Resume+powerpoint
- 1. Sell Yourself In Writing: Fine Tune your Resume
- 2. What is a resume? An individually designed document A sales presentation of yourself • Not a place for modesty A marketing tool for opening the doors of prospective employers A screening device for selecting candidates for interviews
- 3. Purpose of a resume To state the type of employment desired To present your academic training To describe your work experience • related and unrelated To show involvement in activities • campus, civic, volunteer, etc. To show awards, honors, and/or special recognition / certifications
- 4. Goal of writing a resume To get an INTERVIEW!
- 5. Objective statement Problem • Not having a clear, concise objective Example • To gain full-time employment with a growing company where I can utilize my skills and educational background.
- 6. Appropriate objectives State your current objective. • Why are you writing this resume? • What do you want to do? Pharmaceutical Sales Representative Public Relations Assistant; particular interest in copywriting and promoting media events for nonprofit organizations.
- 7. Where do you go to school? Problem • Virginia Polytechnical Institute • Virginia Tech University • VA Tech Solution • Virginia Tech
- 8. GPA GPA - to list or not to list— • You don’t have a GPA yet Career Services recommends that you list your GPA on your resume for On-Campus Interviewing and for Career Fairs. List in-major, overall or both.
- 9. Order of resume sections Problem • Listing items as you think of them • Listing jobs/experience by order of importance to you instead of reverse chronological order Solution • Have all sections in order of priority as they support your objective. • Create additional headings if you need to highlight items out of chronological order.
- 10. Being unique Problem • Attempting to make your resume stand out from the rest by using artistic fonts, graphics or a very unusual format Solution • Make your resume stand out by the incredible information you include about your experience and skills
- 11. Templates Problems • May not provide best set-up • ex. May find address information at bottom of page • Tend to be date driven Solution • Create your resume on a blank document using tables (See sample in Career Planning Guide)
- 12. One page vs. two pages 99% of students should have a one-page resume Look for places to cut information or be more concise No less than ½ inch margins No less than 10 point font size Don’t use a tiny font size just to fit more information on a page Remember - your resume only gets an initial 20 second glance!
- 13. Scannable resumes Tips for creating a resume that is pleasing to the human eye and is scannable • No italics, no underlining, no shading • You may use bold or ALL CAPS, but make sure the individual letters do not touch • Use a sans serif font like Arial • Don’t use a serif font like Times New Roman • No vertical or horizontal lines, graphics, or boxes
- 14. Scannable resumes (continued) • Avoid two-column formats • Use a laser printer • When mailing your resume, do not fold or use staples See Career Planning Guide for more information on scannable resumes.
- 15. Ethics Be honest Don’t undersell yourself, but don’t exaggerate Graduation date should be the only “projected” item on your resume
- 16. Check and re-check Read and re-read all of your job search correspondence to check for errors Have faculty review technical sections of your resume or letters Use Career Services’ walk-in critique service to have an advisor review your documents 12:00 - 3:00 M-F