Resumes

What is a resume?
A resume is a brief summary of your background that you use as part of a job search to give potential employers an overview of your experience and skills.

How do I use it?
Resumes are sent, faxed or e-mailed to prospective employers when responding to job or internship listings. You may also send unsolicited resumes, meaning that you send them to organizations that you would like to work for but which have not listed any openings. Always accompany a resume with a cover letter which tells why you are sending the resume and introduces you to the recipient (see the Cover Letter fact sheet).

How do I get started?
Start by reviewing the suggested format and sample resumes at the bottom of this fact sheet. You may also want to look through the book of sample resumes kept at the front desk in Career Development.

Using these materials as a guide, write down all the information that could go on your resume. At first, don't worry about editing what you write or exactly what format it will go into. Just list all information that could go in the following categories:

· Education
· Honors and awards (academic and other)
· Paid Work Experience
· Volunteer Activities
· Internships
· Membership/Offices held in on- and off- campus organizations
· Skills (e.g. languages, computers, etc.)
· Interests (e.g. hobbies, sports, music, travel, general areas of interest)

To edit the content of your resume, first put all information in the form of brief, concise phrases or sentences, avoiding the use of articles (the, a, an) and personal pronouns. For example, say "Supervised twenty elementary school students in after-school program" instead of "I supervised twenty elementary school students in an after-school program."

Make sure to begin your phrases with action verbs.   Also, list your education, jobs/ internships, and activities in reverse chronological order.

A counselor in Career Development can help you with the final revisions. No appointment is necessary for resumes. Come during drop-in hours 12:00 pm to 4:00 pm Mon.-Fri.

How should the finished product look?
There is no one format for the content or layout of a resume, but there are general guidelines to follow. To become familiar with what resumes look like, see the samples in the resume book and on the other side of this fact sheet. Avoid using a template as these can be difficult to edit.

Resumes should almost always be only one page long, even if you have a great deal of information to put on it. Exceptions to this rule are performing arts resumes and academic vitas.

Your resume should be typed on a computer or word processor. Be sure to check carefully for typos, grammatical mistakes, and misspellings. Have several people proofread your resume. It is preferable to laser print the final product, but printing on a letter-quality printer is acceptable as well.

When you have your final draft completed, print or copy it on good quality resume paper. You should select white, off-white, or pale gray with a smooth, laid, or linen finish. You can photocopy your resume onto resume paper in Career Development. Your resume might be photocopied by employers or our office, so be sure the paper selected can be easily copied.

To see a sample resume, click on the links below. You will need Adobe Acrobat to view the resumes, which you can download for free here.

Sample Resume 1

Sample Resume 2

Sample Resume 3