UHCL Writ 3315 Advanced Technical Writing Malone Resume Final Tips

1. Resumes: Additional Tips
Brian Malone, MA
Adjunct Professor
University of Houston Clear Lake

2. Acknowledgement
Much of the information on these
slides has been modified from a
slideshow prepared by Professor
Karen Thompson, Director of
Professional Writing at the University
of Idaho, with her permission. Thank
you, Professor Thompson.

3. Contents
• Part I: Resumes vs. CVs
• Part II: What Employers Want
• Part III: Final Tips

4. Disclaimer
While there is some overlap, the information presented here
supplements our readings and video lectures for this unit. You
should complete the other readings and watch the lectures
before continuing, as these slides will not necessarily cover the
content shared in these other resources.

5. Part I:
Resumes
vs. CVs

6. Resumes and CVs: The US and Abroad
• In the United States, resumes and CVs are different
documents.
• In other countries, however, the term “CV” is often
used in reference to what is, in the US, a resume.

7. Resumes are the most common documents requested from applicants
looking for jobs in business, government, and non-profit sectors.
They present the applicants’ most relevant skills and experiences that
qualify the applicant for the position.
Typically, resumes are 1-2 pages. One page is the recommended length
for recent graduates and professionals with less than a couple years of
experience.
Resumes in the United States

8. Curriculum Vitae, or CVs, are used in the US to apply for:
• admittance to graduate programs,
• academic faculty positions,
• research funding opportunities
• tenure and promotion.
CVs list applicants’ experiences more comprehensively than resumes, so they are typically
longer and focused on the applicant’s contributions to scholarship, teaching, and service to
their discipline and institution.
Typically, CVs will start at 3 pages, and will continue to grow in length as an individual
develops professionally in his/her field.
It is not unusual for a professional who has worked for some time to have a CV of over 25
pages!
Remember, if you see the term “CV” listed as a requirement for an internationally-based job,
the company likely wants something that looks more like what is considered a resume in the
US.
CVs in the United States

9. In the United States, it is illegal for employers to ask for personal information such as your
age, marital status, etc., so including this information is non-standard and may seem odd
to reviewers.
In other countries, personal information is often expected, and not including this
information may mean your application would be rejected.
In other countries, it is often expected that the applicant will include a photograph on
their resume/CV. In the United States, you should never include a photo on your
professional documents, although you certainly should on your personal website or
LinkedIn profile.
Most resumes will include addresses (physical and email) plus a phone number. If sharing
these documents publicly online (ie. on a website or LinkedIn portfolio), you should
redact this information.
Personal Information?

10. Part II: What
Employers
Want

11. In a 2017 journal article, Stephen D. Risavy synthesized
empirical research related to advice about writing
resumes through the "lens of advice that has
accumulated to date."
In 2014, The Society for Human Resource Management
(SHRM) surveyed 548 human resource managers and
published key findings graphing their responses.

12. What makes a resume stand out?
When reviewing a resume, which of the following aspects
provide a positive edge over other resumes? (SHRM)
66%
43%
43%
27%
26%
20%
18%
9%
7%
4%
1%
1%
10%
Chronologically organized résumé
Résumé in bulleted format
Résumé tailored to the industry
A skills summary
List of candidate’s accomplishments
Functionally organized résumé
A career summary
Appropriate use of action verbs and phrases
A job objective
Appropriate résumé font
Résumé in a narrative format
Digital résumé
Other*

13. How important do you consider it to be for a job
candidate’s résumé be tailored to the job? (SHRM)
42%
45%
12%
2%
0%
Very important Important Neither important
nor unimportant
Unimportant Very unimportant
SHRM Survey findings

14. Do you consider the following aspects mistakes in
resumes submitted by job candidates?
99%
84%
82%
62%
54%
47%
43%
22%
11%
1%
16%
18%
38%
46%
53%
57%
78%
89%
Grammatical/spelling errors
Missing detailed job history
Missing specific dates of employment
Résumé not presented in reverse chronological…
Gaps in employment that are more than a few…
Résumé too long (e.g., more than two pages)
Résumés in narrative format
No cover letter
Objective not listed at the top of the résumé
Yes No
What mistakes do applicants make?

15. How often do these mistakes negatively affect your decision to
extend a job interview?
Always, 20%
Sometimes, 73%
Rarely,
6%
Never, 1%

16. Ladders, an online job-matching site, used "eye tracking"
technology that monitors eye movements to determine how long
recruiters looked at a resume before making a fit/no fit decision.
The average time was 6seconds.
How long to employers spend looking at resumes in the first round?

17. Recruiters spent almost 80% of their resume review time on the following six
data points:
1. Name
2. Education
3. Current title/company
4. Current position start and end dates
5. Previous title/company
6. Previous position start and end dates
Recruiters responded favorable to resumes that used a clear visual hierarchy to
present relevant information and quickly rejected those that were disorganized
or not organized in a way to present information where they expected to see it.

18. Beyond these six data points, recruiters did little more than scan for
keywords to match the open position, which amounted to a very
cursory “pattern matching” activity.
Because decisions were based mostly on the six pieces of data
listed on the previous slide, an individual resume’s details and
explanations became filler and had little to no impact on the initial
decision making.
It's important to stress that these findings are about an initial
recruiter screening. Once a candidate makes it past this level, a
reviewer will spend more time looking at details and explanations.

19. Part III:
Final Tips

20. Graduating Soon?
If you are graduating without much professional experience, you
can use your projects from your student years as evidence that you
are prepared for the demands of the job!
On your resume, use a combination format that allows you to
include sections that emphasize internships, course projects, and/or
skill-sets in addition to your chronological work history.
What skills does the employer state they are looking for, and how
does your experience as a student demonstrate those skills?

21. Target the Position
• Analyze the job announcement to identify qualifications and skills the
employer wants. These are usually listed in order of importance.
• Analyze your qualifications and skills. What matches or closely
matches items on the list from your employment history, course
projects, extracurricular activities?
• Think about transferable skills such as your ability to write and present
information.
• Use the same phrasing as the announcement to describe your
qualifications and skills in your resume. Keywords matter.