4. • The hot spots are
routinely those left-
aligned bold
headings.
• Any big blocks of
texts aren’t read
whatsoever.
5. A focus group
of nine expert
recruiters gave these
individual responses:
What turns recruiters off
when reading résumés?
6.
7.
8. A Resume is NOT a CV
A CV is used in academic and
research-oriented job
searches.
Flexible length.
A record of your academic
accomplishments and
credentials.
A resume is used in business,
government and other
types of job searches.
1 page, 2 pages max.
Targeted to a particular job
in a particular field.
17. • Have more than
ten years of
experience.
Introduction
or
background
Two-pageTwo-page
résumérésumé isis
most likelymost likely
when youwhen you
18. • Are a senior-level
manager or
executive.
• Have a lengthy
history of major
accomplishments.
Title
page
Title
page
Three-
page-plus
résumé is
most likely
when you
19. Preliminary Research
• Find out:
– General job information
– Desired qualifications and skills
– Key values and word
• Look on:
– Company website
– Job advertisement
– Any publications about the company (magazine
articles, etc.)
21. The importance of tailoring
Sometimes one size does NOT fit
all
Each person and employer is
unique in certain ways
Aim for a custom fit
See through potential employer’s
eyes
22.
23. Anup Sehgal
98117772233 anup.s@gmail.com
Anup Sehgal
Campus Address: Permanent Address:
Room No…,RCI Vidya Vihar 5226 Golf View Apts.
Knowledge Park II, Gr. Noida Delhi, India
98117772222
anup.s@gmail.com
26. Q: Is this a good objective statement?
• Well-written but raises too many questions
• For example: What kind of internship?
• What knowledge?
• What kinds of expertise?
• Which areas?
• How will you contribute to this company?
An internship allowing me to utilize my knowledge
and expertise in different areas.
28. Create a Summary
PROFESSIONAL SUMMARY
•Presently working as a Management Trainee at --------------- Ltd.
•18 months of experience in IT industry (Infosys Technologies
Ltd).
•Creation of a positive team environment through strong
interpersonal skills.
29. A Human Resource Professional with strengths in training and
development, strategic program design, and business
partnering. Experience and skills include:
•Recruiting •Metrics & Analysis
•Employee Relations •HRIS Systems
•Training •Social Media
31. What else may be included?
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
33. The Experience Section
• Other common names: Professional Experience,
Work History, etc.
• Special names: Technical Experience, Supervisory
Experience, Marketing Experience, etc.
34. Developing your descriptions
• Use varied action words to describe 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?
35. • Include positions you have held which are
related, in some way, to the job you are
seeking
– Can be both paid and volunteer positions
• Be creative with this section of your resume
by describing and emphasizing your
experiences in the most relevant way
possible.
36. COLUMN A
• Recording Customs
regulated documents
• Material purchasing
and expediting
• Prepared weekly field
payroll
• Responsible for
charge orders
COLUMN B
• Recorded Customs
regulated documents
• Conducted material
purchasing and
expediting
• Prepared weekly payroll
• Processed charge
orders
37. •------------ Ltd, New Delhi April 2013 – Present
Assistant Manager
Cross-functional rotations on project basis
Business Analysis, research, cold calling, technical and interpersonal
•Infosys , Pune June 2010 – July2011
Systems Engineer
India Business Unit : Banking & Capital Markets (BCM)
US Client : American Express (AMEX)
EMMAM Infrastructure Support for software development and testing
activities
Problem solving, analytical and interpersonal
•Infosys , Mysore Dec.2009 – June 2010
Systems Engineer Trainee
Basic, Intermediate and Stream Courses , ILI Training
38. •Assistant Manager April 2013 – Present
------------ Ltd, New Delhi
Cross-functional rotations on project basis
Business Analysis, research, cold calling, technical and interpersonal
•Systems Engineer
•Infosys , Pune June 2010 – July2011
India Business Unit : Banking & Capital Markets (BCM)
US Client : American Express (AMEX)
EMMAM Infrastructure Support for software development and testing
activities
Problem solving, analytical and interpersonal
•Systems Engineer Trainee
•Infosys , Mysore Dec.2009 – June 2010
Basic, Intermediate and Stream Courses , ILI Training
39. Try to see your experiences as a profe
UNDERSTATED
– Answered phone
PROFESSIONAL
– Acted as liaison between clients and legal
staff
– Created healthy environment for
customers and maintained positive public
image
46. Compiled post event market
analysis that aided in the
growth of future fundraisers.
47. Responsible for marketing and event planning for
annual fundraising activities.
• Created marketing plan for annual fundraiser
that resulted in net earnings of over $35,000.
• Developed webpage featuring event highlights
and ticket purchase information.
• Compiled post-event marketing analysis that
aided in the continued growth and success of
future fundraisers.
52. Two approaches
Minimal approach
Photography Club, University of Illinois, January
1999-Present
Elaborated approach
President, Photography Club, University of
Illinois, January 1999-Present
Organized campus contest
Increased membership with promotional efforts
53. References
Choose professional references
Employers and professors who know you and
your work are the best references
Inform the referees in advance
It is enough to state that references are
available upon request
54. Employers are legally barred from asking personal
data, such as birth date, health, and marital
status.
Therefore, omit such items from your résumé.
You can include hobbies or interests that might
grab the recruiter’s attention or serve as
conversation starters.
Personal Data
55. Putting it on the page
Aligning text
1. Flush left
2. Center
3. Flush right
Using columns
1. Both left and right
2. Left, right and center
56. Coordinate design strategies
Match design with rest of resume
Use same font types
Use consistent layout
Match with cover letter
Make stationary template based on contact info
Use same paper for all application documents
Aim for a professional package
57. Avoid Mistakes
• Do not use colourful / glossy paper & flashy
fonts.
• Do not use photo, until asked for.
58. Who else would you be talking about
if not yourself?
Your name is at the top of the
resume page !
59. I demonstrated professionalism, tact, and diplomacy while
I worked with our customers in high-pressure situations.
Demonstrated professionalism, tact, and diplomacy while working
with customers in high-pressure situations.
Instead of this:
Write this:
Notice that the second version of each
example begins with an action verb.
60. "Was the head of a team that . . .”
and
"Managed a team of 10 that . . .”
Try not to use the same word twice on your resume — the
thesaurus in a word-processing program can give you
more possibilities.
61. You can frequently leave out the articles a, an, and the.
Spent three years working on major accounts, as both a lead generator
and a closer, demonstrating proven skill in organizing and managing a
territory with efficiency as well as in developing customer databases.
Spent three years working on major accounts.
Generated leads and closed sales.
Demonstrated proven skill in organizing and managing a territory and
in developing customer databases.
Instead of this:
Write this:
62. •Created and implemented statistical reports
for large metropolitan hospital.
•Analyzed costs with spreadsheet software.
•Created database to track patient visits.
Keep the bulleted items brief and pay attention to
parallelism. Adhere to a similar grammatical
pattern.
63.
Examples of nonparallel
statements include
Examples of parallel statements
include
•Reconcile all statements for
cardholders
•Purchases are approved
•Have experience in performing
training of tellers
•Reconcile statements
•Approve purchases for
Marketing department
•Train tellers
68. Use the present tense for a job you’re still in and the
past tense for jobs you’ve left.
But, among the jobs you’ve left, don’t switch
back and forth between tenses.
Another big mistake: dating a job as though you’re
still employed (2008-Present) and then describing it in
the past tense.
70. Reduced hospital costs by 67% by creating a patient-independence
program, where they make their own beds, and as noted by hospital
finance department, costs of nails and wood totaled $300 less per
patient than work hours of maintenance staff.
Eliminate complex sentences by dividing ideas into sentences of their own and
getting rid of extraneous details:
Reduced hospital costs by 67%. Originated patient independence
program that decreased per-patient expense by $300 each.
71. accommodate guarantee personnel
address immediate recommend
all right independent referred
bureau its/it’s reference
calendar judgment relevant
category maintenance schedule
column millennium sergeant
committed miscellaneous their/they’re/there
conscientious misspell truly
definitely nuclear until
experience occasionally your/you’re
government occurrence weather/whether
When would you use this type?
You have a significant amount of continuous experience, OR
Your experiences have been progressively more responsible.
What is the general outline of this type?
List experience in reverse chronological order
Most important information at the top
When would you use this type?
Good for those who have had many jobs, for those who have taken nontraditional career paths, and for those who are changing fields.
What is the general outline of this type?
Group your skills and qualities into 3 or 4 functional areas particularly important for the job
Strengthen your skills and qualities by listing where you acquired them
When would you use this type?
Your most related experience is not your most recent, OR
You have related experience and
want to add special emphasis to your skills and qualities
What is the general outline of this type?
Resume is organized by skill categories
Under each category, experiences are in chronological order
Key Concept: Another example of contact information with one address. This example is centered in the top middle of the page.
Key Concept: The objective statement is sometimes considered the hardest part of the resume. Different people have different ideas about what objective statement approach is appropriate to use. Some recruiters say that objective statements are useless and if the student has an objective statement at all, it should be brief and to the point.
Other recruiters argue that they just scan the objective statement when they are initially considering applicants. If it doesn’t stand out, a student could be rejected even before the activities and work experience are taken into account. If this is the case, objective statements should be longer and more descriptive.
You must decide which one is most appropriate!
Key Concept: The first approach to objective statements is very brief and to the point. With this method, the student should only put the position and time length he or she desires. If the student knows the particular company, that can also be added. This type of objective statement is easy to read and pick out right away the student’s interest.
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 Concept: The education section should be first on the resume after the objective statement, because usually employers are most concerned with this section. It should contain the university the student attends along with the student’s major, minors, expected date of graduation, and relevant educational classes the student has taken to make him or her valuable to the position.
This section can also contain computer skills, language skills, courses or projects taken. If the student decides to add computer skills, Microsoft Office is not needed since most college students know how to use Microsoft Office.
The facilitator should emphasize that the tutor make sure the student has which campus the student attends, and also the scale of the GPA. A 3.0 out of 5.0 looks a lot worse than a 3.0 on a 4.0 scale!
A lot of students have questions on how low is too low for GPAs. Usually if a student has below a 3.0, it shouldn’t be included. If the student’s major GPA is higher than the overall GPA, that can be used instead. The student can carry out the GPA to two decimal points (3.55), but that is the maximum.
Rationale: The experience section gives more students trouble than any other resume section because frankly it is the hardest to write. Why? Primarily because in addition to listing information about experiences, one has to describe them. Much of this workshop will be devoted to the special challenges of writing descriptions.
Activity: Invite discussion by asking the following:
Why would someone consider using a special name for the experience section?
Key Concept: Some students decide to use more descriptive names or headings to describe their experience section. There are two good reasons for doing so, if necessary: 1) section headings present information about you very quickly, and 2) section headings allow emphasis of certain kinds of experiences. If your experiences can be described with a more detailed heading, consider using one because readers will see your qualifications at a glance.
If you have many experiences, you might also consider grouping them into two different experience sections such as “Leadership Experience” or “Management Experience.”
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 resume writer’s interest to use more rather than fewer words, especially if doing so helps her prove to resume 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.
The jobs that are included in the students’ resumes should support the jobs they are looking for. If a student is applying to a teaching job, he or she doesn’t need to include a serving job unless the student wants to emphasize certain skills that are valuable to teaching in the serving job.
If the student worked for a significant company or organization and would rather highlight the company than the position, the student can bold the company or put it before the job title.
Jobs should be listed in either reverse chronological order or in order of importance. Anytime anything quantitative can be included, the student should include the information so employers have a better way of measuring the student’s skills.
Activity: Ask students to consider the following:
What is the difference between the two columns?
Which column of descriptions is better? Why?
Key Concept: Most would agree that Column B is better because it is written in a parallel fashion. It sets up a pattern and sticks with it. Applicants make a resume reader’s job easier when they structure words and phrases in a consistent manner.
For example, in Column B all descriptions begin with past tense verbs; readers can think about meaning without worrying about structure. In Column A, by contrast, readers have to figure out how each item relates to the others in the list, which takes time and may even prove frustrating.
Students should know, however, that they may begin each description with a noun phrase or a present tense verb—as long as writers are consistent within each subsection.
Key Concept: Although a lot of students usually just list their actual paid jobs in the work experience section, the tutor can also stress to the student that if he or she was involved in a significant club or activity, this can be included in the experience section. Instead of calling the section the traditional “Work Experience”, the student could call the section “Experience” and put the club or activity in so that it stands out more. For this example, the student is interested in a public relations position. He has done a lot of work with athletic promotions at Purdue, so he put this before the rest of his paying jobs. Notice that this student has also focused more on the actual places he worked for, rather than the positions.
Key Concept: Although a lot of students usually just list their actual paid jobs in the work experience section, the tutor can also stress to the student that if he or she was involved in a significant club or activity, this can be included in the experience section. Instead of calling the section the traditional “Work Experience”, the student could call the section “Experience” and put the club or activity in so that it stands out more. For this example, the student is interested in a public relations position. He has done a lot of work with athletic promotions at Purdue, so he put this before the rest of his paying jobs. Notice that this student has also focused more on the actual places he worked for, rather than the positions.
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 resume 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.
Key Concept: This section is by far the most variable of all sections. Some resume writers list only awards and honors, some list only extracurricular activities or hobbies, others list only professional memberships or volunteer work—and still others mix all of these together in the same section. Some honors and activities sections take up as much of a third of the resume while others are only three lines at the bottom.
Key Concept: Usually this section is placed at the bottom of the resume 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.
Rationale:These two samples are included, not so much as models but, as options for students to consider for their own resumes.
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. Resume writers have basically three choices for alignment and two combinations using columns.
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.
Key Concept: To make their resume and other application materials look like a professional package, students should consider using their contact information section as a basis for setting up the rest of their page(s). If students unnecessarily change fonts or text alignment in their resumes, readers may sense an amateur at work.
