Writing the one-page story of your life

A vital tool in looking for a job is preparing a resume, a brief presentation of your experience and qualifications that makes an employer want to interview you.

Students often have lots of questions about how to assemble a resume. Here are some answers.

Above all, remember that the resume is not a life history. It is a presentation in outline form of your education, work, and other experiences which highlights and describes those aspects which you think best portray your qualifications for employment. It is directed to a specific audience for a specific purpose.

The particular mix of qualifications that an employer prefers will depend on the job being filled. The more you know about what the employer is looking for, the better you can tailor your presentation.

If you are an undergraduate, graduating senior, or graduate student seeking summer or part-time employment, your resume will be a presentation that documents your general qualifications, such as your ability to learn quickly, to adapt to new environments, to research, analyze, and solve problems, to work with and lead a team, to follow instructions, to deal with ambiguity, to make decisions, and to communicate effectively.

Preparing to write your resume. Start by writing a comprehensive outline of all the experiences and facts you might want to include in your resume. Keep this outline as a reference while you experiment with a variety of formats and styles and selections of the information.

Understand what employers are looking for. Identify several prospective employers and gather information--ideally from visiting people at the place of work, or at least from company and vocational literature--about what qualifcations that kind of job requires.

Friends can tell you whether they think you have succeeded in communicating your strengths. Advisers can comment on the impression your resume makes and what they learn about you from it. When you interview career advisers to learn about occupations and gather job hunting advice, ask them to criticize you resume. You can make an appointment to meet with a counselor to review your resume or drop in to talk with the counselor at the front desk in OCS.

Choose the format that best communicates your qualifications. Design your resume for two types of readers: the reviewer who scans your resume to learn your academic degrees, job titles, special experience, or skills; the reviewer who reads your resume for valued information about you and to receive an impression of your competencies and your personal qualities.

Most employers--especially in business--prefer a one-page resume. These employers want an effectively organized and concise presentation of the most pertinent information about you. Employers in education, public service, and human services do not seem to have a strong preference, but a concise presentation shows that you recognize the value of their time.

Remember that a resume is an example of your work. If you claim skill in organization and ability to communicate clearly and concisely, your resume should demonstrate your proficiency in those skills. If in doubt over resume length, ask counselors and career advisers.

You must make judgments about what is most important and and allot space accordingly. Descriptions of jobs performed and accomplishments must be brief and listing of activities selective. If you can't fit your resume on one page, put all of the most important information on the first page. Certain information that is often included in longer resumes, such as a list of publications or a list of references, may be presented separately as attachments if you decide they are important to your application. Other attachments may include an annotated transcript, clippings, writing samples, portfolio, and letters of recommendation.

Make purposeful use of capitals, underlining, positioning, and spacing. If you use a typed resume, have it reproduced by photo-offset. If you decide to have your resume typeset and printed, Beware of using too small type or reducing a typed resume, as you may also reduce your readership. Use white or ecru paper with matching envelopes and paper for your cover letters. Don't use bright-colored paper--it will overshadow your message and is more likely to land in the trash can.

Style: Style also communicates a message. Staccato phrases or incomplete sentences such as "Designed data collection system. Analyzed data and prepared 60-page report" give an efficient, action-oriented impression. For some people the flow of complete sentences is more suitable. Whichever style you choose, be consistent.

Appearance: It should be neat, uncrowded, attractive, and easy to read. Accuracy in use of language, information, and spelling is key. If your typing is not professional in appearance, hire someone who will produce a perfect copy. Whether it is typed or typeset, check and double check it to make sure there are absolutely no errors.

Content: Your resume will contain your name, address, and telephone number, and information about your education and work experience. Other sections, titles, and arrangements are at you discretion. Education and experience are usually presented in reverse chronological order. Give the most space to the most important experience. If you have several years of experience in your career field, your resume will focus on more specific accomplishments and skills. If you have years of work experience in several fields or are changing fields, a resume organized by skill areas may be more appropriate than a chronological resume.

Name. address and telephone: This is the most important information on the resume. Usually it is centered and in capital letters at the top of the page. If you must give a school address, and home address, place your name at top center and the addresses to the right and left.

Education: If you are a student or have just completed your education, put this section first. List your degrees or degree expected and date, your concentration, subject of senior honors thesis, and electives which are relevant to your employers. Include selected honors if you have received recognition for outstanding academic work. Ph.D. students hould list their department, area of interest, relevant electives, and selected honors. The dissertation topic may be included if of related interest.

College activities can be listed and described under Education, Experience, Activities, or most briefly under Personal Background depending upon how much emphasis and space you want to give them. If you've had leadership positions, responsibilities for organizing or initiating new programs, financial management or any kind of career-related experiences, be sure it is clearly described. Explain for the non-Harvard reader what the organization is.

Secondary school is usually listed on undergraduate resumes. Space devoted to honors and/or activities should depend on their contribution to the total message.

Work Experience: This section should include all experience, paid and unpaid, and extracurricular activities which have given you the opportunity to develop the kinds of personal qualifications that employers look for. You may mix paid and unpaid, part-time and full-time positions, but note in some way what the time commitment was.

List the job title and name of the organization you worked for, followed by a concise description of functions performed and accomplishments. Use action verbs to state what responsibilities you carried out, and use numbers such as size of budget, workers supervised, persons served, reports written, to add impact. Don't say, "Responsible for ..." This doesn't communicate what you did or what you achieved. Don't list the name and phone number of a reference. If you have letters of reference from the supervisors of your most responsible positions you may want to attach them.

Languages: Make a separate category to list languages skills if you are fluent and hope to use these skills on the job.

Travel: Experience traveling, working, studying abroad, should be described explicitly if job-related. It documents experience in adjusting to unfamiliar surroundings. If you decide not to have a travel section, you can mention travel under Personal Background.

Skills: If you have specific job-related skills such as computer programming or foreign language fluency you may want to list them in a skills section.

Interests: Save at least one line for a list in series of avocational interests such as, "Reading, playing guitar, running, and choral singing." Even a brief list rounds out your presentation and may establish an initial bond of common interest with the reader.

Personal background: On a one-page resume you have had to leave out a great deal. This section may be used to mention information that you consider important such as: "Have worked every term to help pay college expenses delivering newspapers, washing dishes, bartending, driving a shuttle bus." "Lived in a small town in Ohio until I came to Harvard." "Born and grew up in New York City." (Where you spent your youth may be an important message to the employer.) "Played varsity lacrosse and intramural basketball."

Job objective: Only if you have a clearly defined employment goal should you write a job objective. Otherwise, the cover letter is the better place to state your job objective. That way, you can tailor it to each job application and highlight and expand on relevant information from the resume