying and explain how you learned about the position. In addition, tell the employer how you became aware of the vacancy.
• If you were referred to the employer, this is the best place to mention the referrer’s name and to point out that he or she suggested you write. A letter of inquiry should provide evidence of your career direction by mentioning desired job functions if you are not sure of a specific job title.

Middle Paragraph

• Explain why you are interested in working for this employer and the specific motivation for desiring this type of work. If you have relevant work experience or related education, be sure to point this out. Emphasize skills or abilities you have that relate to the job for which you are applying. If you have qualifications that are not on your resumé, this is your opportunity to discuss them.

Closing Paragraph

• The closing paragraph states what you will do next (such as calling to arrange an interview at the employer’s convenience) or what you would like the recipient of the letter to do next. An appropriate closing can pave the way for an interview.