1. BRYAN KOPP
Brought to you in cooperation with the Purdue Online Writing Lab
Developing Your Résumé
2. Main Sections:
• The Objective Statement
• Contact Information
• Education
• Experience
• Honors and Activities
Overview of Sections
3. What is an Objective Statement?
• A short section (usually 1-3 lines),
often in the form of a sentence fragment,
immediately below your contact information
• An “at a glance” picture of you and
your career interests
• AKA: Professional Objective, Résumé Capsule,
Career Goals, etc.
The Objective Statement
4. The Objective Statement:
• Emphasizes key qualifications,
skills, and/or goals
• Helps your readers find what
they need quickly
• Makes a good first impression
• Relates company goals to
personal goals
Why include an
Objective Statement?
5. Example: An internship allowing me to
utilize my knowledge and expertise in
different areas
Well-written but raises too many questions
• What kind of internship?
• What knowledge?
• What kinds of expertise?
• Which areas?
• How will you contribute to this company?
Is this a Good Objective
Statement?
6. A good Objective Statement answers
these questions:
• What position(s) are you applying for?
• What are your main qualifications?
• What are your career goals?
• What is your professional identity?
• How can you help the company?
Crafting a Good
Statement
7. Sometimes one size does NOT fit
all
• Each person and employer is unique
in certain ways
• Aim for a custom fit when
possible
The Importance of
Tailoring
8. Writing the Statement:
1. Reflect on your overall
qualifications and career goals: In
what ways are they typical?
Unique?
2. Research individual employers in
your field: In what ways are
employers alike? Different?
Getting started...
9. Brainstorm Activity
Questions about You Questions about Employers
What are your main
qualifications, strengths, skills,
and areas of expertise?
What qualifications are most
desired by employers in your
field?
What position(s)—or type of
position—are you seeking?
What positions are available on
the job market? What are they
titled?
What are some of your
professional goals?
What are some goals of these
organizations that interest you?
What type of organization or
work setting are you most
What kinds of organizations are
now hiring?
10. For practice, fill in the brackets:
1. To utilize my [qualifications, strengths, or
skills] as a [position title]
2. A position as a [position title] for [company
name] allowing me to develop my
[qualifications, strengths, or skills]
3. An opportunity to [professional goal] in a [type
of organization, work environment, or field]
4. [position title] with emphasis in [areas of
expertise]
“Instant”objective
statements
11. The one that:
1. Emphasizes your qualifications
and/or goals, and
2. Appeals to employer expectations
Which of your objective
statements is “best”?
• You will probably need to write more than one
objective statement.
• Tailor each statement for the type of position
that interests you and, for best results, modify it
for each individual employer as necessary.
12. The Contact
Information Section
The Contact Information
Section:
• Provides information to
help prospective
employers contact you
• Presents a first impression
• Is usually located at the
top of the page
13. This Section Might Include Your:
• Name, of course!
• Address and phone number
• Campus
• Permanent
• Email address
• Website
• Fax number
• Any other modes of contact
What might you
include?
14. Your Name Here
1234 Streetname, #1
West Lafayette, IN 47906
Student@univ.edu
765-555-5555
Q: Is this a good
sample?
15. • Use design strategies
• Pick fonts, consider:
• Size,
• Type, and
• Highlighting
• Use layout
• Alignment
• Columns
• Coordinate with the rest of the
resume
Moving beyond the
typewriter
16. • Size: how big is big enough?
• Two major kinds of Type:
• Serif
• Sans serif
• Text highlighting: bold, italics,
caps, underline, special
effects
Using Fonts
17. Aligning text
1. Flush left
2. Center
3. Flush right
Layout: Putting it on the
page
Using columns
1. Both left and right
2. Left, right, and center
18. Your Name
Here
Campus Address
1234 Streetname, #1
West Lafayette, IN 47906
yourname@university.edu
765-555-5555
Permanent Address
4321 Streetname
Anytown, IN 12345
http://univ.edu/~login
555-555-1234
Q: Is this sample better?
19. To set off your Contact Information you:
• May include a horizontal line, and/or
• May possibly include a small graphic
element
Adding a graphic
element
20. • Match the design of your Contact Information
section with the rest of your resume
• Use the same font types
• Use a consistent layout
• Match the design to your cover letter
• Make a stationary template based on your
contact section
• Use the same paper for all application
documents
• Aim for a professional package
Coordinate design
strategies
22. What is the Education Section?
• A section that emphasizes your educational
background and formal training,
individualizing for an organization.
• Usually a major section for college students and
recent graduates
The Education Section
23. In the Education Section:
• Give information about your schooling
and training
• Persuade employers your educational
background is relevant to the job by
providing evidence of your relevant
qualifications
• Help your résumé stand out from the
others
The Section’s Purposes:
to inform and persuade
24. Should the Education Section be placed
above or below your experience section?
• Which is stronger, your education or your
work experience section?
• How much relevant work experience do you
have?
• Place the strongest, most relevant
section closest to top of the page
Where should you place
this section?
25. The Basics:
1. The schools you have attended, including
universities, community colleges, technical
schools, etc.
2. The location of those school(s)
3. The date of your graduation, actual or
anticipated
4. The degree(s) you earned or pursued (ex. a B.A. in
Marketing)
5. Your Grade Point Average (GPA)
6. The courses you took outside of classes typical to
your major that may add to your qualifications
for the job
The “bare bones”
Education Section
27. Extra information about your degree (major, minor, or
selective GPAs, funding sources, honors, etc.)—
usually listed or included in parentheses
Specializations and special projects—usually listed or
described briefly
Other relevant skills and training (relevant
coursework, computer skills, language proficiency,
certifications, licenses, etc.)—may be subsections or
separate sections
What else may be
included?
28. • What are my major(s) and
minor(s)? What are my areas
of emphasis, specialization, or
concentration?
• What are my major and minor
GPAs?
• Did I earn any honors related to
my degree?
• How is my education funded?
• What special courses or
degree-related projects might
be relevant?
• What courses have I taken that
are related to my career goals?
• With what computer programs
am I most familiar?
• What language proficiencies
do I have?
• Did I earn any certifications or
licenses?
• Do I have any on-the-job
educational training such as in-
house training programs?
Activity: Answer the
following…
29. Consider using:
• Subheadings
• Indenting
• Columns/tables
• Parentheses
• Bulleted lists
• Paragraphs
Match the design of the Education Section to the
rest of your résumé
Design
30. B.A. in Professional Writing, Purdue
University, West Lafayette, Indiana,
May 2007 (Funded 100% of Schooling)
Concentration: Business and Technical
Writing
Select Coursework: Computer-aided
Publishing, Writing for the Computer
Industry, Business Writing, Technical
Writing, Advanced Professional Writing
Overall GPA: 3.4/4.0
Major GPA: 3.7/4.0
EducatioEducatio
nn
Are we done now?
31. The Experience Section:
• Demonstrates your most relevant
experience in work or
activities.
• Other common names: Professional
Experience, Work History, Field Work,
Volunteer Work, etc.
• Special names: Technical Experience,
Supervisory Experience, Aviation Experience,
etc.
The Experience Section
32. • Provide information to help persuade
prospective employers that your experiences
make you qualified for the job and that you
align with the organization’s goals
• Help your résumé stand out from others in the stack
• Construct your professional identity
Informing to Persuade
33. Experience Entry Basics:
1. Company or organization and location (city,
state)
2. Position title
3. Dates of employment or involvement
4. Descriptions of responsibilities, duties,
achievements, etc.
• Make sure to use action verbs to describe
your duties! (ex. Planned annual
fundraiser)
What goes in this
section?
34. Should the Experience Section be placed above or
below your education section?
•How much work experience do you have?
•Which is stronger, your education or your work experience
section?
• Place the strongest, most relevant section
closest to top of the page
Where should you put
this section?
35. Activity: List your past and present
experiences.
Include:
• Jobs
• Volunteer positions
• Appointments
• Assistantships
• Internships
• Any activities that involved the same
duties or qualifications that might be
needed in the job you’re applying for
Getting started…
36. Activity (cont.):
• To tailor the content of this section, circle
each item that is…
• Related to your career goals
• Asked for in job ads and descriptions
• Then choose one experience you circled
and describe briefly
Describing experiences
37. • Use a variety of action words to
describe your experiences
• Answer the journalistic
questions:
• Who?…With whom did you work?
• What? …What duties did you perform?
• Where? …Where did your job fit into the
organization?
• Why? …What goals were you trying to accomplish?
• When? …What timelines were you working under?
• How? …What procedures did you follow?
Developing your
descriptions
38. Example:
Description Before: Planned activities
Questions: What activities?, How?, When?, For whom?
Description After: Planned arts, crafts, activities, and
exercises weekly for physically-challenged children
Developing your
descriptions (cont.)
39. COLUMN A (not
parallel)
•Recording OSHA regulated
documents
•Material purchasing and
expediting
•Prepared weekly field
payroll
•Responsible for charge
orders
COLUMN B (parallel)
•Recorded OSHA
regulated documents
•Conducted material
purchasing and expediting
•Prepared weekly payroll
•Processed charge orders
Making your
descriptions parallel
40. UNDERSTATED
• Answered phone
• Wiped tables
PROFESSIONAL
• Acted as liaison between clients and legal staff
• Created a healthy environment for customers
and maintained a positive public image
Try to see your experiences
as a professional would
41. Remember to tailor your experience:
• Select content that supports your qualifications and
matches the job description
• Consider organizing by order of importance
• Use professional wording, integrating job-specific
terms and verbs that are action-oriented
Ways to tailor the
Experience Section
42. 1. Tailor for your audience
2. Use appropriate headings
3. Included required content
4. Organize your section strategically
5. Develop your descriptions
6. Make your descriptions parallel
7. See through a potential employer’s
eyes
A formula for success
43. • Emphasizes your participation in
relevant activities and any
honors you have received
• Other names: Awards, Memberships,
Volunteer Work, etc.
The Honors and
Activities Section
The Honors and Activities Section:
44. The Honors and Activities Section:
• Fills up white space
• Provides additional evidence of your
qualifications
• Gives employers a sense of who you are
outside of school and work
Why bother?
45. Where should I place the Honors and
Activities Section?
• Usually the last section on the page
• Can be moved up if information is especially
important or relevant
• Sometimes omitted if there is a lack of space or
relevant information
Section Location
46. Activity:
Draw three columns, one for each of
the following:
1. Titles or positions
2. Sponsors or affiliated
organizations
3. Dates of involvement (M/Y-M/Y
or Y-Y)
What goes into this
Section?
47. Brainstorm…
• Extracurricular activities
• Awards, grants, prizes, and special
honors
• Memberships in professional clubs
and organization
• Volunteer activities
Exploring content
possibilities
48. Which Honors and Activities should I
include?
• Consider which honors and activities are most
relevant to the job to which you are
applying.
• Which honors and activities would most
interest prospective employers?
• How much space do you have?
• Choose and organize your information to
emphasize the most relevant activities.
Big or little? Major or
minor?
49. The Minimalist Approach
Photography Club, University of Illinois,
January 1999-Present
The Elaborated Approach
President, Photography Club, University of
Illinois, January 1999-Present
Organized campus-wide photography
contest
Increased membership with
promotional efforts
Two approaches
50. Design and Organization Options:
• Simple list
• Columns
• List with bulleted descriptions
Remember to coordinate your visual design
with the other sections of your résumé!
Using visual design
51. 1. Brainstorm
2. Decide what to include based on
relevance, interest-value, and
space
3. Match organization and design
with rest of your résumé
4. Seek critical feedback
Plan of attack
52. Purdue University Writing Lab
Heavilon 226
Web: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
Phone: (765) 494-3723
Email: owl@owl.english.purdue.edu
Where to Go to Get
More Help
53. The End
DEVELOPING YOUR RÉSUMÉ
BRYAN KOPP
Brought to you in cooperation with the Purdue Online Writing Lab
Rationale: This slide explains the different sections that make up the PowerPoint. Each section can stand alone or be used to make full presentation on how to create a resume.
Rationale:Many students will probably already know what an objective statement is, but to help everyone get on the same track, this slide presents a quick definition. The next slides use this definition implicitly.
Though often quite different, “résumé Capsules” are treated as being similar to objective statements here because they perform similar functions on a résumé and because space does not permit detailed discussion of all variations.
Activity: Have participants review the example on the slide and answer the following questions:
Do you feel this sample objective statement is effective?
Would you consider writing one like it? Why or why not?
Key Concept: The main weakness of this sample objective, as some students may notice, is its vagueness. The “moral of the story” is to be specific in writing objective statements. Subsequent slides help students work away from the generic approach used in this sample.
Those who have heard that objective statements are either unnecessary or a waste of valuable space would find evidence for why not to include them in this sample. Indeed, if this sample were the typical approach, objectives would be rather pointless. Fortunately, most objectives are much more specific and do more than just fill space.
Example: Present the following scenario before advancing to the next slide:
Imagine yourself a human resources manager or on a hiring committee. You have an enormous stack of resumes to go through in a short time. What information would you most want to see? What questions would you have about each applicant’s resume?
Rationale:This slide shifts quickly from definition to evaluation, getting students actively involved in thinking about objective statements right from the start. The first bulleted item, the sample objective, should be presented by itself before the other two.
Click mouse to reveal each bulleted item.
Key Concepts: Objective statements should provide answers to these questions “in a nutshell,” helping résumé readers find what they need quickly.
The facilitator might call students’ attention to the repetition of the word “you” and “your” in these questions. Each student writing a résumé needs to answer these questions as an individual although everyone benefits from critical feedback from others. One sign of a weak objective statement is that it may be placed on anybody’s resume.
Some objective statements, it should be noted, do not answer all these questions, but the most effective objectives answer at least one or two. One question that employers now want to know is how “you” will fit into their company and help it succeed. Researching a companies mission statement and core values and including these key words in your objective statement can benefit a résumé drastically.
Rationale:This slide establishes the importance of answering these questions on an individual basis. The next slide stresses the need to tailor objective statements for readers.
Activity: Ask students to imagine this scenario: two different companies are hiring in your field. Company X is small and emphasizes its small-town, family atmosphere and its commitment to growth. Company Y, by contrast, is large, corporate and emphasizes excellence and relevant work experience.
Pose the following questions about this scenario:
Would both companies be equally impressed by the same objective statement? How might they differ?
Key Concept: Company X might look for someone who is willing to grow with the company while Company Y might look for someone who already possesses desired skills. An objective statement for Company X might emphasize your professional goals while the objective statement for Company Y might summarize your experience or skills.
If you wanted to apply for jobs at both companies, you should consider writing two different objective statements (or two different versions) to maximize your chances for success.
Tailoring for each employer takes time, however, and you may not be able to customize every objective statement. Instead you may consider writing a few different versions, each tailored to a job or company type. If you choose to write only one objective statement, for an event such as a career fair or round table, you should be sure to tailor it to your particular discipline or field.
Rationale:This slide introduces the idea of tailoring. The next three slides outline strategies for tailoring objective statements.
Key Concept: In some ways, writing a résumé is like writing an essay. An objective statement is similar to a thesis statement—it presents a summary version of your main qualifications or goals. However, before you write a thesis statement, it helps to do some pre-writing or brainstorming. The same is true for writing objective statements. In order to tailor your objective statement, you will need to think through some questions first.
The first questions require self-reflection, with students sitting in front of a mirror literally or figuratively. The process of writing an objective statement is closely connected to the process of finding the right career. To write an effective objective statement, one has to “know thyself” as well as know how one is like or unlike others.
If students are well-along in their majors, they should be able to venture answers to the second set of questions on the slide even without elaborate research. If students have not researched the types of employers hiring (by looking at job ads and company profiles, talking to professors, reading trade journals, etc.), they should make sure do so when revising their objective statements.
For students currently on the job market, asking these questions about themselves and prospective employers may prove to be the hardest part of writing objective statements. Time spent exploring answers, however, will greatly improve their objective statements, their resumes--and their chances for getting an interview.
Activity: Invite students to do some brainstorming and write a paragraph or so on each of the above questions.
Rationale:This slide presents general questions that are broken down in the next two slides.
Activity: Have participants draw a line down the middle of piece of paper, making two columns. In the left column write “Me” and in the right “Employers.” Begin answering the above questions in the “Me” column.
Answering these questions completely takes a great deal of time--sometimes a whole lifetime!--but students can gain much from jotting some preliminary answers during the workshop.
Rationale: This slide encourages students to begin taking notes in the “Me” and “Employers” columns. Drawing two columns will make it easier for students to make comparisons between their career interests and the job market, thus helping them discover ways to tailor their objective statements.
Activity: Ask students to discuss the following:
Should you include everything you have just listed in the “Me” column in your objective statement?
How do you decide what is most relevant?
Key Concept: The answer for the first question, of course, is definitely do not include everything and, for the second, determine relevance by researching what employers want. Since resumes are written for employers ultimately, students will need to do some audience analysis to tailor their objective statements.
Activity: After students answer the questions in the “Employers” column ask them to circle all items that appear in both columns.
Rationale:As indicated previously, most students will need to conduct some outside research into specific companies and organizations in order to answer these questions. The key point here is that such research is worth doing. During the workshop, students may make some educated guesses or, if only a couple students know answers, they may share theirs with the whole group.
Key Concept: Once students have answered some questions about themselves and their prospective employers, they may start experimenting with specific formats. This slide presents four common approaches to writing objective statements.
It is very important that students understand these approaches are meant to be modified in structure, content, and wording--or discarded altogether if they are unhelpful. For practice, though, students will benefit from using these generic models to create a couple possible objective statements.
Activity: Using information listed in the previous columns (especially circled information), have students fill in the blanks of at least two of the above generic models.
Rationale:Generating “instant objective statements,” should boost students’ confidence by letting them discover just how easy writing an objective statement can be (that is, after they have worked through some of the earlier questions).
Before seeing the next and final slide in this workshop, students will ideally have at least two “practice” objective statements.
Activity: Have students answer the question posed in the title of this slide and share their responses.
Activity: As a final exercise, you may want students to write a paragraph in which they reflect upon
how well their “practice” objective statements work to achieve their purposes,
what their ideal objective statements will be like, and
what their next steps will be.
Rationale:So that students may begin answering the question in the title for themselves, it should be presented by itself before each of the bulleted items.
This final slide recaps the main points from the workshop and asks students to evaluate their own objective statement drafts in light of these principles.
Activity: For future reference, students who are just beginning to write their resumes should consider jotting down some notes on what to include in their contact information sections. Students who have already drafted a résumé may either take out their résumé drafts or a piece of scratch paper for use throughout the workshop.
Key Concept: Listing all of this information is only the first step in the process of developing this section. What are the next steps? You may want to ask students to respond to this question. The next step involves making this information usable and appealing to eye.
The next slide presents a sample contact information section for students to critique.
Activity: The facilitator may initiate discussion by posing the following questions:
Is this contact information section complete? Why or why not?
What can be improved?
Key Concepts: Although an email address may be included, this sample does provide essential content; it serves its main function—providing information. In an age of desktop publishing and word-processors, however, many résumé readers will expect more with visual layout and design. This sample looks as though it were produced with an old-fashioned typewriter. A person whose résumé seems to be written in the “typewriter age” may seem out of date or perhaps not familiar with current technologies. To make a good first impression, students should consider experimenting with the visual component of this and résumé sections.
Rationale:The purpose of this slide is to get student actively thinking about how to develop this section with work on visual layout design. The next slide provides an overview of basic ways to get beyond the “typewriter age” resume.
Activity: The facilitator may initiate discussion by asking the following:
What can be done with a word-processor but not a typewriter?
There are dozens of answers, of course. You may want to follow up with a second question:
Would it make sense to use all the design and format features on a word-processor?
The answer to this second question is clearly no.
Key Concept: Students should strive to apply certain design features to achieve desired effects, but they should avoid the use of visual embellishments “for their own sake.” This slide outlines the most commonly used design strategies, each of which will be discussed in following slides. Before proceeding, the facilitator might want to emphasize the difference between making design decisions strategically (to improve usability and appearance) and making them arbitrarily.
Activity: Invite discussion by posing the following question:
What is the single most important piece of information on a resume?
Key Concept: Your name is the most important feature on a résumé because without it your résumé would be useless. Since readers will look for the applicant’s first and last name, you should consider placing it in a larger font size for easy reference. Some students choose font sizes as large or larger than 18-point for their names when the rest of their resumes are in 12 or 10-point fonts.
Fonts: For a professional look, students will want to avoid more than two or three different font sizes; otherwise their resumes may seem jumbled and difficult to read.
Perhaps the best way to set off names and headings on a résumé is to use different kinds of fonts. Again, for visual consistency, it is best to avoid more than a couple different fonts, choosing one for your name and headings and one for the content of each section. Though there are hundreds of different fonts, students should know about the two major kinds used in the publishing world: serif and sans serif. Serif fonts such as Times New Roman and Courier are easy to read and tend to be used for lists and paragraphs. Sans serif fonts such as Arial and Helvetica tend to grab the eye and are commonly used for headings.
Text highlighting: Another easy way to improve the readability and design of this section as well as others is to use text highlighting features such as caps, boldface, italics, and underline. An important rule of thumb for text highlighting on resumes is to be selective and consistent. To use caps, boldface, and underlining, for example, would be redundant. Each of these methods of highlighting provides emphasis by itself. NOTE: Remind them that they should only “text highlight” the most important one or two parts of their resume. To overuse these features would cancel out their purpose altogether.
Key Concept: The top of a page can be divided into three areas: left, center, and right. Students may find it helpful to remind themselves of options for presenting their contact information. Résumé writers have basically three choices for alignment and two combinations using columns.
Activity: Invite discussion by asking the following (trick) question:
Where is the best place to put your contact information?
Some students think their contact information should always be centered. Although centering may prove a good strategy for certain individuals, those who wish to include both local and permanent addresses will of course need to use at least two columns. Actually three columns may be needed: one for each address and one for the name.
If students have only one address, then they have choices to make. The eye is usually drawn first to the top left corner of the page, so flush left is a smart choice. Centering is the most common approach, and flush right catches the eye because it is less commonly used. Columns provide balance and allow writers to present more information.
Rationale:
Though this slide seems to present “common sense,” even students who are already familiar with page layout strategies may benefit from reminders of possibilities for design. The next slide presents a sample for critique.
Activity: Ask participants to consider the following:
Is this the perfect contact information section? Why or why not?
Key Concept: This is not necessarily the perfect example, but it is pretty good because it uses fonts, text alignment and columns to present information. In addition, this sample uses left justification in the left column and right justification in the right for a clean line on each of the margins.
Some students get very frustrated trying to create columns on their resumes because they use spaces, tabs or the column feature on their word-processing program. To avoid headaches, résumé writers should create columns by inserting a table with two or three columns (and no borders). Doing so allows one to place information exactly where desired.
Activity: Before advancing to the next slide, invite discussion by asking the following:
Is there anything else we can add to this sample to improve it?
Key Concept: One additional way résumé writers can set off this important section of their résumé is to add a graphic element such as a horizontal line. Students might want to experiment with inserting different kinds of lines beneath their contact information.
Only those in design-oriented fields, should even consider choosing to add some other small image to the top of their resumes such as relevant clipart. Care should be taken, however, in adding lines and images because most résumé readers are more interested in content and design than pretty pictures.
Activity: Consider posing the following questions to the audience:
How may design choices in the contact information section affect the design of other résumé sections? How may they carry over to other application documents such as the cover letter?
Key Concept: It seems impossible but it happens. People in their haste have been known to misspell even their own names! More commonly, students accidentally make typos in their phone numbers or email addresses. One incorrect digit in a phone number, needless to say, may have devastating consequences if employers are trying to contact you. Of course, students need to proofread their whole résumé for typos, grammar mistakes, and design glitches.
Key Concept: No matter what one is writing, whether a resume, memo or essay, it helps to know one’s purposes. With resumes and education sections in particular, many have the impression the main idea is simply to report information. Although informing is a major purpose, students should remember they are trying to persuade prospective employers they are the right person for the job. Students may want to think about their resumes as arguments, which present evidence of qualifications rather than just lists of facts.
Rationale:Before examining the education section by itself, students are encouraged think about their overall purposes. The next slide discusses placement options.
Example: Imagine two different college students. Elizabeth is 19 years old and plans to be a computer programmer. She is applying for an internship in her field, but has no relevant work experience. In contrast, Leonard is a non-traditional student. He is pursuing a degree in aviation technology after working years as a supervisor and mechanic at an airport.
Activity: Discuss the example:
How may Elizabeth and Leonard’s education sections differ?
Should Leonard list his work experience or education first? Why?
Key Concept: Education sections, like experience sections, are usually placed in the middle of a resume, somewhere between the objective statement and the honors and activities section. Unless one is following a specific format, an education section may be placed near the top or bottom of the page. Because the eye is usually drawn to the top left part of the page first, students may want to place their strongest qualifications near the top.
If the educational background is the applicant’s strongest qualification or may help his or her résumé “stand out” (e.g. if the applicant’s degree program has an especially good reputation), then the education section should be placed near the top. This section may be a major focus for recruiters if you are a recent graduate. On the other hand, if the experience section is stronger or more relevant, then the education section may be placed below it.
Activity: Ask participants to take out a piece of scratch paper and jot down all they can remember for each bulleted item listed on the slide. We will build on this basic information in the next slides. Alternatively, have students take out a draft of their resumes and put a checkmark next to each item.
Key Concept: Generally speaking, high school experience is not listed once one has entered a college degree program. For location, one need not list the school’s full address, only city and state. Dates of graduation may be either actual or expected. For degree and GPA information, it may be necessary to check school records for the exact name of your degree program and your GPA.
NOTE ON GPA: Some people choose to withhold their GPAs because they feel it is irrelevant or not high enough. If a company specifically requests your GPA, however, it is probably in your interest to provide it. In such cases, not including your GPA may, ironically, call attention to it.
Example: Recalling the scenario on the previous slide, we may reflect on who may most benefit from using the “bare bones” approach. Leonard, the non-traditional student with a lot of experience, may include only this basic information in his education section, saving space on his résumé for developing his work experience. For Elizabeth, the student who is applying for an internship to gain relevant experience, this may be only the foundation for building her complete education section.
Rationale:The “bare bones” approach is illustrated with an example in the next slide.
Activity: Invite discussion with the following:
How may this sample be improved with additional content?
How may the visual design of this sample be improved?
Key Concept: Even those wishing to use the “bare bones” approach may have problems with this sample. Why? Primarily because it seems thin and poorly designed. The rest of the workshop will explore ways to develop this section.
Rationale: The next two slides will ask students to brainstorm ways to move beyond this sample. Some may in the end decide to use a minimal approach after all. To make an informed decision about whether or not the “bare bones” approach is best, though, it is necessary to explore other possibilities and then compare approaches.
Rationale:This slide presents an overview of other kinds of information that may be included in the education section. The next slide follows up on each of these three options with a set of questions for students to answer.
Activity:Ask students to jot down whatever comes to mind for each of the questions that apply to them. Later, they will choose which of this information, if any, may work into their resumes. To answer these questions fully, they will need to do some outside research, checking transcripts and school records, for example. For today’s purposes, please have students make educated guesses when they cannot answer questions accurately.
Rationale:The next three slides encourage students to work through the writing process started here. After brainstorming, students should select content, develop an organizational plan, and finally design content on the page, keeping always their résumé readers in mind.
Key Concepts: On a resume, organization should be apparent to readers at a glance. résumé readers will probably not have time to figure out how information is put together. Thus, when one uses subsections, one should use descriptive subheadings to help readers find desired information. Subheadings are often highlighted or placed in different fonts.
Students may also use white space to separate different kinds of information. By indenting and using columns, writers can make their organization visible to readers. For content within subsections, students can use lists and perhaps place stray information in parentheses. If more extended lists or descriptions are necessary, then writers may need to use bullets or even paragraphs of text.
Whatever design decisions writers make for the education section(s), they will need to make sure their choices are visually consistent with other sections.
Rationale:The next slide gives a sample that uses some of the design and organization strategies discussed.
Activity: Invite students to respond the the following:
Is this sample better than the previous one? Why or why not?
Key Concept:
This sample is more informative, better organized, and better designed, but we cannot know whether it is “better” or not without seeing the rest of the résumé and learning more about this individual’s career goals. One must evaluate résumé sections on a case by case basis. For this reason, students should seek feedback on their résumé sections from professionals in their field, from peers, and of course from tutors in the writing lab.
Key Concept: Employers are interested in hiring people not so much as students but as workers, so not surprisingly this section is at the heart of your resume. If you imagine your résumé as an argumentative essay in which you are arguing you are the right person for the job, the experience section presents an opportunity for you to support your claim with detailed evidence. Anyone can say an applicant should be hired because he or she has good communication skills, for example, but only some can prove they have the skills with examples drawn from the experiences.
Those who make the most of their experience section know they are not just dumping information about their past jobs and duties; they are proving they have the qualifications needed to succeed in the future.
Rationale: This section also gives students a chance to construct a professional identity out of their experiences.
Click mouse to reveal each item.
Key Concept: Writers may choose how to order the first three kinds of information. One may list dates and then add positions and company names—or put positions and company names before dates. (The second is usually preferred because information to the left side of the page is usually seen first.) However, information about companies, positions, and dates is relatively easy to write on a resume.
The real challenge emerges with the fourth bulleted item: descriptions. Out of all the words in the English language and all the different ways to put them together—why choose certain words and word orders over others? The remainder of this workshop will be devoted to making the task of describing jobs a little easier and at the same time more effective.
Key Concept: Before looking more closely at the experience section, it is worth commenting on placement issues briefly. Many students think their education section should go above their experience section. They should know, however, that if their experiences are strong and potentially impressive to an employer or would help their résumé stand out from the crowd, then they may decide to flip-flop the usual order.
Activity: Ask students to take out a piece of paper and draw four columns: in column one, write “Position”; in column two, write “Company”; in column three write “Dates”; and in column four write “Descriptions.” Drawing from memory or from résumé drafts, ask students to fill in the first three columns. If students are fairly advanced in the résumé writing process, they may take out their resumes, reread them, and mark any spots they feel may be improved during this workshop. Students will benefit from five minutes or so spent writing down ideas.
Activity: Initiate students’ responses with the following:
Should you include all your experiences on your resume?
Which ones are especially important to include? How do you decide?
Key Concept: Unless students only have one or two experiences, they probably should be selective about what to include. If possible, include only experiences related in some way to the job for which you are applying. What if your experiences do not relate to the job? Then you may either choose to develop other sections of your résumé or to work on “packaging” your experiences in the most relevant way possible.
Activity: Have students choose their most relevant experience and write a brief description of it in the fourth column. If they have already written a draft of their resumes, invite them to study their descriptions closely. Is there anything they left out?
Rationale:This slide sets up the rest of the workshop, which will be devoted to writing effective descriptions of experiences.
Activity: Provide students with the Writing Lab handout called the “Skills List,” located at the Purdue OWL (Online Writing Lab) at Ask students to skim through the list, putting a checkmark next to all those action words they feel apply to them. Then ask students to place another checkmark next to words they think employers in their field would want to see. Words with two checkmarks should definitely be worked into their resumes!
Key Concepts: In the English language, information is conveyed more efficiently through verbs than any other part of speech. If you choose the word “collaborated,” for example, in one of your descriptions, you not only help describe that particular experience but you also reveal that you have collaborating skills. Moreover, action words show you in action—as somebody who not only has abilities but also uses them.
Because verbs are so important on your resume, students should try to avoid unnecessary repetition and use the maximum variety.
Key Concept: One problem many students face in writing descriptions is excessive conciseness. Although it is good to be “clear and concise,” sometimes it is in a résumé writer’s interest to use more rather than fewer words, especially if doing so helps her prove to résumé readers she is more qualified than other applicants. Be as detailed and specific as possible given the space available. Easy to say, but hard to do?
Asking the journalistic questions (the questions reporters often ask when researching a news story) is a useful strategy for making descriptions more detailed. The next slide gives an example of how students might eliminate excessive white space in their experience section.
Activity: Have students examine the given samples and answer the following:
Why is the “after” example better?
Key Concept: The “after” is better because it gives résumé readers more information about the experience. Furthermore, the second sample demonstrates that the applicant has a detail-oriented mind and took the specific tasks of the job seriously. If one person sent a résumé with the first description on it and another the second, who would seem the better writer?
Activity: Ask students to try using the journalistic questions to develop one of their own descriptions. Invite students to share their results.
Key Concept: Another common trouble spot with describing experiences may be called “selling oneself short.” Students often have to take jobs that are not directly related to their career goals. As a result, some résumé writers think about job descriptions as sets of things they were forced to do to earn a living.
One way to boost descriptions of experiences is to think about how a professional would perceive each job task. Professionals generally see their work as satisfying to some greater organizational need. They see how even the most humble duty fits into the bigger picture.
Click mouse to reveal the “understated” and “professional” examples.
In some ways, every profession has its own way of speaking. When a résumé seems to be spoken in the language of the profession, readers are more likely to listen to what it has to say. How do you “speak” a profession? This workshop has hinted at three different ways: tailor the content, organization, and wording of your resume, especially in your descriptions.
However, to tailor effectively, one must do some research into each field, company and position. Read job ads, for example. What words are commonly used? Try to use those words in your descriptions.
Key Concept: This slide recaps main strategies discussed in this workshop. As indicated earlier, the experience section is usually one of the hardest parts of a résumé to write. Being informed about one’s options is a good first step, but when navigating difficult terrain one should also take advantage of campus resources such as professors, advisors—and, of course, tutors.
Activity: Have students write some ideas about what they plan to do next to develop the experience section of their resumes.
Key Concept: As most students know, too much white space on a résumé is undesirable because it makes applicants look like they don’t have much to offer the employer. However, there are more important reasons to develop your honors and activities section. Just like the experience and education sections, this section should provide evidence that the applicant is the ideal person for the job.
Key Concept: Usually this section is placed at the bottom of the résumé because it is the least important. However, occasionally students move the section up the page because they have, for instance, earned an especially important or relevant award.
Other students find they have no room to list activities because their education and experience sections are well developed, taking up the whole page. Placement depends primarily on relevance, but before one can determine relevance one needs to explore content possibilities.
Activity: The facilitator may invite students to take out a piece of paper and draw three columns for some brainstorming work. In column one, write “Title or Position”; in column two, write “Sponsor or Organization”; in column three, write “Dates.” Students who have already drafted their honors and activities section may want to take out their drafts for reference. The next slide will give suggestions for kinds of experiences to list in each column.
Rationale: You may want to give a students a few minutes to jot down some ideas for each type of experience.
Activity: The facilitator may initiate discussion by asking the following questions before advancing to the next slide:
Should you include everything you have just listed?
How do you decide what to include and what to leave out?
Key Concept: The size of your honors and activities section depends on three factors: potential relevance, potential interest-value to employers, and space available.
To determine relevance, students may need to do some outside research into company literature and study job advertisements in their field. Determining interest-value is difficult, but generally speaking applicants may want select experiences they feel best represents them as professionals or as interesting people.
It is a good idea to draft the honors and activities section last, after one has written one’s objective, education and experience sections. Why? To see how much room is left for extra information. Students should keep in mind that they do not have to include everything in this or any résumé section. Include only enough to spark interest in the eyes of résumé readers. One can always fill in any gaps in the cover letter—and in the interview itself.
Activity: Have participants write an “R” next to all potentially relevant experiences and an “I” next to ones that most interest them and may most interest employers, regardless of relevance. Later, if they have space, consider developing all marked experiences.
Rationale:The next slide illustrates two different approaches for listing items in the honors and activities section.
Rationale:These two samples are included, not so much as models but, as options for students to consider for their own resumes.
Key Concept: Because this section is so variable, students will need to determine design and layout on an individual basis. Commonly, all that is needed is a simple list, but if students want to include additional information, they may want to use the same design strategies they are using in other résumé sections in order to build a consistent presentation.
Rationale:During this workshop students have begun brainstorming work and have learned ways to determine content. The two remaining tasks are to coordinate organization and design with the rest of their resumes and to seek out critical feedback from professors, advisors, peers, and tutors.
Rationale: Although this workshop has offered general advice, students will probably have additional questions about developing their own résumé sections. Purdue students are invited to meet with a tutor to assist with writing challenges on an individual basis. Viewers outside of Purdue may receive assistance through the OWL (Online Writing Lab) and answers to quick questions through the OWL email service.
