Resume Help

Writing a good resume and cover letter takes effort and planning. The suggestions in this section are designed to help you create a winning combination.

Resume

This is the main tool of your job search, mainly used to land an interview. It is a one- or two-page summary of your objective, skills, education, accomplishments, and experiences. Three main steps are required to build a solid resume.

Assess yourself  

• Identify your skills and goals related to salary, job location, and work environment.
• List at least 10 abilities you have developed through your education, work experience, or community activities.
• Make a second list of what you consider your 5 major accomplishments, with personal traits that helped you achieve them.
• Consider the two lists. Decide which of the traits and abilities you definitely want to use in your next job.

Focus your career objective

• Use the many online or printed resources available to determine the skills and qualifications that play a major role in the four or five jobs that interest you most.
• Speaking with a career counselor can add perspective to a broad search, especially for career-changers or people just entering the career world.
• Decide which career area best fits your goals.

       Write your resume

• Organize a first draft by keeping in mind how a hiring manager will use it. Consider what he or she is looking for in candidates for the kind of job you are pursuing. There is no ironclad rule about what categories and organization should be used.
• Use underlining, boldfacing, or capitalization to differentiate categories on the page. If it will be emailed, remember that many email programs accept only unformatted text. Be consistent.
• Put the most relevant information at the top.
• Include a contact area, with your name (without nicknames), complete address, phone numbers with area codes, and email address. Be thorough-better to include too much than too little contact data.
• Write a brief, clearly stated objective. It serves as a focal point for employers to analyze your resume. It should be consistent with the achievements and demonstrated abilities on the resume. If you are considering more than a single career goal, develop a separate resume for each goal, with a different objective on each.
• List educational achievements, including degree, major(s), institution(s) attended, dates of attendance, minor(s), special projects, theses, dissertations or other relevant outstanding coursework. If your grade point was 3.0 or higher on a 4.0 scale, indicate that.
• Include a work experience section. List in most-recent-to-least order the title of each position you've held, name of organization, city and state, and start and end dates. Describe the work experience for each by emphasizing the most important responsibilities and achievements first. Use more space on the most relevant experiences. Sometimes it is helpful to divide work experience into two categories: relevant and other.
• For technical positions, relevant technical knowledge is important to include. Be specific with hardware, software, operating systems, and protocols you can use professionally.
• If there is space, include personal interests and activities. These help potential employers determine how well you might fit into specific work environments or geographic locations. They also may indicate leadership abilities.
• References sometimes are listed on a resume, although often the line "References available upon request" is used. If you wish to place professional or personal references on the resume, include name and phone number. Be sure to ask the individuals ahead of time before including them.
• Revise the first draft, shortening the wording where possible. Step away from the resume for a few minutes, then come back to it and read it as though you are the hiring manager. Ask yourself: Does this make sense to someone who doesn't know me?
• Proofread the resume, and if possible, ask a friend to read it as well. Spelling and grammatical mistakes can hurt the resume's success.
• Remember that the goal is to briefly tell the potential hiring manager who you are, what you want, what you've done, and how your skills make you a good candidate for the job. Be truthful, and emphasize your value to the company.

Cover letter

This short letter accompanies a resume. It briefly describes your abilities and focuses on setting up an interview.

• There are two primary kinds of cover letters: specific and general. The specific cover letter is sent to a specific company, specific person, and job. It directly addresses the potential employer's needs. It also sends a positive message that you are genuinely interested because you made the effort to write an individual letter.
• A general cover letter often is addressed to Dear Employer, Dear Hiring Manager or Dear Recruiter, and highlights your qualifications. This kind of letter usually is sent if the applicant isn't seeking a specific position and is applying in hopes that an appropriate position will be available. Avoid general cover letters whenever possible.
• Use simple, direct, uncomplicated language. Write the way you would speak. Be formal, but don't be a dull. Don't use clichés.
• Be positive, polite, to the point. Most important, don't sound like you're begging for the job, or desperate.
• Explain why you would like to work for the company.
• If you send a similar letter to different companies, make sure each letter has appropriate wording for each. Carefully proofread each letter before you sign it, and make sure you do sign each letter.
• Make sure to tell the potential employer how and where to reach you. Use a reliable phone number and email address.
• Be clear about what reaction you expect from your letter and how you will follow up.
• Make a copy of each letter sent to keep for future reference.

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