The document provides tips for creating an effective resume, including determining the appropriate sections to include such as headings, profiles, experiences, and education. It emphasizes tailoring the resume specifically for the target job and company through research and using active verbs, accomplishments, and visual design. Proper proofreading is also stressed to avoid small errors that could cost an applicant an interview.

1. EXTREME
MAKEOVER:
RESUME
EDITION
English 307, Rachael Wendler

2. Resumes
 Determine if you are qualified for an interview
 Guide employers in developing targeted interview questions
(often, but not always)
 Help employers remember you after an interview
 Target specific jobs
 Include headings and bullet points for easy reading
 Showcase the best work you are capable of producing
(Typo = DEATH)

3. Who are you really competing against?

4. Be a Tailor!
Specific qualifications
Duties
Company values and vibe

5. Be a Cyber Stalker!
•Company Website
•Google Search
•Twitter Account
•Company Blog
•Google News Search

6. Heading
 Name in large font
 Contact info (address, email,
and phone)
 College students often include
“current address” and “permanent
address”
 Visually Appealing

7. Profile
 Other names: Career Summary, Summary, Professional Profile,
Qualifications, Strengths, Skills, Key Skills, Skills Summary,
Summary of Qualifications, Background Summary, Professional
Summary, Highlights of Qualifications
 Replaces Objective Statement
 Focuses on what you bring them rather than what you want, more
detailed, includes proof
 Paragraph or bullet point list of sentence fragments summarizing
what you can bring to the company.
 Avoid “I”
 Tailored to job ad!
 Numbers and Accomplishments

8. Profiles May Include
 General Title/Area of Work
 Number of years of experience (if a good number)
 Core strengths/specializations
 Accomplishments
 Skills (hard and soft)
 Bonus skills
 Additional degrees/certifications
 Languages and international skills
 Computer skills
 Work Style
 Quantification
 Keywords
 Prestigious colleges, employers, or clients

9. Example
Social Media Specialist
Results-oriented marketing coordinator with 3+ years
experience in cutting-edge digital promotion. Specializations
include search engine optimization, social media campaigns,
and market research. Developed successful campaign for
Midas Tires that increased website traffic 50%.
Knowledgeable in creating detailed reports, documents, and
presentations. Fluent in English and Japanese.

10. Common Profile Formats: Paragraph
(Adjective) (Career title true of you now and relates to the job) with
__+ years experience in (or other description of skills if > 3 yrs).
(More fragments).
Enthusiastic and passionate community outreach specialist with 5+
years of volunteer service engagement. Committed volunteer
organizations leader, responsible for networking, recruiting, and
scheduling philanthropic events. Coordinated training for 50+
volunteers. Successfully secured donations through in-kind request
letters for low-income high school.

11. Common Profile Formats: Bullets
List bullets, with most important/relevant first
Summary of Qualifications:
 Engaging youth worker with experience teaching adults and
children with disabilities
 Skilled in developing Individualized Education Plans
 Extensive education in Family Studies and Human Development
 Knowledgeable in youth conflict resolution strategies
 Certified in first aid

12. Combined Bullets and Paragraph
 You can include 1-3 sentences followed by bullet points
 This eats up lots of space!
Skilled retail professional with proven ability to succeed in fast-
paced sales environments.
 Exceptional customer service skills
 Bilingual in Spanish/English
 Selected to train new employees in sales techniques

13. Need Some Inspiration?
http://www.quintcareers.com/Quintessential_Careers_Press
/Words_Hired_By/Chapter3/page59.html

14. Accomplishments
 Not just responsibilities
 What sets you apart?
 How did you go beyond job description?
 EVIDENCE!
 Concrete proof of achievements
 Awards
 Numbers
 Increased sales by 50 % over the previous year; Supervised team of 4;
Served a customer base of 150, the largest on firm's customer-service team.
 Use superlatives and "firsts."
 "first," "only," "best," "most," and "highest."
 Consider the "so-what factor.” Does this characterize your potential for
contributing to your next employer's success?

15. Education
 Name your degree, major (and minors, if
relevant), school, and date of graduation.
 Don’t list high school
 Put “Expected May 2012,” or whenever
you are graduating, so they know when
you will be available
 Optional:
 GPA if above 3.5 (major or general)
 Awards, honors, fellowships,
 Relevant coursework, study-abroad
experiences, senior thesis.
 For recent grads, education usually comes
before experience, but for established
workers experience come first.

16. Experience
 Each job in backward chronological order, most recent first.
 Can include substantial volunteer work or campus roles, even
if unpaid (if title isn’t “Work Experience”)
 Can break experience into Relevant Experience (or
Marketing Experience) and Other Experience, to avoid
listing pizza delivery job first.
 Each job includes: your title, company, city and state of
company, and dates of employment (if still working there,
put “Present” for your end date, e.g. “Summer 2010-Present”;
Continuous summer jobs: Summers 2009-2011 ).

17. Experience Description
 Bullet point fragments describe what you did (2-5 per job)
 Most relevant responsibilities first
 Highlight similarities between your work and the
roles/qualifications from your job ad
 More detail on more relevant jobs and responsibilities.
 If possible, include relevant accomplishments.

18. What about Jobs that Don’t Seem
Related?
Take that, job
search anxiety!
Your secret weapon: Transferrable Skills!

19. Asher’s Example: The Server Who
Would Make a Perfect Sales Rep
Server, Magnolia Café 2009--Present
 Act as a "sales representative" for the
restaurant, selling add-ons and extras to achieve
one of the highest per-ticket and per-night sales
averages.
 Prioritize and juggle dozens of simultaneous
responsibilities.
 Have built loyal clientele of regulars in addition to
tourist trade.
 Quickly mastered sophisticated computer software

20. Help Johnny Get a Job!
Johnny has been a camp
counselor, where he watched
a cabin of boys, cleaned the
mess hall weekly, taught crafts
and was in charge of the crafts
cabin, and responded to
parent phone calls.
He wants to apply for an entry level management position at
an online retail company, where he will supervise two
interns, direct the fast-paced customer service call center,
and make detailed records of customer requests.
Can you write him 3 bullet points?

21. Be a Verb Master
•Weak: Did a business plan as part of
a class project.
Better: Created a business plan as
part of a class project
•Find active, impressive verbs.
•Watch out for verbs like
“participated.”
http://www.bc.edu/content/dam/fil
es/offices/careers/pdf/actionverbsfo
rweb_03.pdf

22. Verb Tenses
 Present tense for things you’re still doing (“Manage”)
 Past tense for things you’ve completed (“Managed”)

23. Other Sections
 Options: Volunteer Experience, Computer Skills, Honors
and Awards, Activities, Relevant Coursework, International
Experience, Technical
Strengths, Licensure, Publications, Professional
Affiliations, and Language Skills.
 Choose the sections that are most appropriate for your
particular job ad and company.

24. Visual Design
 Depends on the “vibe” of the company.
 Media/arts jobs need to be visually appealing
 Trendier companies and fields-- standout design.
 Traditional fields and companies-- conservative design
 Consistent formatting, white space, visual balance, 1-2 fonts
 Logical hierarchy of text design (e.g. bold, underlined,
capitalized, and bigger font); higher levels of headings stand
out more.
 No resume templates, because employers see these a lot.You
don’t want to appear as if you can’t design documents.

25. Proofread, proofread, proofread!
 This doesn’t work: