How to create a successful Resume

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How to Write a Successful
@sgcampus
Lunch & Learn
Resume
www.sgcampus.com.mx @sgcampus

What are we going to learn today?
I. Resume vs CV
II. What is and isn’t a Resume?
III. Review the basics
IV. Hints for
i. Objectives
ii. Summaries
iii. Education
iv. Work Experience
v. Design
V. Final Check

Resume vs Curriculum Vitae (CV)
The goal of a Resume is to construct a professional identity
vs
The goal of a CV is quite specifically to construct a scholarly
identity
Features:
– Resume: short, no particular format rule, highly customizable
– CV: Long, covers your entire career, static content
A resume is the preferred application document in the US
and Canada. Americans and Canadians would only use a CV
when applying for a job abroad or if searching for an
academic or research oriented position

What a Resume is.....
• A Marketing Piece that creates interest
• Snapshot of a candidate’s a accomplishments /
qualifications and experience.
• A Communications tool that informs an employer why you
should be the company’s next hire!

And What a Resume isn’t …
• A historical document that lists all job responsibilities and
even all jobs.!

The Basics
• Single Page vs Two Page
• Less than 5 years experience single page
• 5+ years of experience, 2 page at most.
• Font Size: 10-12 point font
• Font Type: Times New Roman, Arial or similar simple
fonts
• Use spacing, bolding and even font size for emphasis
• Maintain an adequate balance between white space and
type

The Basics
What should it include?
• Contact Information
• Objective/Summary
• Work Experience
• Education
Optionally:
• Computer skills
• Honors and awards
• Languages
• Certifications
• Volunteer experience
• Hobbies and interests
• Foreign travel
• Professional memberships
• Community service, etc.

The Basics
What should not include?
• Salary demands or expectations
• Preferences for work schedules, days off, or overtime
• Comments on fringe benefits
• Height, weight, age, hair or eye color
• Any disabilities
• Comments on personal life (ex: family)
• Photograph
• Tax ID number,
• Social Security Number

Hints
Objective or Goal ?
Use objectives if you have less than 5 years of working
experience
Use a summary when you have more than 5 years of
working experience

Hints Objective
• Write User-centered objectives (UCO):
– UCO state the organization's name and the specific position
title, and they briefly outline how the applicant will help the
organization achieve its goals.
Ask yourself these questions to get started on an objective
statement:
–What kind of job do I want? Or, what is the job for which I am
applying?
–What kind of job am I qualified for?
–What kinds of skills and qualifications do I possess?
Examples:
• A position as an Informational Technology for General Electric providing
opportunities to use my communication and problem solving skills in an
dynamic environment.
• Help ABC Aerospace achieve its mission of designing tomorrow's
technology today by joining the Navigation Software Development Team
as a programmer.

You should include:
Hints Summary
–Years of professional experience,
–Key roles
–Skills and Qualifications
Align your summary statement with the company’s job
requirements.
Example
Engineer who has 14 years of experience in the finance industry leading
Information Technology projects at the Risk Management area. Known for
developing high performance teams. Supports efforts to develop technical
solutions to both internal and external clients.

Hints Education
• For abroad countries, if you have a degree from the same country, move your
education to the first page of your Resume
• Include any certification or specialization that you have earned (PMP, ITIL, etc.)
• For the US, you are not required to state your GPA, yet if you don’t have
professional experience you should include it. However, if your GPA is lower
than a 3.0, consider omitting it.

Hints Education
What is my education degree level?
• Associate Degrees: Associate-level: 2-year programs may provide the necessary training for entry-level positions.
– Associate of Arts (A.A.)
– Associate of Science (A.S.)
– Associate of Applied Science (AAS)
• Bachelor's Degrees: A bachelor's degree program is an undergraduate program that usually takes four years to
complete.
– Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
– Bachelor of Science (B.S.)
– Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA)
• Master's Degrees: programs are graduate programs that let students specialize in an area of study and typically take 1-
2 years to complete.
– Master of Arts (M.A.)
– Master of Science (M.S.)
– Master of Business Administration (MBA)
– Master of Fine Arts (MFA)
• Doctoral Degrees: Takes several years, involving the completion of a dissertation and a major research project.
– Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
– Juris Doctor (J.D.)
– Doctor of Medicine (M.D.)
– Doctor of Dental Surgery (DDS)

Hints Work Experience
While writing your working experience:
• Provide a bulleted list description of your duties and achievements using action
verbs.
• Use parallel verbs
• Use the past tense in your descriptions unless you are currently interning or
working for the company.
• While describing your position(s), emphasize any responsibilities that involved
handling money, teamwork, dealing with customers, etc.
• Do not exaggerate or lie about your job duties.
• If you do not have work experience that relates to the job that you are seeking:
– Develop your previous work experience in detail using the above
techniques.
–Emphasize in greater detail the related skills you do have that are
necessary for the position for which you are applying.
–Study and associate level or any related program to improve your chances

Why is it Important to Use Action Verbs in Workplace Writing?
• They make sentences and statements more concise persuasive and easier for
readers to understand.
• Action verbs are more convincing than non-action verbs.
Example
– Was the boss of a team of six service employees
The job description below uses an action verb:
–Supervised a team of six service employees
• Use action verbs in resumes to describe all skills, jobs, or accomplishments.
• Using action verbs will allow you to highlight the tasks you can do.
• Word choice is critical in order to describe what you have done and to persuade
potential employers to give you an interview.

Categorized List of Action Verbs
• Communication Skills
• Creative Skills
• Data / Financial Skills
• Helping Skills
• Management / Leadership Skills
• Efficiency Skills
• Research Skills
• Teaching Skills
• Technical Skills
• List of Action Verbs
• https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/543/02/

Regarding accomplishments:
• Along using action verbs you should know:
–Problem or challenged solved (This info is saved for your interview)
–Actual Actions
–Results or Benefits
• Express your accomplishments in the following way
Action Verb in past + Result or Benefit (metrics are preferred) +
How you solved it
Example:
• Increased productivity by 30% in the Credit Card underwriting process as a
result of implementing Lean cell processes and training the credit initiation staff
in Lean best practices.
• Improved data protection and security in corporate data by implementing
backup and high availability services for Unix Oracle Database Servers.

Parallel Structure in Professional Writing
• It is important to be consistent in your wording in professional writing,
particularly in employment documents; this is called parallelism.
• Use parallel structure in any kind of writing that you do, whether that writing is
on or off the job.
Examples:
• Incorrect:
My degree, my work experience, and ability to complete complicated
projects qualify me for the job.
• Correct:
My degree, my work experience, and my ability to complete complicated
projects qualify me for the job.

Another Parallel Example:
Incorrect:
• Prepared weekly field payroll
• Material purchasing, expediting, and
returning
• Recording regulated documentation
• Change orders
• Maintained hard copies of field
documentation
Correct:
• Prepared weekly field payroll
• Handled material purchasing,
expediting, and returning
• Recorded regulated documentation
• Processed change orders
• Maintained hard copies of field
documentation
https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/623/01/

Design Hints
Why is the design of my resume so important?
• Employers will usually take, at most, only thirty-five seconds to look at
this one-page representation of yourself before deciding whether to
keep or discard it.
• To ensure that you will make it past that initial screening, you should
design your résumé in such a way that employers can read the
document easily and process information quickly.

Design Hints
The Quadrant Test
• Readers typically read from left to right and from top to bottom when information
is "balanced" (about an equal amount of text and white space) on the page.
• Being able to anticipate the reader's response to a Resume in this way will allow
you to manipulate information according to the quadrant test.
• Each one of your quadrants should have an equal amount of text and white
space (empty space where there is no text).
• When your page is balanced, the reader will typically read anything in quadrant
1 first. So, you should put your most important information—anything you want
the employer to see first—in this quadrant.

Space Hints

Design Hints
Using columns to lay out your Resume
• Use columns to format your text and create a balanced page
• Use no more than three columns on your résumé.
• Put the most important information in quadrants 1 and 2
• Be aware of your column count, indenting information might create extra
columns
Working Experience
Shepherd Center ,Atlanta GA 2008 – 2010
Process Improvement Consultant
Responsible for the design and execution of process improvements efforts applying Lean-
Six Sigma and evaluating new technologies to automate clerical processes.
• Decreased waiting time by 15% through implementing a new check-in process.
• Increased patient throughput by 10% as a result of simulating and deploying a new
physician schedule

Design Hints
The 20-second Test
• Have someone perform the 20-second test on your resume.
– Time your reader for twenty seconds as he or she reads your résumé.
Review the following:
–What all did he or she learn about you?
–If your reader noticed within twenty seconds what you want employers to
learn about you, then most likely you have created an effective résumé.
–If not, move important information to the first quadrant, checking that you
have used sans serif and serif fonts consistently, and limiting the tools for
emphasis you use in your document.

Final Check
Review the following items after you finished your Resume
• Wisely utilize free space
– Does your resume look too cluttered or too bare?
• Stay away from “paragraph-ish” descriptions.
– Don’t bog the reader down.
• Review your Summary
–Is it supported/detailed in your resume?
• Did you check that all relevant keywords are included?
–Align your entire resume to the job qualifications requires by the
employer
• Is the resume completely free of any misspellings or typos?
–Ask somebody to read proof your document

Sources/References
1. http://gtalumni.org/s/1481/alumni/index.aspx?sid=1481&g
id=21&pgid=894
2. https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/section/6/23/
3. http://theundercoverrecruiter.com/cv-vs-resume-difference-
and-when-use-which/
4. http://education-portal.com/different_degrees.html

How to create a successful Resume

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