Resume: Describing Qualifications

A vital step 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 questions about how to assemble a resume. Here are some answers.

Above all, remember that a 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 deletions 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 qualifications that kind of job requires.

Friends can tell you whether they think you have succeeded in communication of your strengths. Advisors can comment on the impression your resume makes and what they can learn about you from it. When you interview career advisors to learn about occupations and gather job hunting advice, ask them to critique your resume. OCS Resume Workshops are held weekly at 12 noon or 4:00 and provide an opportunity for advice and review of your resume. Also, you can make an appointment to meet with a counselor to review your resume and plan your job search strategy.

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. If in doubt about resume length, ask counselors and career advisors.

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.

You must make judgments about what is most important 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 included in longer resumes, such as a list of publications or a list of references, may be presented separately as attachments if you decide that they are important to your application. Other attachments may include an annotated transcript, clippings, writing sample, 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. 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 waste basket.

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.

Appearance: Your resume should be neat, uncrowded, attractive, and easy to read. Accuracy in use of language, information, and spelling is key. Word processing on a computer is the most efficient way to produce your resume as you can try out different formats easily. It is not advisable to print out in a dot matrix printer. Laser jet and others types of letter quality printers are available in a variety of places around the University. Check and double check to make sure that 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 your 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. Ifyou have years of work experience in severalfields or are changing fields, a resume organizedby skill areas may be more appropriate than achronological resume.

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

Education: If you are a student or havejust completed your education, put this sectionfirst. List your degrees or degree expected anddate, your concentration, subject of senior honorsthesis, and electives which are relevant to youremployers. Include selected honors if you havereceived recognition for outstanding academicwork. Ph.D. students should list their department,area of interest, relevant electives, and selectedhonors. The dissertation topic may be included ifof related interest.

College activities can be listed and describedunder Education, Experience, Activities, or mostbriefly under Personal Background depending uponhow much emphasis and space you want to give them.If you've had leadership positions,responsibilities for organizing or initiating newprograms, financial management or any kind ofcareer-related experiences, be sure it is clearlydescribed. Explain for the non-Harvard reader whatthe organization is.

Secondary school is usually listed onundergraduate resumes. Space devoted to honorsand/or activities should depend on theircontribution to the total message.

Work Experience: This section shouldinclude all experience, paid and unpaid andextracurricular activities which have given youthe opportunity to develop the skills such ascomputer programming or foreign language fluency,you may want to list in a skills section.

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

Personal Background: On a one-pageresume you have had to leave out a great deal.This section may be used to mention informationthat you consider important such as: "Have workedevery term to help pay college expenses deliveringnewspapers, washing dishes, bartending, driving ashuttle bus." "Born and grew up in New York City."(Where you spent your youth may be an importantmessage to the employer.) "Played varsity lacrosseand intramural basketball."

Job Objective: Only if you have aclearly defined employment goal should you write ajob objective. Otherwise, the cover letter is thebetter place to state your job objective. Thatway, you can tailor it to each job application andhighlight and expand on relevant information